New Songwriter

[BigBluesGuy]

Hello! My name is Brian. I'm new to both songwriting and guitar. Ice been playing guitar for a couple months now and play in our small church band as rhythm. At home not only do i practice for Sunday but I also work on playing the blues and rock at the house. Once I get good enough at it I would wish to actually publish my songs. As for my songwriting progress I'm still working on my first song.

Tbh, my purpose here is to mainly receive critique towards my works. Id like the works. It's ok to tell me it sucks but just don't leave it at that. Tell me why it sucks and put details...please! Anyways, now that this is over with I'm off to bed. I'll post my song tomorrow.

[john]

Hi Brian. Welcome to Songstuff

One of the best tips I could offer is that you also perform crits of others. Getting critique of your own work might seem like the main way to learn and advance your work, but it is only part of the puzzle. Being honest it's the one most new writers go for, but it's not the fastest way to develop your skills. Let me explain.

1. You will write a lot less songs than the total number of works that are posted for critique

2. Your work is likely to cover only a few styles, perhaps only one style. Reading and critiquing the work of others helps expose you to a broader range of styles, quickly, in a situation where you can dissect and discuss what makes that genre work.

3. Critiquing the work of others also means you engage with far more writers with a large range of writing experience and skill.

4. Critiquing other's work does not depend on you having a work in development from which to learn

5. Critique is NOT a simple statement. It is a discussion, allowing you to make observations, make recommendations and suggestions, and to discuss the pros and cons of different solutions.

Lastly, critique allows you to exercise skills that you will use in your own writing. Like a physical work out, development of muscles depends upon exercise. Regular exercise develops those muscles. Improvement of fitness depends upon working different muscles with different exercises. Critique will help you develop your songwriting skills by improving your own observations about your own work, allowing you to have a far broader range of skills to employ during the writing process... all in a plus to any writer.

To that end try and perform regular crits, in as much detail as you can, making sure that you make things a discussion and understanding that not everyone can digest comments without feeling an emotional reaction. So be constructive in the comments you offer, and where you perceive a problem try and offer a solution.  Try and understand the writers perspective if you can.

I'm looking forward to seeing you post up your work!

Cheers

John

[Gonzalez]

welcome, im fairly new myself too

[FinnArild]

Welcome, Brian ...