Whether you want to become a professional music artist or you want to take up songwriting as a hobby, getting started can be somewhat intimidating. Indeed, songwriting is an art form just like painting or dance. This means that there is a certain amount of talent required to become a successful singer, songwriter, or music producer.
That being said, just like any other art form, songwriting is also a craft that can be learned. With enough theoretical knowledge and practice, you could potentially become a very successful songwriter. In any case, learning the basics is essential to begin, so here’s how to write a song if you have never done it before.
#1 Start with The Idea
Unarguably, the best place to start when writing your song is the idea behind it. When you know what kind of message you want to communicate to your audience, it becomes much easier to find the right path in songwriting. Think about the main topic of your song and the themes you want to explore with it.
If you’ve ever been a passionate fan of one or more music artists, you probably know what it’s like to be looking for deeper meanings in songs. Casual music lovers might not be as concerned about such things, but serious listeners often tend to try and read between the lines. That’s exactly why it will be so useful to start with your idea – it will give your song another layer and will elevate it in value.
#2 Balance Lyrics and Melody
Once you have chosen the main idea for your song, you can start working on the song itself. Remember that the best songs are the ones that balance the lyrics and the melody. Both of these have to work together to support and expand on your main idea. It doesn’t matter which of the two you choose to start from – it all depends on what you feel more comfortable with.
While working on your lyrics and melody, you should also structure your song correctly. Marilyn Johnson, an expert from the best websites and writing services reviews site, explains it this way, “The better you understand the way songs are structured, the easier it will be for you to organize your own song in a coherent and harmonious way.”
Most songs have two or more verses, a chorus, and a bridge. Some songs also have a pre-chorus, a post-chorus, an intro, an outro, and a drop. You don’t necessarily have to use all of these and depending on your genre, you may want to alter your structure to fit your genre’s conventions.
#3 Leave Writing for Later
Surprisingly, songwriting is not always about actively crafting your song. In fact, leaving the writing for later can be one of the best ways to actually come up with good ideas and eventually finish what you started. In other words, there is no need to rush things or to spend hours wrecking your mind when you have writer’s block.
Instead of doing all of that, set aside what you have written already and do something else. As your mind rests, the ideas you have been working on will brew inside your head and will form into something coherent on a subconscious level. When you do come back to writing, you’ll discover that you suddenly have all the solutions to your problems.
#4 Write from Experience
Another interesting way to approach songwriting is to write from experience. In reality, most songwriters use this technique simply because it is so effective. When you write from experience, you write about the things you know and have lived through yourself.
Thomas Bale, an expert from the top writers list from the custom writing reviews site, puts it this way, “Writing from experience allows you to connect with your song on a personal level. You are conveying your emotions and feelings, not just your thoughts and past experiences. Even if you are writing songs for someone else, you should still make them sound sincere, and that’s impossible if you don’t relate to some part of your songs on a deeper level.”
#5 Note All Your Ideas
One last technique you should definitely use while writing your song is noting all your ideas. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s a good idea or a bad one – you need to write it down. You can never tell for sure what will work and what won’t. That’s exactly why writing down each and every one of your ideas is so important. If you write it down now, you will never forget it and you can use it later on.
On the other hand, you should still let yourself discard ideas that aren’t working. Don’t cling to ideas that simply don’t fit your song. If it’s a hook that sounds weird or a rhyme that is odd – it shouldn’t be there and you should get rid of it. Songwriting is about making choices, and you might make many bad choices at first. But the more you practice, the better choices you’ll start making.
Ultimately, the takeaway is that songwriting is an incredibly personal process. Both the words you use and the order in which you create the different parts of your song are different for every person. Yet, by following general guidelines and common songwriting practices, you can start writing your own songs and become quite successful at it.
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