To songwriters: How Good Are You?
August 7, 2008
Welcome, new visitor! My name is Ari, the man behind Aries9. Here I share my thoughts on music and life, so you can get to know me and my music. Thanks for visiting!
How good of a songwriter are you?
Are your songs as good as the Beatles? Led Zeppelin? Elvis Costello? Townes Van Zandt? John Hiatt?
No, I’m not asking the opinions of your mom/girlfriend/boyfriend/friends/record label.
I’m asking you. Alone.
Even the best songwriters can’t write hits all the time. We all have garbage bags full of songs and ideas that aren’t good enough. Don’t judge yourself on that. But think of how often you come up with songs that you think are at least good enough for public consumption.
Do you think you are as good as the best in your genre? Are any of your songs, ever?
You don’t need to prove anything. I’m not going to ask you to put up your best songs to see if what you’re saying is true.
So be honest with me. How good of a songwriter are you? Let me know by commenting below.
Thanks!
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Do you have a responsibility if great lyrics come out of your mind. And what if you don’t even grasp music conceptually or technically and yet you know and feel what works. What if it does come naturally to have an outlet for your minds songs? Songwriting is easy. The difficult comes from the surroundings which presents the song. Thank you.
[Reply]
Ari Koinuma reply on August 14, 2008 11:10 pm:
Hi Jay!
Thanks for visiting the Aries9 blog! I’m not sure what you mean by “responsibility” — are you the type of writer who primarily writes lyrics? I know some people like that — it can be frustrating, to have words and vague “feel” of a song but not able to articulate it musically.
For me, music comes out first, and it’s always quite a trouble finding words to marry my music.
Tunes, I can write in 3 minutes. Lyrics, more like 3 years. 
Arranging has its own art, too. Making music is a difficult art — it’s a worthy pursuit!
Thanks again for the visit. Come back soon!
ari
[Reply]