Write a Song in 2 Hours: Ben Burnes on Beating Creative Friction

Ben Burnes joins the podcast for a fifth time to discuss his new book, How to Write a Song in Two Hours, sharing practical techniques for building a consistent creative practice.

Ben Burnes, musician, producer, and game developer, returns for his fifth appearance on the Music Production Podcast to talk about his new book, How to Write a Song in Two Hours. Built on a decade of weekly two-hour songwriting sprints and over 400 completed songs, the book distills the practical and philosophical tools that help producers push through creative friction and actually finish things.

What It Does

The core idea is straightforward: treat songwriting like going to the gym. You do not always want to show up, but once you are warmed up and moving, you are glad you did. Ben frames the two-hour sprint not as a rigid competition but as a way to lower the stakes so low that failure stops being a threat. When the only goal is to invest two hours and make something, the pressure to produce a masterpiece evaporates.

The book is deliberately short. Each chapter runs to around 400 words, covering a single idea clearly and concisely before moving on. Ben cites Derek Sivers and William Zinsser’s On Writing Well as major influences on that approach. The aim is a reference you can flip open for a burst of inspiration rather than a 400-page tome padded with studies and personal anecdotes.

Ben also explores the value of constraints and collaboration. From swapping four-bar loops every 30 minutes with a streaming collaborator, to recording ambient audio on holiday and building an album from it when he got home, the throughline is always the same: remove the weight of expectations and just make the thing in front of you.

How to Use It

• Set a hard two-hour limit. Use a timer. When it ends, the song is done whether you like it or not. This breaks the habit of endless tinkering.
• Treat the session like a gym visit. Schedule it, show up, and accept that the motivation usually arrives after you start, not before.
• Lower the stakes deliberately. Pick constraints, a theme, a sample pack, a field recording, anything that narrows your choices and removes the blank-canvas paralysis.
• Know when to bail. If a song is not working and you are not vibing with it, chuck it and start fresh. Sunk cost is not a reason to keep going.
• Add a collaborative layer. Working with another person, even just swapping loops or handing over an unfinished project, shifts the weight off your shoulders and often produces unexpected results.
• Write for a purpose beyond yourself. Ben’s community challenge raises funds for animal rescue charity Angel of Hope. Having an external reason to finish something cuts through artistic paralysis quickly.

Why It Matters

Most producers have a folder full of unfinished projects. The problem is rarely talent or tools. It is the combination of perfectionism, procrastination, and waiting for inspiration that never quite lands at a convenient time. Ben’s book and the practice behind it offer a repeatable system for getting past that. Scheduling creativity, embracing constraints, and keeping the stakes low are not tips that drain the fun out of music making. They are what makes finishing music a regular, sustainable habit rather than a rare accident.