Five Reasons Why Getting Feedback is Essential for New Songwriters

If you’ve just started your songwriting journey, feedback can be a frightening concept. Many of us write from the heart, these emotional songs that are powerful for us. And while that is an important aspect of songwriting, if you want to create effective and communicative songs, feedback is an important part of sharpening your songwriting skills. It provides clarity that we might figure out on our own, but feedback will speed up the process of learning.

Here are some reasons why feedback is so essential for new songwriters.

1. What you do well

This is actually a great opportunity to discover your strengths. Unsure if you are more of a melody or lyric person? You’ll probably understand this better with every feedback session.

2. What doesn’t work

Remember, not every single song is an indicator of your songwriting skills. By putting the ego aside and focusing on the writing itself, you will understand what isn’t working in the song and figure out what needs to change.

3. If the other person understands what the song is about

Ultimately, if you are writing songs for others to hear (either through performing it live, videos or sound recordings), you probably want others to understand your music the way that you intended it. We can’t always tell when our lyrics don’t make sense to someone else.

4. If the other person can feel the same emotions you do when they hear your song

If you’re less concerned about the actual meaning of the song, perhaps you will be more invested in another person being able to feel the emotions you intended to write. For example: does the other person feel the sadness that you wanted to incorporate in your song? If not, they might have some great tips on how the song could be more emotional.

5. You’ll learn how to re-write and edit your songs

You don’t have to take every single piece of writing advice you hear. By getting feedback, you will at least have more options of edits that you never would have thought of. You’ll start to notice trends in your feedback and understand what you could do to speed up the re-writing process.

In conclusion…

Find someone who is able to give you constructive feedback: what you need to work on, but also what is great about your songs. Everyone’s songwriting journey is different, and feedback is the best way of understanding the next step in becoming a better songwriter.