Songwriting is not as daunting or difficult a task as you might think. The best way to develop as a songwriter is both through practice and through utilizing proper tips and tricks. In this article I'll cover how to write a song from the ground up.
First off, it really helps if you have had experience with playing a chorded instrument or in other words an instrument which plays chords such as the piano or guitar. This makes developing your hooks and subsequently the rest of your song a great deal easier and a little bit of music theory helps, as well.
Now think of a title for your song. This is a great way to write your initial hook for your song. Come up with your title and then assign different notes to each of the words or syllables for those words. You can either sing the words themselves with different notes or just hum each note per syllable. Keep messing with different notes until you find a melody which you like.
This is where it first helps to be able to play chords underneath of your potential melody. Trying different chord progressions helps you develop a melody idea and at the same time it lets you work out different progressions until you find the best sounding one to pair with that part.
This is also important because once you narrow down the chords you'll be using for that melody which will likely make up the majority of that section of your song (whether that's a chorus, verse, etc.), you can make note of which chords within the key you're playing in you've neglected. This is important for coming up with adjoining sections of your song. It's very refreshing to the ear to hear a chord which it hasn't heard yet so you can use this to your advantage.
For example, if your chorus is a standard 1 5 6 4 (four chord wonder) chord progression, then you can focus on either a chord which you haven't used yet for the verse like a 2 or a 3, or alternatively you can construct a verse which neglects the major 1 altogether and saves that for the chorus, teasing your listener until you get to the big payoff that is the chorus. This is used in pop songs all the time; even if the major 1 is used somewhere before the chorus, it's certainly not the focus like it is when you hit that 1 5 6 4.
We've only scratched the surface so far so I invite and encourage you to enlist in my FREE 5 Day Songwriting Boot Camp. You can sign up for free by clicking on this link for how to write a song; all you need is to enter your name and email address in the pop up to be sent the course to and you'll make huge strides in songwriting in just 5 days guaranteed.
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