Songwriter Advisor Blog

The following is a really helpful article originally published in the October “Tune Sleuth” Newsletter.

If you’re still having trouble learning how to write songs even with so much information on SongwriterAdvisor.com and SongwriterAdvisor.com Blog, it’s probably because you don’t have a clear learning path laid out before you.

Most website articles are usually meant to focus on a solution for one specific area, and much of the responsibility is unfairly left to the reader to piece together and make sense of the information.

For those of you who haven’t yet had success or aren’t happy with your songwriting progress thus far, don’t be discouraged!  Let’s take this one step at a time so we can get you on the right track.

Follow this plan:

1.  First, read our beginner songwriting blueprint at: http://www.squidoo.com/beginner-songwriting-tips and familiarize or re-familiarize yourself with the basic sections of a song.

2.  Now take it one step further and download your free copy of “Beginner Songwriting Made Easy,” as a reference for the following entries below.

3.  Most songwriters get stuck before they even attempt to write anything because they simply don’t know what to write about! So, at this point, think of a simple STORY LINE you want your song to be about and write a sentence outlining your whole song idea.  Make it really simple for now.

E.g.,  STORY LINE = Although I miss you, you hurt me and treated me bad, so it’s time for me to move on so I can be happy.

4.  Now, start with the very first line of the song on a blank sheet of paper.  Use a pencil!!!!  Let’s start with the STORY LINE example above and make the first line grab everyone’s attention by letting them know right away “You miss the other person.

—I don’t know how I’ve made it these last few days without you

Kind of long right?  So, let’s break the line into two and start writing the song by using a line by line structure:

—I don’t know how I’ve made it
—These last few days without you

At this point if no melody has appeared in your head there are several things you can do. You can try singing these first two lines to a beat, you can just start singing the first two lines randomly in your head, or if you’re really stuck, you can take a keyboard or guitar and start playing random notes (one by one) for each syllable. 

If you’re using the random note method, merely take two or three syllables at a time and match a keyboard note to them.  For example, for “I don’t know” I played the notes “G”, “A”, and
“B”.  Voila!  Now I’ll experiment and keep building the first line.

I’ll then start working on the second line and once I like what I hear, I’ll move onto a third and fourth line.

—I don’t know how I’ve made it
—These last few days without you
—But I’ve managed to survive
—The river flooding my eyes
—Now they’re dry, now they’re dry

Hey sounds like a solid start for a cool R&B/pop song!
 

Once you have the first four or five lines with lyrics and melody, you have created a structure for your song’s verses.  You can use the same melody for the second part of the first verse and, of course, during the second verse after the first chorus.

When you’re done with the first verse, move on to the chorus and continue the same methods while referring back to “Beginner Songwriting Made Easy.” 

While you’re completing this exercise, don’t be overly concerned about whether or not the melody in the chorus should contain higher notes, etc. 

Take it one step at a time!  Get one song done (in rough draft form), then begin polishing it with a rewrite by using this guide:  http://www.songwriteradvisor.com/song-rewrite.html

When you’re comfortable with a rewrite, use the checklist at:http://www.songwriteradvisor.com/songwriting-checklist.html
Good luck! 

In pop music, if you’re looking to create a good song, write it using simple, catchy, repetitive phrases in the lyrics as well as the music in many parts of your song. The whole idea is develop a strong “hook,” build your song around it, and let the song take you in different directions leading to other “mini-hooks” in the song.

When you’re trying to build a main song hook, keep in mind the initial ideas you come up with don’t necessarily have to end up in your chorus. Many hit songs have been written by creating a “hook” which eventually were placed in a verse or other song section instead of the chorus.

How To Use Simplicity To Your Advantage

The vast majority of the greatest songs in the history of respected pop music have used simplicity to create their hooks. I.e., from the early days of songs like “My Girl” (Temptations, written by Smokey Robinson, Ronald White,
Mick Jagger) to the present day, “Disturbia” (Rihanna, written by Robert Allen, Andre Merritt, Chris Brown).

Hit songs have historically used easy, sing-songy melodies with memorable, short lyric phrases with great success. The pop writing lesson here: to write a good song, write short melodies and lyrical lines (from one to three notes and words), then let this lead you wherever else you want to go with that particular song.

How To Use “Catchiness,” and “Repetitiveness” To Your Advantage

This one’s easy and enjoyable!  Study some of your favorite songs and try to figure out what it is that attracts you to the song, and invariably the answer will be:

1. The song has one main hook that really stands out.Nine times out of ten that hook will be in the chorus. Take a look at Neyo’s big hit “Closer” and you’ll see the hook is actually contained in the prechorus (not the chorus). Notice also how the majority of hit songs have very repetitive main hooks; this is what keeps the listener coming back for more!

2. The song has a few other repetitive, catchy hooks I like to refer to as “mini-hooks.” Many times these come in the form of an instrumental intro riff (at the beginning of the song) that continues throughout the song whether through chord structure or underlying melody line.

Hooks are the biggest key to creating hit songs!  It’s what you do with the song after you’ve created the great hook (i.e., strong verse writing, song makes sense, song is meaningful, etc.) that earns you either respectability or the dreaded “Cheese Award” and a nomination for one of the worst pop songs in history!   

To create a catchy repetitive hook, you need to play your instrument or sing, and concentrate on 2 to 3 notes at a time until you like a certain combination, then build from there using one to three more notes at a time.

When you’ve hit on a a few notes that contain that certain singable part that makes you go “Wow, that sounds good (or cool)” you’ll know you have something people are going to love!  Now you have the makings of a good song.  Write on!

Once you start writing the rest of the song,try to think of catchy instrumental or melodic phrases to bracket (fill in the gaps) the vocals in certain areas using the same two to three note-finding method as your starting point (described above).

Oftentimes the only thing you need to bring a song to life is to fill in empty spots in your song by inserting mini-hooks, and by slightly changing the melody or words of your hook.

Bottom line is: after you’re done writing the song, if it hits you in the chest with the “wow” factor, it’s going to be a darn good song.  Write away and keep churning out those hits!