Let’s face it. To get a song ‘right’… usually it’s hard. Hard in the sense that it takes time. Each song is different from the one before. The skills one develops over time help with the problems posed by a new song but they don’t give you a formula… because there isn’t one.

I have to put myself into the song, really invest in it, to make progress, without any guarantee of success. Some of them work out and some of them don’t. And though I can gain in craft from both results, there’s almost never any telling in advance which ones will come together and which won’t.

But here’s some good news. If I put in work on the tougher ones (that’s most of them) the likelihood of an easier one falling into my lap increases exponentially. They’re like bonuses.

I had this experience recently. I was wrestling (and song wrestling is fun – an interesting challenge) with a song I’d been working on for a while and a different one just dropped into my lap. A riff led to a title led to a chorus led to a verse led to three verses…

I had the thing 90% finished in a half hour, maybe 45 minutes. I performed it at my last show and it turned out well. The response was great. Much of the time the quick ones come to me like this – by way of the labor-intensive ones (though the quality, as always, will vary).

I’m convinced I never would’ve had that one fall out of the sky if I hadn’t been laboring over the one taking me weeks to finish. And by the way, I’m still working on that one! Who knows if it’ll ever come to fruition?

Assuming I have an idea I think is good and might turn into a worthwhile completed song, if it’s taking time to get it right, it doesn’t mean I’m doing something wrong. Songs take the time they take.

There’s no direct correlation between difficulty or ease and quality.

Let me know your thoughts in the Comments section below.

And please share on facebook etc. by clicking the tabs beneath the photo –