HOW I WRITE A SONG A DAY - Episode One: I Don't Care

In this inaugural episode, i delve into the importance of not caring. It's all about detaching yourself from the creative process so that you don't clam up and worry about making something "good". It's more important to make something, period, than it is to make something good.

If you've got questions: songsforpeople@yahoo.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• how
• write
• song
• day
• creative
• process
• songwriting
• tips
• tricks
• jonathan
• mann
• rock
• cookie
• bottom
• songatron

[LeutennantDan]

Doesn't "not caring" remove every bit of emotion from your songs? I can't imagine myself a deep song with a difficult topic without caring for what I want to get across.

[therockcookiebottom]

@LeutennantDan You tell me! You've watched a ton of my songs, do you think they're devoid of emotion? It's a paradox: Try sitting down to write a song and telling yourself, "I'm going to pour my heart and soul into this song!"...that's a lot of pressure! Suddenly, you've put all these expectations on yourself. Now sit down and say, "I'm going to just write a song, whatever comes out."...now you're free to create without any expectations. But, as I said at first, the proof is in the pudding.

[youngnam]

this is a plan for success if your goal is "i need to write some songs." this is a recipe for utter failure if your goal is "i want to write good songs."

[therockcookiebottom]

@youngnam Thanks for your feedback! I'll definitely be addressing this in future episodes, as it's something that seems to come up a lot. For now I'll just say that I've found the opposite to be true. In my experience, there's no correlation between how long I spend on a song and how good it is. One simple example: Have you ever had a song just come pouring out of you, fully formed? How would you rank that song among your others?

[Stratomacaster]

Like... :-)

Subjects:

1. Getting the most out the same tired chord progressions

2. Getting out of the rut of those same tired chord progressions :-)

3. Throw in some quick mixing tips - EQ ranges for different instruments, etc..

Cheers.

[therockcookiebottom]

@Stratomacaster Got these on the list now.

[samjerom2001]

i put some videos on youtube. what do you use to make your videos. i have no experience with cameras

[HighschooladventerS]

thank you in the most awsome of ways please dnt stop what you started

[YhoJoKinson]

Finally someone who is creative and doesn't care about taking money from people just to give some advice into writing songs. I like how you edit the video so your face is everywhere, it keeps you alert and i gotta admit makes it more interesting compared to listening without watching so good directing also.

[MyPetPenguiin]

I love this. Totally doing this next year! Genius.

[pkpure666]

ha

[si7777888]

Great attitude!

[jonathanpmalm]

Brilliant creativity thought. Blogging it on my blog, Faking Creativity.

[GGuitar45]

@therockcookiebottom I kinda agree with both of you, you need emotion, but its also easier to let the song flow natrually

[0IALYSSAI0]

Your eyes are pretty(:

[rogozinski13]

I'm wondering where you get motivation to do this? I mean you are doing songs because you don't want to miss even a single day, or we (your fans/subscribers) are the motivation and you don't want to let us down, or is there something more what makes you want to do another song each day. (I'm guessing there is more then one thing, but I'm interested what are most important ones).