JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum Why Did You Start Writing Songs? What Made You Think You Could?

I started playing the piano at 8 and my grandmother and I wrote a song called "Give Me Five." She wrote the lyrics and I wrote the melody. And somewhere I still have it. The next song I wrote was when I was 16. I made up a chord progression and a melody and so I thought I'd better have some words to go with it. So I wrote some words and they were absolutely terrible. But the melody was pretty decent. And I thought, "I kinda suck at this now, but if I keep writing, eventually I'll improve." I kept at it and by the time I was 21 I was writing songs that did not embarrass me. Now, twenty years later, I'm still writing songs and I'd like to think that I've made progress. But I have to say it was my grandmother who first put the idea into my head.

Great thread - really enjoyed reading other people's stories.