I went to a songwriting workshop on my vacation. Eighty bucks for a six hour session. A little pricey but I was hoping I would get my money's worth. The teacher had interesting stories about how he had written a hit song and stories about artist that he knew and played with. That part was interesting.The theme of the conference was Pretent to be an Artist. After you have mastered the art of pretending, you will be an Artist. This is kinda like fake it till you make it but it sounds more polished.
Also talked about how to make new music and songs. He suggested finding a song that you really like. Learn the song today. Then comeback tomorrow and try to play it. Don't listen to the original. Take the original song and make it yours. Maybe you slow it down, change the melody, speed it up, or give it a happy beat instead a sad minor feel. Change the lyrics and see if your new song is anything like the original. It won't be because most people are not that good at mimicking and repeating accurately.
I remember when I first started bowling. I did not always throw the ball at the spot I was aiming for. I wasn't able to hit the sweet spot just to the right of the left of the front head pin. What I would do is I would aim for the head pin knowing I would probably be off a little to the left or right and I would get strikes. This method worked until I started to consistently hit the head pin and started getting too many splits.
I am not able to hit the sweet spot in somebody else's song, but I can create my own sweet spot. (and hopefully hit it) This gives me the chance to grow and get better without trying to bowl or write exactly like somebody else does it.
I remember when I first started playing guitar and singing at the coffee shop. I didn't have the singing range to do song exactly like the radio. I couldn't hit the high notes so I would change the melody to make it reachable for my voice. Then I started writing my own songs. I had nobody to blame for those high notes. It I couldn't hit them, I would change them. This was one of my first steps toward becoming a songwriter. I was pretending I was an Artist, so I could become and artist.