As one of the most successful and prolific songwriters to ever work in the music industry, Diane Warren has written one, if not fifteen, of your favorite songs (no really, go back and read your liner notes). As Ms. Warren clearly knows what a hit sounds like she has so graciously offered her wisdom in this weeks edition of Billboard magazine.
As Ann Donahue reports, Diane lays out 5 important tips for those young and aspiring in her field of songwriting:
1. WRITE, WRITE, THEN WRITE SOME MORE
-"I love writing songs and I can't wait to come to work every day. I get here about 8:30am and I just get to work. I'll show up and I go in my room and just start up; I'll start working on a song or maybe I'll start something new."
2. SEEK INSPIRATION EVERYWHERE
-"Anything can create a song. I always have my antennas up. Always. I'm not writing 24 hours a day, but my antennas are up 24 hours a day.
"[A recent] song that I was doing with Jordyn Taylor...was [from when] a friend of mine was telling me, 'Yeah, I'm just over this guy--until that phone rings.' I thought, 'Oh, that would be a great song called "'Till." ' I wrote a song a long time ago called 'I Love You Goodbye' that Celine Dion did. That was from my friend hanging up on me as I called her at work. She said, 'I love you goodbye!'
"I'm always listening and if I'm working with somebody, I'll always listen to what they do. I will study them: 'What can I take from them that's different?' "
3. BE CONFIDENT
-"In whatever you do--whether it's being a songwriter, whether it's an athlete, whether it's anything--you've got to be great or else give it up. I always say that if you wouldn't die without doing it, don't do it. In anything, there is so much competition. You've got to be great.
"Another thing I always say is that luck opens the door, but talent keeps you in. You know, because you can get that lucky break, but if you're not good, you're not going to get anything."
4. BE PERSISTENT
-"I thought I was great when I sucked. [laughs] I was thinking I was great when I was 14 and thought that whatever I wrote was great. They weren't great - let's say that. But part of it was that cockiness and that belief. I had so many doors slammed on me that if I didn't believe that, then maybe I would've given up.
"[The industry] is always cyclical and then it goes to something else, but at the end of the day, it always comes down to a great song, whether it's a great hip-hop song or a great country song...it's going to come down to what touches somebody, what really makes them feel something."
5. DON'T LET LACK OF FORMAL TRAINING DISCOURAGE YOU
-"I'm always learning...everything is learning. Every time I write a song I'm always learning something different. I always try to learn more and take more in. I've always been like a sponge. I'm always bringing different things into my music.
"I didn't have much music theory. I only took one class and I didn't really pay attention to that. I don't know...you've got to be good. You've got to know what you're doing. But you don't have to be a great musician to be a great songwriter. You just have to be able to write great music.
"It's different with everybody, because everyone has a different path. I knew what I wanted to do at 7 years old, and that's my path. That's just what worked for me."
You can find more from Diane Warren in this weeks (Nov 15) issue of Billboard magazine on stands now or at www.billboard.biz.
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