Do you aspire to be a songwriter? Do you nurture dreams of pitching your songs to commercials, TV shows and music publishers? Or maybe you dream to be a recording artist instead. Whatever be the case, the first step to realising any of the above is by knowing how to write a song that appeals to many.
Writing in a way that involves your listeners and keeps them engaged from start to finish is an art. It takes practice to master this art and there are many approaches to achieve this goal. Given blow is a popular approach to writing songs that many professionals use.
Song Writing Tips for Beginners
Create Original Lyric Material
You can begin with a title as it helps you stay attentive and focused on the primary idea or message of your song. Express your message using a phrase of one to six words. Use an image or action words to add more energy to your title.
Next, expand on the title. First, ask yourself what you want to say regarding it and make a list of questions on what your listeners might want to find out about it. Everything from the meaning of your title, your feelings regarding it to what you plan to do next will need to be addressed through these questions.
Structure Your Song Well
Now comes the pertinent part for beginners being how to structure your song. Most of the popular songs of today use a structure which is: verse/chorus/verse/chorus/ bridge/ chorus.
The other key elements of a song are an intro, an outro, a pre-chorus and the drop. While writing your first few songs its best to stick with verse and chorus so as not to complicate matters. The verse of your song explains the story behind your song in maximum detail.
While you can use up to two, three or more verses in your song, the typical pop song has three verses usually. Now again, while not every song comes with a chorus, most of them do. A chorus is repeated many times in a song. It is catchy and holds the core of your song lyrics. You can continue to write the lyrics of your song by choosing to answer one question in the verse and one in the chorus of your song. Bring your lyrics to life with feelings and emotions infused in your wordings.
Work on Your Chords and Melody
Once your song is ready, you can now add melody to it. Observe the natural melody and rhythm of your lyrics when you say them out loud with emotions. Play the melody on an instrument of your choosing. Use a repeated simple chord pattern. Continue to try out different chord and melody patterns until you get what you are looking for.
Grow Your Song in Sections
While the lyrics of your song primarily makes an intriguing statement, asks an interesting question or describes a situation, it is vital that your song develops in sections. Once all your lyrics are done, it is necessary to connect your verses with your chorus.
After creating your verse and chorus, ensure that you link them smoothly so that they sound natural. It might be necessary to lower or raise the melody of your verse or modify the last line to make the chorus sound smooth. It must be noted that chorus melodies are in higher note ranges than verses as they are more emotional pieces.
Add the Finishing Touches
Treat your song as a piece of art. It needs to be improved and polished further. You can do so by going through the final lyrics, again and again, cutting off the rough edges and smoothening it out. Read it or sing it again and again and make changes to improve it. Going through your song’s verses and chorus all over again will help you spot mistakes and enable you to see that the concept of the song works as a whole.
In conclusion, one can say that writing songs is not as difficult as it seems. However, like everything else it requires constant practice to become a professional songwriter. The more you practice the quicker you will be at writing lyrics and structuring your own original songs.
