Can You Be a Songwriter Without Being a Singer?


Can you be in a running marathon but with a bicycle? No. But it would be super fun though. I hope you’re ready for some myth-busting that is about to happen right now.

It’ll be difficult to be a songwriter without the ability to sing. You’d be missing the perspective of a singer on whom the end result finally rests. Without that vision of an end goal, you might create songs that don’t actually sound good in real.

The good news is that with the dawn of online courses it’s now more than possible to learn what you want for a fraction of the cost of in-person lessons. Let’s read on ahead about why it’s difficult to be a songwriter without the ability to sing.

Very Difficult

It is going to be really difficult.

And I mean truly difficult because when you’re writing songs you have to write them with the melody and if that melody cannot be sung by you, then it is going to be very difficult for you to understand how a singer is going to actually present the song that you have written.

Missing Perspective

That being said, it is a matter of perspective because you can’t commit to a craft that you trying to have without actually learning about it. 

Since the end goal of any song that is ever written is to be sung and performed or recorded, you cannot escape the reality that the need for a songwriter to sing is mandatory; not an option

The other thing that we need to keep in mind is that if you are someone who is afraid to sing but you have a lot of ideas that are going around in your head and you can compose far better than you can actually sing then I would highly suggest to you that you look at all the resources that are provided on this website (and at the end of the article) so that you are able to become a better singer than you were before because there are more benefits for you to learn how to sing if you are a songwriter than otherwise.

You Need to Learn to Sing

If you are afraid to sing then let me assure you that there are no judgments here because everybody has to start somewhere and if you are starting from the bottom then that is completely fine regardless of how old you are. 

It doesn’t matter to me and doesn’t matter to anyone else either. And if anyone tells you that you’re too old to sing show them this article.

If you are truly afraid to learn how to sing then I would suggest that you listen to this advice. 

The Basics Are Easy

Learning how to sing the basics of learning how to sing is not hard at all. The basics of anything can’t be hard that’s why they are the basics. 

It is when you combine a lot of skills together that something becomes complex and one starts to become a master of it. The basics of singing are easy and so are the basics of music theory and so are the basics of holding a guitar. 

But, when you hold the guitar correctly and when you strum with your right hand the way it’s meant to be, and your left hand is placed exactly where is supposed to be and after a week of your fingertips being hurt; you finally realize that the pain is gone and now you are able to hold a chord altogether. 

What have you done? What you have successfully done is you have combined three motions together and made them come together to make something happen that could not have been done with any of its parts missing.

The thing with learning how to sing is that we are already acquainted with how our voice works and so it might seem difficult at first like how your fingertips pain when you first try to hold the guitar chords but eventually you settle into it. 

Now what you are left with is wonderful information that the rest of your musical journey will stand. And it goes without saying that whatever you end up deciding to do you’ll be able to handle it better than before.

It is okay to take some time and not rush through things.  It’s okay to try to understand things and try to do them as perfectly as possible. That’s what practice is for.

As far as what resources you can use to learn to sing, there are quite a few at the end of this article.

Online Courses Are Here to Save Us

The reason I suggest that you should go through online courses is that they give you freedom of time and location and the barrier of entry is basically non-existent. I have written extensively on this topic you can read it at the end of this article.

Then is the matter of deliberate practice because when you go to these courses you’ll understand that – how to practice and what you ought to practice, I have written another article in which I talk about what 30 minutes of practice can do for you.

I want to give you a little bit more boost of motivation if you are on the older side of yours, you will find this article very helpful.

A Realistic Timeline

But beyond this, I want to tell you that if you give yourself 3 to 6 months to learn music theory and the basics of singing, your songwriting will be all the better for it. 

You may even not have to rely on other people to sing your own songs and if you have a knack for writing really good lyrics then you are becoming more and more self-sufficient which by the way a lot of people do. 

And if you want to take things a little bit further than this then I suggest that not only do you learn how to sing and how music theory works but learn the basics of music production as well. And then the circle will be complete. 

You compose the song, you record the song and you sing it yourself. And there you go, a songwriter who can sing will always be better than someone who can’t. 

Where to Learn Singing From

The best way for you to learn how to sing is through online courses and you can read about it here.

The one and only course that I would recommend to you is, ‘The Four Pillars of Singing’ by Robert Lunte. You really wouldn’t need another one after this one. So go ahead and buy it and start to learn to sing now!

There are a lot more courses though. You can find them here!

All the best with your singing!

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