Scott gave some good advice, as have several others.

Remember, this is a journey.... it has a beginning and you have a destination in mind most times when you start. The goal is to learn new things along the way. Don't be in a hurry, stop and smell the roses. In the beginning try to learn one new thing every time you set down to record or write. Lots of progress is made early on, and as you progress you work on refining and perfecting those basics and molding them to your style and way of doing things.

Study the producers and the artists and the writers of the songs you really like. If you want to write like them, you have to do the same things they do in the same way they do it. There's no magic bullet to getting to that level. It's nothing but hard work, burning the midnight oil, pounding the pavements, and working with others who have the same aspirations, day in day out, week after week, month after month, year after year. One day you will wake up and realize that you can write and record some pretty cool stuff.

To help get you there.....You can find like minded souls in dedicated forums all over the internet.

Nashville songwriters association has thousands of songwriters hoping to write the next #1 country song. TAXI has folks interested in writing for film & TV and many are successful at it, Cakewalk and other DAW forums have folks interested in the recording and engineering aspect, and there are other forums devoted to just about any other topic related to music that you could think of.

Some of my influences were Neil Young, Willie Nelson, and Billy Gibbons. When you listen to my tunes, and my playing, you can hear those folks coming through because I spent thousands of hours over decades listening to and copying what they do and how they do it. Then, I used it to create my own style of playing, singing, and writing a song. The kind folks on the Cakewalk songs forum helped me refine my recording chops and waaaaa laaaa... here I are. Still learning and still growing and still studying this fun thing called music.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 04/05/16 02:11 AM.
You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.