The Best Songs

… mean something. 

Make us feel a certain way and hold a special place in our hearts. 

The best songs transport us to a time and a place. It might be happy or sad or a symbol of triumph or a reminder of longing. 

The best songs hit us slowly and all at once. 

The best songs can also be the worst songs. It just depends on who is listening. 

Make every song in hopes that it will be the best song but also knowing that there will never be a best song. 

My Writing Process

It will consist of several stages. 

I’ve been doing the first stage for forever, which is regurgitating ideas. 

Wait… I haven’t really been doing that for forever. 

I’ve actually almost always tried to start and finish my songs in one sitting. Inspiration to finished product over the course of 15 minutes, 49 minutes, an hour and a half, a couple hours. 

I’m not really a “go back and finish it later” kind of guy. 

That’s going to change. 

Stage One: Regurgitate ideas. 

Stage Two: Go back and pick out the good ones. 

Stage Three: Begin to give the idea form and structure and a… FEELING. 

Stage Four through whatever: KEEP GOING

Stage Finished: Let go of the creation once it reaches “the moment of being finished”, which in and of itself could occur any number of times and I need to become disciplined and adept enough to pick the correct occurrence. And by correct I mean as close to its best as possible. Which may or may not be super clean and polished. 

Okay. Time to keep writing. 

Patience

It’s a long long slog of a journey to get to your dreams. 

Keep your eye on the prize, brah. 

These posts more and more have turned into positive talk sessions from myself to myself. 

And I’m very okay with that. 

But no toxic positivity here. 

Keep it real. Keep it honest. Keep it going. 

Finish

Even if it’s bad. 

Finish. 

Even it’s not exactly what you want. 

Finish. 

Even if you want to go back to the drawing board. 

Finish. Especially if you’re on a deadline. Finish and learn and make the next one better. 

You are not captured in any singular creative endeavor. 

Finish and push forward. 

Habit

Make it a habit to write. Even when you don’t want to. Even when nothing is inspiring you to. Even when everything feels really really really bad. 

Write out of habit. Then edit out of necessity. 

It’s not all going to be groundbreaking. 

But consistency is the goal and leads to groundbreaking. 

Write as MUCH as possible

That’s the whole point, right?

I’m realizing that it’s not about WHAT I write. It’s about HOW MUCH. 

More writing equals more fun. 

The results are a bonus. 

The act of coming up with something and attempting to make it new and fresh IS the point. 

It’s a weird mix of quantity over quality because the quantity leads to quality. 

As long as you’re learning and evolving along the way. 

Not Thinking About It

Sometimes, when I’m playing guitar, I realize that my fingers and hands are moving, and I’m not thinking about it. 

They go where they need to go. They press the strings and strum the patterns and make the music… but I’m not thinking about it. 

Muscle memory from years of playing. 

And it’s weird because when I start thinking about it, I more often than not fall out of the zone and end up making a mistake or at least not playing quite as well. 

Strange lesson to learn. Sometimes things are better when you’re not thinking about it.