Tom Petty Revealed His Songwriting Secrets

Tom Petty’s talents on songwriting is a noteworthy skill that only icons can have. While he claimed that he wasn’t born with the golden aptitude for music, he was, however, an avid learner that honed his skills to be where he was on his career.

In this two-part interview of Tom Petty with Jian Ghomeshi, Petty explored his career, his big hits, and his songwriting techniques that he gladly shared to the public. This was one of the last interviews of Petty before his death in 2017.

Mudcrutch was Petty’s first band that became relevant in the clubs in Florida, where the musician was born. At that point, Petty knew he had to work himself cleverly on the music scene, or else, he wouldn’t have the money to buy food.

Mudcrutch then transformed into the present-day the Heartbreakers. At that point, they are already masters of their own craft but still learning a thing or two about making music. Petty even revealed that he doesn’t go on the typical write-a-song-after-the-pain process, but rather, take time to heal before making a song about it.

“Something horrible might happen, but you don’t really write a song when you’re feeling horrible,” Petty said in the interview. “If I’m feeling horrible, the last thing I’m gonna do is reach for a guitar.”

“It’s part of just living through this life, it’s just, you know, just take all you can carry,” he further adds.

Another thing worth noting about his way of writing is how he takes down his songs that aren’t “too embarrassing” to be performed in front of the band. If he has a great idea for a song, he would take a recording of him first, and if it goes quite well, he’ll introduce it to the others. And that’s how he’d been doing it since then.

You make watch the 2-part interview below.