I learned to embrace my individuality, and if that meant writing a song on one chord over and over again, then that's what I do.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When I first started making music, I didn't really know what I was doing. I just wanted to write songs. I didn't have a concept. I didn't think it through. I was just flailing around doing what comes naturally. It took me a really long time to step back and deal with what I was doing with any kind of perspective or self-awareness.
I started teaching myself guitar because I loved singing so much. Then one day kind of out of the blue I found I was writing a song. It just happened organically.
Early in my songwriting career, when I was learning a lot about writing songs, I'd force myself to sit down until I came up with something.
The more I do in my life, the more I can write music about new experiences.
I learned some chords and I started watching anybody I could, once I really got into it.
It's a gift that I have and I became good at it. When I heard my first song I didn't even know that I could write songs.
When I was first learning songs, I'd have a favorite song, and I'd take the chords and twist them around. I'd learn the chords and then play them backward. That was my first experimenting with writing a song.
I've always written songs the same way. You learn different tricks - you learn craft, you learn structure, all that - as you go.
Except for a few guitar chords, everything I've learned in my life that is of any value I've learned from women.
My songwriting and my style became more complex as I listened, learned, borrowed and stole and put my music together.