Can Aspies be good songwriters?

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I feel like I don't have enough thoughts, or an 'inner world' that I could bring into my writing. That sort of lack of depth or layers or whatever destroys me. I think people always assumed I'm deeper than I actually am because I've had to deal with disabilities and such.

Yes, but it depends on the aspie.

i write poems and songs.

i write poems and songs.

I don't have a particular problem with writing the melodic side of songs - at times I resort to playing around until I stumble on a catchy hook by accident - but for some reason, writing lyrics is completely beyond me. I simply can't do it, no matter how hard I try. The weird thing is, I can communicate reasonably well, I can crack jokes and write prose easily enough but my brain is seemingly incapable of forming poetry or song lyrics. I drives me nuts actually. If I can string sentences together and produce instrumental songs, why can't I write the lyrics to go with them?

The OP's thoughts on an 'inner world' is an interesting one. My songwriting approach is to work around a time, place, person or feeling but when it comes to the 'words' part I don't have anything to say.

I used to write a lot of poems....I suddenly just stopped doing it.
My poems usually reflected my opinion on something very broad or they were about the way I felt about myself or things that happened to me. I found I hadn't the usual life experiences of most people, so my poems were usually full of metaphors and imagery just describing one and the same thing. Sometimes I wouldn't even know what I was writing but I thought it sounded good.
I never tried to put meaning to every single line....it was mostly about images and the sound or flow of words.
So to speak, it wasn't factual nor concrete but blurry and flexible...most of the things I did...exactly because I didn't know what to write but I wanted to write poems anyway.
I also would write after having felt an intense emotion of some sort, after an emotionally touching experience or after viewing a movie or reading a book...things that move me.
I'd say my poems sound different than most.....and it's probably because of their vagueness....and the vagueness was due to my lack of expression in concrete, understandable ways.

Some of my poems I wanted to be turned into lyrics for songs....I once did that, too.

It's like drawing pictures, I don't draw pictures of reality. I just draw because I want to and it usually ends up in abstract, unkown shapes which somehow make sense in their overall composition but they have no proper meaning. They mean what you want them to be and they are a product of certain moments that drove me to create them in the first place.

This all probably doesn't make much sense.

That being said,....I don't know. I guess, everybody can be a good songwriter but it depends. It doesn't depend on whether you're an Aspie or not but on something else.

I remember I used to look for a poetry 101 on on Google, so I could produce such things for myself... I don't recall actually running into one, and using it. I actually think I COULD work with something, if I had a poetry guide for beginners.

When I started writing again, I started reading lyrics of songs that I like just to get a feel for structure (and also read some poetry).

Some songs are stories (Ziggy Stardust), some are poetic, some rhyme but many don't....and songs don't need lyrics to be great.

Try reading the lyrics to your favorite songs.
Also, you'll notice some words are easier to sing than others.

I'm sure there are tips and rules for song writing, but many songs are abstract and don't seem to follow any formal rules....like songs where the same word is just repeated many times over and over.

If you'd prefer a more traditional type song writing approach, notice how many verses there are and same with the chorus, and where a bridge might fit to break up a song with more than a few verses.

I recognize the problem of wanting to have "something to say". But should I apply this to the music I listen to most of it would fail to live up to this. Most songs are pretty banal if you listen to what they actually say.

I don´t know if this advice is good or not, but I suggest reading the lyrics of some songs you consider good and analyzing it, trying to find out how it works. Whether it´s writing or drawing it seems like a good idea to start off by copying what others do in order to learn the craft. What´s important is not that you create something "that is you" but that you earn experience in what you´re doing. Eventually you can put your indivudual stamp on it.

EDIT: Oh, while I was writing this Goodwitchy wrote something similar, so my post may be a bit superfluous.

Not to turn this into another speculative thread about which musician might have Aspergers, but aren't both Gary Numan and David Byrne professionally diagnosed. Byrne is undoubedly an "important" songwriter.

Songs are funny things though. Often songs the artist themselves judge as "filler" material (off the top of my head Jerry Butler's "Only The Strong Survive," The Pretenders "Brass In Pocket" and New Order's "True Faith") become hits and are regarded as important songs. Maybe you are being a little hard on yourself?

I have composed songs, written lyrics, and played good guitar and bass riffs and come up with catchy keyboard and heavy drum beats (double kick.) That may make me odd.

However, there is very little variance often. My bass playing has a good mix of styles but the composition is almost always the same with similar note patterns.

I started writing riffs and lyrics much like what I enjoy. For instance, my lyrics were originally based around In Flames, machine Head and Opeth lyrics.

Trying to do something new is often challenging. Because of that it's best to find a structure that works.

To say that a particular group can't do something is foolish by the way...look at it this way: they have wheelchair basketball called rugby. It's truly inspiring.

Sure. Like any skill, it takes practice and exercise.

I have some recommendations now: practice chords (if your instrument has them) along with single notes, practice scales, experiment with tunings (I once uptuned the 3 top strings of my Ibanez Gio GSR206 bass and it sounded interesting), try distortions (again, if your instrument has pedals), mess with genres, etc. Basically find what you're comfortable with.

Some also like translating notes from a song onto their instrument. Some have done piano covers on guitar, bass covers that follow guitarlines/classical lines etc.

I experimented a lot and finally settled on a bass style that is punk, metal and hard rock influenced with lots of distortions, technical parts, and solos often aided with distortion. Just comes down to personal preference.

Also: some prefer simple, others prefer complex. I prefer complex. Your style may differ vastly, and likely does.