Too Easy or Too Hard
Another thing I’ve noticed is that many songwriters are too easy or too hard on themselves. This is especially true of beginning songwriters. Often they confuse spontaneity with inspiration as if there’s a sacredness to a first draft. I think that kind of approach is detrimental to writing a great song.
At the other end of the spectrum there are those songwriters who are overly critical of their own work. I’m not sure which is worse, someone who loves everything that flows out of them or someone who dislikes everything they create. Both extremes are detrimental.
Like any fair evaluator, we should be measured in the self-evaluation of what we write.
Listening to Songs as a Songwriter
Often as listeners we confuse a recording with a song. We confuse the beat or maybe a guitar hook or a groove with the song. Many times we love the arrangement more than the song. A song is not a guitar part, or a drum beat or anything other than the lyrics and the melody.
Using a stage play as an analogy the song would be the play itself, just the words on the page and the arrangement would be the lighting, the costumes, where the actors stand, etc. So, when evaluating a song it’s important to understand what you’re evaluating is actually the song.
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Jim Bruno's Songwriting Class 