Songwriting Sessions: How to write a song

So you're interested in songwriting, but you have no idea how to write a song. You've come to the right place! In this post I'll be giving you some ideas for how you can write you very song. I'll go over some popular methods, and by the end you should have an idea for how to get started.

The first and most important element of songwriting is actually remembering what you wrote (I wrote a short post about that here). Find a way to remember what you wrote!

How to write a song

There are different ways you can go about writing a song. I heard once that David Bowie used to write sentences (or was it just one word?) on  small pieces of paper, put them in a hat, and then pick them out of that hat at random and attempt to rearrange them into a song. Strange!

I don't think there is one strictly superior method of writing a song, so I'll give a short list of ways you can write music below:

Method 1: Write the lyrics first 

(This method obviously doesn't apply if you're writing an instrumental song.)

If you're stuck on writing the next big pop or rock song, why not start with the lyrics? If you write the words to the song first, it might give you an idea of what kind of tune you're really looking to make, and maybe the chord progression will be more obvious.

I have used this method before many times - back when I didn't really get how to make a decent chord progress, I used to write a lot of lyrics. In fact, most of my old lyrics never actually found a home (I never wrote the music for them)!

If you've never written lyrics before, don't over think it. Just write about whatever seems important at the time. Don't worry if they seem bad (some songs have simple lyrics, some songs don't - more about that in my post on writing lyrics here), they're probably fine (and even if you don't like them you'll get better with practice).

Method 2: Write the music first

Grab your guitar, sit down at your piano, or pull out your ukelele (or whatever it is you play), and just start playing! Put together a chord progression, start improvising a melody, find something that sounds nice. Then find something else that sounds nice that connects to that. Repeat until you have enough of a song to start writing the lyrics (assuming you have one)

If you don't know how to come up with a chord progression and want to write one using your guitar, piano, or ukelele, here are some examples (I'll be discussing this in depth over the next while, so you'll be learning plenty about this soon)

C G Am F

G F C G

Am G F E

Bm G D A

Method 3: Combine methods 1 and 2 (write the lyrics and music together)

Grab your instrument of choice, and start playing and singing! Sometimes the music will lend itself to certain words or phrases, and before you know it you've got a song on your hands!

Any spots where you don't have words can be replace by humming or singing something like "la la la" or "doo doo" (or whatever noise suits you best).

Method 3-and-a-half: Mix and match methods 1 and 2

Sometimes I'll start writing lyrics and get stuck, so I'll grab my guitar and start trying to find a chord progression and melody. Then I'll do that until I feel the need to get some more lyrics, and I'll stop and go back to my pen and paper.

I like to think of this as "mixing and matching" methods 1 and 2 - you start with one method, then go to the other when you get stuck, then keep bouncing back as you get stuck on one particular method. It's just one more way to keep yourself from making excuses and believing that you can't finish a song!

Method 4: Steal from someone else's song

Okay, I'm mostly joking, but here's a method that can provide interesting results. Listen to a song you really like, and as you're listening, come up with your own part - a small melody to complement the original, for example. Then, once you've got something that sounds good, try singing it (or playing it) away from the song. Try to come up with your own progression (probably in the same key), and you've now got the start of your own song!

There are other ways to take inspiration from someone else's song, like:

- coming up with a new melody using the same rhythm (as the song's melody)
- using a similar theme but different lyrics and melody
- writing a song with the same chord progression, but with completely different rhythm and tempo (so your song might be slower and with a different rhythm to the strumming)
- many other methods (use your imagination!)

I'm sure you can come up with creative ways to find inspiration from another's song - just be sure to make your song very different than the song that inspired you! (The last thing you want is a lawsuit)

Many other methods...

I'm sure there are other methods you can use to write a song, with a little imagination... feel free to let me know of any other ways you use to write songs - I'd love to hear about them!

If you get stuck...

Remember the following: restriction breeds creativity

If you're stuck writing a song, try to come up with restrictions to your song, like:
- write a song that has only 4 chords
- write a song with only piano and vocals
- write a song in the key of A
- write a song in dorian mode
etc.

Placing restrictions on your song tends to make it easier to write (and you can always get rid of any restriction you have later, if it seems appropriate). I use this method all the time to great success. I've even got a "song bucket list" going, where my goal is to one day write a song using one of the restrictions on my list - you can check it out here.

Keep writing!

No matter what, just keep writing. Write in the good times and the bad. Write when you think you're hot stuff and when you think your writing is garbage. Just keep writing! It will keep getting better...