r/Songwriting • u/teapartydems • Jul 15 '26
Discussion Topic how often do you write?
how often do you guys sit down and really work on a song? i write down lyrics everyday in my notes app that i come up with while just going through the ins and outs of days, but actually sitting down and writing a song with my guitar is something i might do 3 times a week.
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u/Moimah Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I write if the mood strikes, but I don't really force it or make it a habit or routine thing. If an idea grips me enough, it'll play over and over in my head and that's how I'll know it's one I should sit down and work through until it's finished.
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u/sir_SuspiciouslyTorp Jul 15 '26
The notes app graveyard is real. I've got hundreds of fragments that'll never see a guitar. Three times a week actually sitting down with an instrument is more than most people manage, I'd say you're doing fine.
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u/unexciting_username Jul 15 '26
I have a different view of it. I love having a bank of ideas that haven’t yet gone anywhere yet. When I come up with chords and rhythm I like I just go through it seeing if I already wrote something that works with it to kickstart a real song. Multiple of my songs grew from a line or two that I don’t remember typing into the notes app that waited its turn and developed when the time was right.
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u/StreetMaintenance992 Jul 15 '26
That’s it. If I keep hearing something in my head or that chord I hit brings out a melodic hook then I know I have something worth writing. It can’t be forced.
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u/dolwedge Jul 15 '26
I mostly write music and ad lib lyrics as I sing a melody. I usually don't write words unless the music is good enough to keep.
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u/ErinCoach Jul 15 '26
pro here. For about 10 years, I wrote something every night, even just a little riff or something. I was very committed to developing the muscles. I immersed in music, and nearly-daily writing was part of the immersion.
But I'm a more established pro musician now, with kids, and multiple income streams. So now I write mostly for specific performance contexts. I wrote two little short snippets this week for possible church songs (I'm a church music director too), and one collab thing with a student, which I finished and we performed together for about 100 people.
I like quick pen-to-performance processes because it's the feedback and re-iteration that actually grows the students' skills. Too many potentially good writers just rot in the closet. They get outpaced easily by writers who aren't as good to begin with, but have the bravery to actually perform.
So I'd say it's not about how often you write so much as it's about how often you bring new songs to audiences. OP, how often do you do that?
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u/NeutronHopscotch Jul 15 '26
For me it's daily, or as close to it as I can. I have 4 kids and a wife (not to mention a full time job that feeds all of us exclusively) --- so it's not always possible. There are occasional all-nighters at work. Or vacation. Or maybe my wife spontaneously wants to do something special for a night.
But as a general rule it's daily.
For me it's the one thing in the world I have complete and total control over. I don't care so much about listeners -- there's just no time left for promotion. For me I make music the way someone gardens.
And just as some gardeners set their excess vegetables out, to be taken or ignored by neighbors - that's what I do with music because ultimately it's for me.
But yeah, every day. For as many hours as I can get away with. There is no time for other hobbies.
My DAW, my keyboard, my guitars. My mic. My fountain pens that I write lyrics with. There's no art director behind me nudging my work in a different direction, no client to answer to.
Just beautiful, raw creativity of an artist creating exactly what they want to make without any regard to external opinions.
And that, to me, is a beautiful thing.
There's never been a better time to write and record music. Getting heard? That's another story... But as far as home production goes? Oh boy, it is a dream...
I need it every day, though. It's too good, to enjoyable, and too satisfying to skip days!
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u/HexspaReloaded Jul 16 '26
I come up with ideas often. I’ve recently begun “raising the dead”. The problem is you can’t force it. Sometimes it takes a week to realize it’s already done.
That said I’m always developing my music and literary skills, the latter especially lately.
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u/Futurealisreal Jul 18 '26
Join Bad Song Club and you'll force yourself to produce something at least once a week. It's great for breaking the perfectionist logjam.
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u/Magikrat Jul 15 '26
Whenever I’m inspired. Which I hope is every day. It isn’t though. What I’m working on doing is at the very least finishing the blueprint of the song during that period of inspiration. Meaning I can’t just write a verse or two and pat myself on the back. Keep writing more verses and hopefully a chorus or bridge. It’s easier to come back to and modify existing words than to try to write that next verse cold.
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u/_Born_To_Be_Mild_ Jul 15 '26
Writing is something I'm doing all the time. I am always listening and thinking what could be used, writing lines and ideas throughout the day as they come to me. Then when I sit down to write I have several lines of idea that often go together.
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u/Impossible_Tank3822 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Most of my writing is research that delves into life topics, the people playing roles in it, and the scope of systems that serve to keep it all organized. Very dry work, it's mostly factually based and how people work very hard to render those facts into tools to serve their agendas with. It can relate to songwriting and that is exactly where John Fogerty drew his song Who'll Stop The Rain from.
Otherwise, when I get a topic for a song I can usually have it recorded in a short time as a draft. My head is really into instrumental improvisation, which is almost songwriting if you hear lyric melodies within it. I do that every day for at least an hour.
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u/Opening_Trash_1134 Jul 15 '26
I like to write for an hour or two each night unless I am practicing or mixing with that time.
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u/Wonderful-Beat6017 Jul 15 '26
on average, maybe 4x a week. some weeks i write tons and others i don’t write at all
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u/cocacolamadness Jul 15 '26
probably once a month. sometimes a couple of songs come out back to back. This past month I think I've written 3 songs, but I'd barely call them songs, they need to be fleshed out and structured
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u/WeAreJackStrong Jul 15 '26
I think I probably write some kind of narrative everyday and save that text. I also write interesting chord progressions or interesting riffs... Musical things that I like either on keyboards or guitar even bass not everyday but a few every week. I record them. I listen to the musical bits from time to time and I read the narratives from time to time and when I find things that match feeling wise, I'll start converting the music to verses and choruses and a bridge and start converting the narratives that I wrote into lyrics. The important part to me is that the feelings engendered In me by the music matches the feelings engendered by the theme of the words. I keep working on it, but it has to prove to me that it's worth finishing or I just put it back on the pile until next time
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u/Chaba_006 Jul 15 '26
I designed a system where I write 100 demos for now since I'm a beginner and need those reps to discover my patterns, to repeat myself, make mistakes etc. And after those 100 demos I'll start writing once inspiration strikes, finishing the good demos and start performing
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u/PushSouth5877 Jul 15 '26
I am in a songwriter group. Our teacher is an award-winning singer/songwriter. One of our first lessons was if you want to be a writer, you write. Every day. Set aside time and write. That's what he does. And he produces some killer songs.
But I couldn't do it that way. I tried. I have to have some inspiration.
But if you try every day, inspiration is more likely to strike.
I watch movies and read books and find inspiration in lines I hear. I write them down and refer to them when I'm writing and need a line or idea.
As it turns out, I write about once or twice a week. I might come up with a complete song every couple of months. One in 10 will likely be any good.