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Tag / steal like an artist

September 16, 2019September 16, 2019 by Keppie

Steal Like a Songwriter

  • Generating Ideas for Lyrics, Psychology of Creativity, Songs I Love, Uncategorized, Wisdom from Songwriters, writing
  • amanda palmer, anais mitchell, andrewbird, austin kleon, ben folds, ben gibbard, brandi carlile, crowded house, david bowie, foy vance, gillian welch, John Mayer, joy williams, lori mckenna, sarah sample, songcraft, songwriting, steal like an artist, Sweet Talk Radio, tom waits
  • Leave a comment

Copy of Untitled

The most effective way I write songs is to immerse myself in songwriters. I like to remind myself of the songwriters who will always, without question, ignite something in me. Here is my list.

IMG-1381

 

These writers don’t just write great songs; they are GREAT SONGWRITERS. Drenching myself in the structures, forms, and developments of lyrics and music of these songwriters will always set up my songwriting practice.

I will often then cross-pollinate this listening by immersing myself in a style or genre that I am either interested in or inspired by.

When I do this ‘stealing like a songwriter,’ I always keep in mind the most important lesson I took from reading Austin Kleon‘s (absolutely refined gem of a book)  “Steal Like an Artist“:

Don’t just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don’t want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.

photo credit: https://tonedeaf.thebrag.com/david-bowie-musical-australia/

 

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