How to Write One Song

by Jeff Tweedy

It really is a choice that’s being made. And if you recognize that you’ve made a choice to play Candy Crush for forty-five minutes or dive deep into a YouTube marble-racing rabbit hole, then maybe you could choose to spend that time strumming a guitar and finding a chord progression that inspires you instead. Or spend forty-five minutes freewriting. Frankly, even that much time isn’t necessary. You don’t have five minutes? You don’t have three minutes? How long is a song? Three minutes? Obviously we’re going to get into more nuanced instruction later, but for now, pick up a guitar and bang on it for three minutes. There, you’ve essentially written a song. That’s honestly something that could make you feel better. Pick up a guitar and scream your fucking head off. That’s going to make you feel better. And it’s going to make you feel like you did the one step that you didn’t think you’d be able to get yourself to do.