Are Some People Born Natural Songwriters?

Are you hoping to become a songwriter, but feel like you just weren't born with that natural gift? Well good news for you is that no one is born a songwriter. Rather, the skill of songwriting is developed through years of practice and today I am going to share with you what it is exactly that you should be practicing.

To put it succinctly, anyone can be a songwriter. There is this reoccurring lie that society likes to have you believe that songwriting is a natural talent that only a few select group of people are born with. Why do people like to believe that? Well think about it. How might you feel if an artist told you that your favourite song was written through many attempts of trial and error? Its a much better story to sell that their songwriting comes to them naturally and effortlessly.

Another reason people like to believe this lie is because songwriters will run into many obstacles (especially in the beginning). It takes persistence and hard work to get good at anything you do. So people like to use "not having natural born talent" as an easy way out of putting in that hard work. These obstacles can be overcome, however. You just need to have the right tools.

Now that we know that anyone has the ability to become a skilled songwriter, what action do we take next? Reading this article is a fantastic place to begin. It shows you have a strong interest for composing, and that you are eager to take your writing to the next step.

Well luckily there is a certain technique that will quickly show improvements in your writing. It is easy to practice and keeps the fun in songwriting. You will no longer dread putting that pencil to paper for composition time.

While this skill is not hard to learn, I have seen it be misused plenty of times before. This leads musicians to convince themselves is not worth knowing or working on.

Alright by now you are probably shouting at the screen "Okay so what is this great skill you are talking about?" I explain this skill in great detail in the following video. Please take time to watch this video all the way through as I explain important tools you can use in your next songwriting session.

As you can now see, songwriting isn't quite as mysterious as some people would like you to believe. Anyone can practice this skill and improve upon their composing. Perhaps you have been doing this already without even realizing it. But now you can focus in on your practice, and have fun doing it too!

Tommaso Zillio is a professional prog rock/metal guitarist and composer based in Edmonton, AB, Canada.

Tommaso is currently working on an instrumental CD, and an instructional series on fretboard visualization and exotic scales. He is your go-to guy for any and all music theory-related questions.

Tommaso Zillio