Letter to a Young Songwriter

I wrote this blogpost for my younger self, and for other young creatives who might be going through what I did when I was a confused young songwriter trying to do everything all at once (and tragically doing less than I think I would've been able to with proper guidiance). I'm sharing on HN because I think there are some parallels in all creative work, and that some of you may find some utility in this.

A quick recap/rewrite of this post:

1: Aim to be prolific, rather than “to be great” or “to have fun”. We can have much more interesting conversations once you have a body of work.

2: Screw ‘best’. Avoid trying to write the best possible song. Your definition of ‘best’ will be a moving target.

3: Write badly. Deliberately try to write bad songs, rough songs, strange and awkward songs. They’ll teach you more than you’ll learn from writing what you think is “okay”.

4: Screw originality. Forsake the quest for originality, it’s a mirage. Learn other people’s songs as much as you can. Learn songs from genres you don’t really care for.

5: Think less, write more. Don’t try to be smarter by thinking harder. Be smarter by processing more, recursively. Write new songs. Learn songs you didn’t know. Learn new chord progressions. Take long walks through unfamiliar territories.

6: Play scales. It’s like learning to play with the underlying code of music itself. It’ll improve your appreciation of music that you listen to, and it’ll improve your ability to navigate the music you play.

7: Play slow. Don’t rush after music. Immerse yourself in it. Imagine really bad sex, and then imagine really good sex. What’s the difference? Good music is like good sex.

8: Always Be Creating (Or Listening). If you’re not doing one of the two, you’re probably procrastinating. Ask yourself which of the two states you’re closer to, and dive into that.

I like this advice, not only for a young songwriter I know well, but also for myself as a budding hacker. Too much of my creative energy I spend on doubting my latest idea, to the point I don't get to implement the code to make it real. I appreciate the ideas and the energy you put into this post.