Discover The Advantages Of Writing About The Songwriting Process

Documentation might seem like an unnecessary addition to songwriting, what is already a very work intensive and well thought out process. However, writing a journal about the songwriting process can be an effective way for beginners to figure out a number of things about their creative process and themselves as writers. Through writing about the process, a songwriter can figure out where they're going wrong, more easily chart stumbling blocks, and look back at their writing much more objectively.

You might well ask what type of content should go into a journal about songwriting. Typically, anything that factors into or influences a writer's music as they're composing or crafting lyrics. Any part of any stage of the process is fair game, whether it's a daydream, a poem, or a song on the radio.

The time when no music gets written at all is primed for journaling about songwriting. Documenting these moments are valuable steps towards breaking down the walls between a writer and their best art. While this is happening and not playing on, for instance, their Takamine acoustic guitar, the work they're putting into the journal can serve a purpose later.

You might even find that looking over the journal helps you find inspiration for a song at a later date. Even though the journal should stay focused on songwriting, a writer's life is just as important to his work as his or her creative process.

A writer could go one of two ways in terms of a medium for the log: a material, physical notebook or a web-based journal. A real notebook is more mobile and practical in many ways. It can go where ever you go and doesn't require any particular environment (like the indoors or a computer lab) to get some writing done. There's far more potential for spontaneity in a physical journal, as long as a pen or pencil is also handy.

A blog or some other online journal is more difficult to take with you everywhere you go, but it is easier to share with other people, however, even if you can't make money blogging. There are helpful communities of musicians collaborating and trying to make each other better artists out there that wouldn't be privy to your process otherwise. Online, one can receive lots of helpful feedback on their songwriting process.

Whichever type of journal you choose, try to make regular entries and stay in the habit of logging updates, even if they're just about a Dreadnought acoustic guitar you played in a shop. Best of luck on the process and in your career(s) as a musician!

Tags: creating music, journal, songwriting