Songwriter Advisor Blog

Part 1 of this series talked about how to develop lyrical chops by using The Craft of Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis, and by encouraging you to consider playing either a guitar or piano (the two most widely used instruments used in creating songs)..

In Part 2 of this series, you’ll have enough information to help you learn songwriting quickly and effectively, and you’ll definitely have a distinct advantage over the average songwriter. 

It is not necessary to play an instrument to be successful in songwriting but it does give you an advantage.  An instrument not only helps you work out melodies, harmonies, and chord structures, it naturally opens up another dimension to your songwriting altogether!  Imagine the difference between coming up with a melody and working out an arrangement in your head versus going to the piano or guitar, experimenting with the melody and/or arrangement, and hearing the song develop into something you never would have created without having an instrument! 

To learn or improve the musical aspect of your songwriting:

1.  Let’s review the two main parts of songwriting; lyrics and music.  The music part of songwriting consists of melody, harmony, and rhythm.

2.  Invest in Writing Music For Hit Songs by Jai Josefs as soon as you can!  It is by far the greatest “how to write music” book ever published for contemporary music, and it contains excellent, real-world examples of actual hits and techniques songwriters used to achieve their success!  For this book, you do need to have a guitar or piano/keyboard handy in order to follow the examples. 

In Josefs’ book, you’ll learn how to harmonize with chords in major and minor keys through a foolproof natural music formula in an easy-to-understand format, you’ll learn how to effectively give your music contrast, how to build tension and release, and how to develop melodic ideas just to name a few.

3. Continue writing your own lyrics and melodies as suggested in “Part 1,” and start experimenting with and incorporating some of the chord ideas as well as other principles learned in Josefs’ book such as using chord inversions and pedal points to create bass motion in order to give your songs whatever particular underlying flavor you desire.

4. Pick out a favorite song and find the chord progression used either by buying sheet music or by visiting one of many websites which provide free chords and tabs for educational purposes such as Ultimate-Guitar.com. With your song in hand it’s time to try to determine in which key the songs is written. Without actual sheet music to see the key signature this can be difficult but here’s a useful tip; to find the key listen for the chord that sounds as if it has completely resolved and is at rest in the song. This chord will usually (not always) be found at the end of the chorus if it’s a verse-chorus type song, or the end of the verse in a verse-verse-verse type song.

5. Once you determine the key use the following chord formula built on the tonic note of the key:

I – IIm – IIIm – IV – V – VIm – VIImb5 (e.g., in the key of G, the tonic note would be G, and the basic chord formula would be):

G – Am – Bm – C – D – Em – F#mb5

6. Play these chords in succession and hear how they move up the scale. Notice how they sound similar to the single note scale in the same key, i.e., (single notes) G. A, B, C, D, E, F#

Using the above formula you now have seven chords you can use in any key to harmonize your songs!

So, the music industry secret is right here!  Yes there are other good songwriting books out there and some being written as we speak, but by using these two proven books, The Craft of Lyric Writing and Writing Music For Hit Songs as your songwriting reference books, you’ll have the most solid foundation to build your songwriting upon, just like many pro songwriters!  By the way, there’s enough study material in these books to last you months to years, and you’ll find yourself referring to and reviewing these books throughout your songwriting career!