My Songwriting Philosophies
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1) The perfect song is 3 minutes long. A song that goes over 5 minutes usually ends up with lost listeners along the way. I try to keep my songs close to the 3 minute mark, although I'm not perfect. I believe in making my musical statement, and then moving on to the next piece.
2) A vocal song, accompanied by acoustic guitar, should have as few words as possible. Concise lyrics is always best. Songs that are wordy.....
A) are usually harder to sing
B) often lack an interesting melody
C) are usually trying to cram too many concepts into the listeners head
D) are songs that are focused on the lyrics and not the music
3) Songs with concise lyrics are usually easier to sing, and allows the singer to breath and thus create a more powerful delivery.
4) A good vocal song has the lyrics built around the music, not the other way around.
5) When picking the guitar, one often finds an interesting chord or pattern of notes that needs to be flushed out. Allow the chord to tell YOU how it wants to be picked. Pick across the chord in different ways until it's natural voice reveals itself.