JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Why don't Lyricists learn an Instrument?

People should do whatever they are creatively driven to do. It's no more complicated than that. I've met and become friends with people who can play amazinfly well, write excellent lyrics, sing beautifully, perform in an audience pleasing way and they are just as anonymous to you on this board as you are to them. Point being it doesn't mean anything if you view all of this as a pathway towards some magical stardom or riches. If and when that BS enters your mind first before you just express yourself in whatever way you're driven to do, you have little to no chance of being happy OR successful. At least if you feed your muse and create in whatever way you can and want, then you'll have artistic happiness and if you're not a butthead, you'll likely learn how to do whatever it is you do better the more you do it and the more you pay attention to what your peers do.

A note to those Bernie fans: remember that he partnered with someone who couldn't write lyrics. If you want to make a finished song, make some friends with folks who play music and find one or more you hit it off with and vice versa. You don't have to do it all unless you want to. 99.99% of us will never have career sustaining commercial success and only about 5% of those who stick with it relentlessly will have any measurable success of any kind. So don't beat yourself up or worry about the business trends or rules.. first.. do what makes you happy and tell anyone who says you shouldn't to stick it. That doesn't mean you should come here or on other boards or groups and play stuff in a critique session and ignore advice.. if you go seeking help, you owe it to those who try to help to take their advice with an open and honest mind and if you get consistent negative feedback and are unwilling to change, then stop asking for it because you are unfairly wasting time that could be spent on others who want and need it.

Stop thinking and start DOING... and have fun... if it isn't fun, please STOP and find something to spend your time doing that brings you happiness. Don't worry if it makes others happy until AFTER it makes YOU happy. Their happiness is their problem. = )

Brian