“How long should it take to write a song?” Is there such a thing as writing a song too fast or too slowly?
I recently had this basic question come in from someone in the Songwriting Pro community. And I figure if one person wonders about it, there are probably a lot of people who wonder about it. So let’s dive in!
Read on.
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Writing a song takes as long as it takes.
First of all, if anyone tells you anything like, “it should only take 30 minutes to write a song” or “it should never take less than 3 hours to write a song…” ignore them. They aren’t being correct, and they aren’t being helpful.
Maybe they get their best work done within a certain timeframe. But that only works for them. They aren’t you. You should take as much time (or as little time) to write the song as the song dictates.
“Stand By Your Man” but not by your clock.
The country standard, “Stand By Your Man” was written by Tammy Wynette and Billy Sherrill. And they wrote it in about 15 minutes. But so what? They aren’t you.
“The House That Built Me” was not built in a day.
Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin went back to “The House That Built Me” for several years before they finally got it right. And it is a new country classic and won both the ACM and CMA Song Of The Year. But you know what? They aren’t you, either.
My point with sharing these polar opposites is to show that great songs don’t have a certain writing deadline.
Some songs come quickly. Some take hours. Some take years of “let’s take another look at this one.” And that’s okay. You don’t have to judge yourself by anyone else’s opinion of how fast you should finish a song. You write however it is that you get your best results. Period.
Two warnings:
Avoid shallow thinking.
Don’t be in such a hurry to finish every song that you don’t really dig into them. If you just want to write songs, I guess it doesn’t matter if you put in much effort. But if you want to write GREAT songs, it’s going to take work.
If you hear those stories about someone writing a hit in 20 minutes, you have to remember that the hit wasn’t their first song. Or probably anywhere in their first 100 songs. They’d written a bunch of songs by that point, and so they were able to work more efficiently- not having to think about structure, rhyme scheme, etc. It was “built in” to their writing by that point.
Bottom line: it takes a lot of work to make it look easy. So put in the work.
Avoid analysis paralysis.
On the other end of the spectrum, maybe you overthink your song and beat it to death in your head so much that you never finish it. You second-guess every syllable. Then you third-guess it. Then fourth-guess it, etc.
At the end of the day, for you, maybe you just need to practice calling songs “done.” Maybe you’re overthinking your songs because you are scared of actually putting them into the world where they might “fail” (whatever failure means to you). Maybe you’re avoiding something by refusing to finish a song.
Bottom line: you’ll never reach your songwriting goals if you don’t finish some dang songs! So finish a few and just let them go.
Either way you write, whether fast or slow, nobody really cares. They only care if your song knocks their socks off. That’s all. Then they’ll be curious how long it took you to write it.
You do you, and you’ll do just fine.
Hey, do you have a question you’d like ask a pro songwriter? If so, I have a great opportunity coming up for you… and it’s FREE. On October 16, I’m hosting a “Know The Row” event with multi-hit songwriter, Chris Lindsey. He penned “Amazed” for Lonestar and “Every Time I Hear That Song” for Blake Shelton, and more. And you can ask him YOUR questions. And it’s an online event, so you can join us from anywhere in the world.
CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE INFO.
God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,
Brent
Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US, a #1 in Canada, and a top 10 in Texas. His songs appear on 5 industry-certified gold & platinum albums & singles… so far. He also hosts a top-rated songwriting and music business podcast called, “The C.L.I.M.B.” which can be found on iTunes or your favorite podcast app.
What can I do with songs that I just hum?