The painter Chuck Close says, “Inspiration is for amateurs - the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of…

Video: Blair talks about patterns and structure in songwriting I have rarely met a songwriter who loves to re-write or edit. Most songwriters I know love the moment of creation,…

[video width="960" height="540" m4v="http://blairpackham.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BPackham-re-Blog-June-2017-desktop.m4v"][/video] I recently ran into a songwriter who told me proudly, “I’ve written over a thousand songs.” This writer is talented. I’ve heard her songs, and I…

Let’s agree that the most basic job of the songwriter is to make the listener feel something. But let’s say you’re writing about your own feelings—how do you tell someone your heart…

The other day, I was talking about this blog of mine with a songwriting friend who had happened to read a few entries. He commented that my writing was somehow…

I think it’s really important for human beings—not just songwriters—to be as honest with themselves as possible about everything, but especially their own motives for doing things. It’s difficult to…