How many of you would consider yourselves songwriters?

hugbot

As opposed to "guitarists"?

That is to say, how much do you write? Whole songs? The occasional section? All your own riffs?

Who else in your band writes? Who does the bulk of it?

DesVegas

On the guitar, yes. Words. . . very much no.

Danny1969

I've written and recorded a whole albums worth of material but I don't think much of it is very good. There are bits I'm pleased with but on a whole the materials poor. I think the more you do it the better you become but some people have a natural gift for it and that's what I'm lacking. So I don't consider myself a song writer even though I've done a lot of it

DulcetJones

I've released 3 CD's of solo guitar music, each with 7 original songs mixed in with the classical, fingerstyle mood I was working with.  What validates it as "songwriting" for me though is that I got some actual radio airplay, TV useage, and 6 years rotation of two songs on a subscription cable channel.  I've also written all the music form my two "Dulcet Jones" albums but aside from some iTunes sales and subscription plays, no radio etc yet.   The solo guitar stuff was under my real name, (Jim Graham), I chose a different name for my spooky, multi instrument music so as to not confuse anybody that was looking for more solo guitar work from me.

Cabicular

I guess I would
I used to be much more prolific but then I got older and happier and lyrically I'm struggling now

Grunfeld

I enjoy being creative -- I'll play with ideas, and make drawings, and make music, and create therapy and all sorts of things -- but the "song writing" is just a facet of that.  I'm under no illusions -- I know where my abilities lie in the pecking order. 

I've written a couple of songs which I like and a lot more which are so-so at best but I've enjoyed creating them all the same. 

Funnily enough nearly all the song writing creation dropped away when I joined a covers band.  It was like the tap turned off for creating music (it was okay, cos the creativity flowed into other areas).  But recently I've been song writing again.

I would love -- absolutely love - to create stories, i.e writing.  But it's a skill which seems beyond me.  I keep at it but I know what's good and what's not.

PolarityMan

Yep, the only reason I play instruments is to write.

Bezzer

I used to, but I've struggled to write anything decent for a long while now.  Probably time to break the keyboards out again and see if the switch brings forth the juices of creativity agian.

stickyfiddle

I'm an arranger, and I'm great at riffs/parts/harmonies/counterpoint, but not a songwriter on my own. Get me in a room with someone else to spark off and all is good though. 

Cirrus

Yeah, more a songwriter than a guitarist - wanting to be able to work on my ideas is what spurred me to learn how to play.

Moe_Zambeek

I would, though I prefer to work with others. In fact it's the most satisfying thing about music, working up a good tune.

What restricts me is time and dedication more than anything else.

kin

I'd say I'm a, piece of music ,stumbled on by chance ,very rarely resolved into anything resembling a song type of writer., got lots of fragments of tunes.

 Almost all my playing is writing of a sort though, I haven't tried to learn anybody else's songs for about twenty years. I just play until something catches my ear and then try to develop it but always seem to run out of time or inspiration.

 I don't have the discipline to go back to a piece most of the time either, onto the next new shiny thing instead.

So, err...no, not really.

camf

Definitely a songwriter first.

spark240

No...but  I like to work with the bare bones of someones idea and make it better...I seem to have more ability in that field. 

Snap

Yes. I regularly write full pieces, and sometimes inlcude lyrics and songs. Whether anyone else likes the stuff I do is not really why I do it. Its nice when people say something is good, but for the most, I do it as a hobby, and cos I enjoy the whole process from writing the music through to recodring it and then trying to make a half decent fist of producing and mastering it. Done a couple of commercial collaborations, but tbh that;s not a really big achivement in this day and age: most people can get something out there to be bought, theres enough platforms.

Ive tentatively started attempting to write classical pieces, but that is fraught with challenges.LIke being able to compose....lol