My Story: From Unskilled Musician to Songwriting Educator

Hello! I’m Saral Navlakha, a Seattle-based composer, songwriter, singer, & educator. Thanks for stopping by! 

I’ve had a wild music journey. I played flute, piano, and guitar in my youth but was terrible at all of them due to sweaty hands. True story! 

So I turned to singing - no hands required - but I was even worse at that. My first voice teacher justifiably called me the worst singer he had ever heard!

I thought about quitting all the time, but my love for music kept me going.

After ten years of lessons, my voice was finally becoming decent. So in October 2018 I started my solo music project Polarity Code. My goal was to learn how to write/compose original music.

Three months later, I had fallen deeply in love with songwriting. I was obsessed and wanted to learn everything I could about the craft.

I took online courses, watched YouTube videos, analyzed songs, and formed a team of mentors.

Not only was I developing a unique style of music that blended multiple genres, but the quality of my songs was rapidly improving. While it took me a decade to learn how to sing, it took me a fraction of that time to get to a comparable level as a songwriter.

The deeper I got into songwriting, the more I noticed gaps in the way it was being taught. All I could find was random tips that lacked context and cohesion.

What I really needed was a framework - a flexible, non-prescriptive guide that (1) improved my compositions; (2) helped me finish songs; and (3) brought order to the chaotic songwriting process.

I started studying other art forms like movies & novels. My aha moment came when I realized that songs are audio stories, and that songwriters tell stories with music just like writers tell stories with words. 

This insight led me to develop a simple narrative-based framework that transformed my songs.

I knew I had to share my discovery with the world. And that's when Too Many Hooks was born.

My mission with TMH is to help songwriters of all experience levels and musical styles to write the songs they want to write. What started as a personal challenge to improve my own songwriting has turned into a mission to help as many songwriters as I can.

I’ll be honest. I suffered from massive imposter syndrome when I first started TMH. Who am I to teach songwriting when there are so many amazing, more experienced songwriters in the world?

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I’m perfectly qualified.

My songwriting approach produces consistent long-term results, can be customized for anyone's use, and can work for any songwriter/genre.

I don’t have innate musical talent, so I’m constantly studying the craft and experimenting with different songwriting techniques.

I collaborate with highly-skilled musicians from around the world and have experience communicating musical ideas.

I’ve served as a teacher/mentor for much of my life and love helping people grow.

Transform Your Songs Today