Songwriting: Do You Have to be Born With it?

"Can you REALLY teach someone how to be a great songwriter? Don't you have to be born with it?"  

People ask me that question all the time. After all, I’m an Instructor of Songwriting at Nashville’s Belmont University, so I guess that makes sense! My response is this: I can't MAKE someone into a great songwriter...but I CAN give them the recipe for writing a great commercial song…and if they practice putting it to use, that can have the same effect.

Recipe? Yes. Just like there's a recipe for making great spaghetti sauce, there is a recipe for creating commercial songs - songs that are designed to impact a broad audience of listeners.

I’ve shared that recipe with my Ko-fi club this month at this link. It’s long and detailed, but it summarizes everything I’ve learned so far about commercial songwriting in 25 years of doing it professionally.

Not a member? You can check out some publicly available posts on my Ko-fi club page. Subscribers who buy me a coffee ($4) per month unlock over 50 past posts of unreleased material and get access to new posts every month!