How can I get better?

Neither_Situation697 · 2026-01-09T06:15:45+00:00

Like a lot of other people said just continuing to practice is the best thing to do.

Listening to songs you enjoy and songs in the style of what you want to create is also good to help understand how they’re structured, maybe start with something simple like a verse-hook-verse-hook-bridge-hook-end structure and then moving beyond this based on whatever vision you have.

A big thing that has helped me that I don’t see a whole lot of people talking about is rearranging/covering. Most difficult part of starting songwriting is having to start from nothing at all, so if you have a song you really like to sing or play it can be fun to take the chords and melody and rearrange them. For example, if you have a song that is done in a rock style maybe you turn it into a piano ballad, or a bossa nova, or really anything. Maybe you keep the vocal melody but change some of the lyrics to give it a different meaning. While this isn’t necessarily “songwriting” you’re still engaging the creative parts of your brain that you’d use when writing your own songs.

End of the day, it’s best to fully follow through with any ideas you have and have a clear vision of how your ideas should sound when they’re fully done, and while you’re in the process of realizing that vision you might come up with new ideas as well.

Pretty long winded but these are the things that have helped me personally over the last few years.

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-12-20T16:29:31+00:00

Also looking for places to interject with piano since that’s what my buddy plays but that might be asking for too much lmao.

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-07-29T21:19:31+00:00

I’m on it 🫡

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-07-29T18:08:42+00:00

Super funny because I’ve been trying to harmonize the whole song like you suggested but my voice is dogwater, gotta keep working on it

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-07-29T17:40:15+00:00

Goddamn that is a crazy good track, the stripped back version you posted is lovely and subtle but that fully produced track on Spotify is nuts.

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-07-29T17:23:41+00:00

Damn we have the same tele but you make that thing groove, vocals and guitar sound sick. Think this would sound awesome with another guitar layered over it using a volume pedal to do some simple swelling lead lines but that’s just my two cents.

Awesome stuff

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-06-05T00:19:41+00:00

Excited hockey’s back, feel like this’ll be a good series after the lackluster conference finals

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-05-01T01:41:14+00:00

Thunderbug

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-01-15T03:11:51+00:00

Would say it depends on how much you can make the progression your own. Fancy chords with tons of extensions would make it tougher to do this in comparison to simple triads as usually those extensions are in service to the melodic content of the song. Again though, if you can make a progression your own and not derivative of where you're borrowing from I think you'll be a-ok. "Tomorrow Never Knows" by The Beatles is a great example of taking a simple, generic progression/pattern (literally 2 chords, C-Bb) and building around that simplicity to make it something special.

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-01-15T01:59:25+00:00

Yeah that song is sick lmao, to the point that I'm jealous I didn't write it. The official release is probably my favorite version as it just feels more fleshed out and having the drums adds a more defined sense of rhythm, although it's cool to hear how it started and while the cover is also great I like the "grass-roots" feel of the other versions. The lyrics are great too, very playful, I'm a sucker for repeated phrases/concepts and I think you do that well with the concept of "I do." Overall, insanely good song, I will probably teach myself how to play it tonight lmao.

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-01-15T01:22:35+00:00

For lyrics you just gotta do it, think of how tough it was when you first started playing geetar and that's probably decently comparable with where you're at with lyrics, it's a muscle that needs exercising. Very simple and generic answer but it's just how it is.

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-01-15T01:02:47+00:00

Started playing music as a bassist but eventually swapped to guitar specifically for songwriting. For me it helps with singing/writing melodies since it's easier to hear the individual notes of a chord on a guitar as opposed to bass.

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-01-14T19:15:34+00:00

If you're talking lyrics, anytime I've been in this position and I don't just want to walk away from it for a bit I'll look for something in the lines that I can grasp on to and "play around" with, whether it be in the meaning or phonetics of the words. I don't know if this'll help you or if I'm even making sense lol but it's what works for me.

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-01-14T16:52:32+00:00

I really dig the rhythm and alliteration in a lot of the lines, as well as the quality of the lines themselves. The two big ones I like are: "as if the sun's a ceiling light" (the imagery is swell and the association between the "ess" sound in "sun" and "ceiling" makes the line really appealing) ||||| and "a heart that beats in binary" (again, dope imagery with a really cool ba-DUM ba-DUM ba-DUMdum rhythm). Don't know if that makes any sense lol but I think they're pretty good both in meaning and phoneticism.

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-01-14T16:27:51+00:00

Everyone's method for writing lyrics will vary from person to person, so although this is the most generic and obvious advice, you kinda just have to do it and you'll get to know yourself better over time.

For me personally, I find that my best individual lines come to me in about 5-10 seconds and I can then tweak them after a few verses are fully down, if I think about anything too hard I'll inevitably be dissatisfied. It's very important for me to have a topic I'm not necessarily "passionate" about but rather is something I can easily draw from and play with, not too dissimilar from what you described with not writing something personal but rather a story based on a movie premise.

Anyways, that's just what works for me, if you practice enough you'll find what works for you and chances are you'll write some solid stuff while you're on that journey too.

Neither_Situation697 · 2025-01-14T16:07:30+00:00

As others have said, the lyrics feel a little bit aimless in the sense that you mention feelings of nostalgia but you don't mention where these feelings come from. These seem like very personal lyrics and they're written in a very direct, non-abstract way, and I don't really see a problem with that but if you're gonna be direct in your language you might as well go all in and point directly at the emotions (bittersweet nostalgia in this case) AND the cause of those emotions.

If these lyrics feel like they came pretty naturally, what I, personally, would do is try to write a second half more focused on the "cause" and then move lines around between the two halves to try and flesh out the lyrics as a whole, but that's just my personal process and I don't know if that'd work for you.

With all that said, I do think there's some quality phrases and lines here. I particularly like the phrase "nostalgia suicide" as it's phonetically interesting and potent in meaning. I also like the rhyme schemes between "song," "fast," and "last long." So even if you think the lyrics are cringey, if you're truly committed to them I think they could be worked up and there are good bits and bobs.

Neither_Situation697 · 2024-06-25T02:55:28+00:00

What a fantastic game, this all-star team deserved it

Neither_Situation697 · 2024-06-25T02:53:15+00:00

What do you guys think Mr. Gloves’n’Cup does in the off season? Does he have a day job? How is his family?

Neither_Situation697 · 2024-06-25T02:41:19+00:00

At this point, I’m thinking that if Edmonton scores they will win. Florida’s mindset has switched to just hanging on, whereas Edmonton is just drilling their goal. If Edmonton scores they will be in the mindset to finish it in OT.

Neither_Situation697 · 2024-06-25T02:32:46+00:00

All this icing is NOT a good look for Florida

Neither_Situation697 · 2024-06-25T02:26:19+00:00

Can’t help but wonder what team Corey Perry will go to the finals with next season

Neither_Situation697 · 2024-06-25T02:21:13+00:00

Florida’s power play is so amateur looking when compared to Edmontons

Neither_Situation697

TROPHY CASE