How To Start Writing A Song

October 6, 2020

If you have a sense of melody, harmony, and lyric writing, you can write a song. So you love music and you want to start writing your own, but you do not know where to begin.

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Perhaps writing books or poetry isn’t your thing but you’d like to try.

How to start writing a song. But with the right training and enough practice, anyone can be a songwriter. Developing your song’s main melody or central chorus is considered by some to be the best place to begin writing your next track. Many of today’s biggest hits rely on a song structure like this:

For more on using a title to start your song, watch this video. Are you a budding lyricist? However, playing an instrument, in particular a piano, guitar, or some other string instrument, will make writing that much easier.

Perhaps writing books or poetry isn't your thing but you'd like to try your hand at writing a song. Basically, this means that if you are having difficulty working with the melody part of the song in your head, then write it out as poetry first and then worry about songwriting later. If so, then this series will get your new song started now, by turbocharging your workflow!

Once you’ve got your hook or key chord progression, you can build the rest of your song around it. Even professional hit songwriters were exactly where you are, having never written a song. That’s normal, as the process of writing music is different for everyone!

Then, go as high as you can go. Verse / chorus / verse / chorus / bridge / chorus. Some might start with a title and build from there and others may start with an emotion or a personal event that they want to share through the art of song.

But a few basic concepts will help get you started. Don’t go too far off topic, and start getting ready to end the song. Wherever you can hold a note for 3 seconds, that's the top of your range.

A short, memorable melodic figure can play a huge role in your songs. Collaborate as frequently as possible with good lyricists. That’s as good a place as any to start.

A riff can evolve into a lead, a bassline or a vocal. A great tool for lyric ideas is a rhyme dictionary. On some days, inspiration will be nil and you probably won’t have any idea what to write about.

Getting started is often the hardest part of the songwriting process. Start writing a song by not thinking. See which ones sound intriguing.

It doesn’t have to be in song structure (we’ll get to that later). Do capture the feeling and emotion of your concept. Instead, start writing the first thoughts that come to your mind when you think of the subject or song title, even if those thoughts seem nonsensical.

While there are many ways to start a song, this is one that many pro songwriters use. When you are finishing the song, you should end it with a strong final message. Try writing a simple verse (such as four or six lines) moving into a chorus with lots of repetition.

It might sound simple, but when you’re just starting out they’re great for finding inspiration. First, warm up your voice, then hum and drop your voice down as low as you can go. Beat that blank sheet of paper.

Different musical genres have specific classic features that you may want to use in your song. I'll show you a method as well as three different types of beginnings that will spark your imagination. That’s because you will have an accompaniment from the start, and will have more options for starting the “process” of songwriting.

Starting with a title can keep your song focused, suggest ideas for going forward, and define the overall emotional feel. If you're writing the song for yourself, you'll need to find your own vocal range. You don’t have to be able to play an instrument (although it will make writing much easier).

Perhaps writing books or poetry isn’t your thing but you’d like to try your hand. If there will be lyrics in your song, start with writing a few ideas out. Intro one of the most common obstacles to overcome as a songwriter or producer, is where to start.

When that happens, don't think of throwing in the towel. If you don’t have any chords or lyrics yet, you get to work with a blank slate. Write down thirty or forty different words or phrases.

The lowest you can go while still humming clearly is the bottom of the range. A good riff can be all a song needs to get started. The “star spangled banner” was originally a poem and in fact many songs got their start as poems or similar forms of.

You can see more details on verse writing here. When you sit down to start writing a new song, do you find yourself staring at a blank screen for a while, only to end up scrolling through your feed? Choose a feel or groove to begin writing to.

How many syllables you have and what chords you need the melody to work with are yet to be determined. Where to start writing your song. The longer a lyric becomes, the greater the potential for confusion.

You obviously felt strongly enough to want to write about this idea, so immerse. Some write the lyrics first, some the chord progression, and others a melody. Simplicity is hard to master, but worth pursuing.

If you’re writing a rock song, you might use power chords and write lyrics about rebellion. If you start writing lyrics with intuition and then refine with a specific theme, you can create a song that is more poetic. Don't wanna compete in a staring contest with that blank sheet of paper and wonder how to begin writing a song?

Riffs cast a pretty big shadow in music history for a reason. You have to create lyrics, melodies, and harmonies. Are you a budding lyricist?

If so, you'll want to know. Writing based on a general idea/lyrical concept. If you’re writing a country song, you may want to use a steel guitar and build your melodies and lyrics around the theme of loss and hardship.

Once you've laid out the core phrases, lines, subject matter, and themes for your song, it's time to fill in the blanks. Here are a few titles for you to play with. Explore different feels until you find one that fits the message you are trying to convey with your song.

Or, try starting a song with the chorus. Writing a good song, however, isn’t easy. How to start writing a song.

A great way to start writing your melody is to improvise using the instrument you are most competent with. Sometimes you’ve been through an experience or have an idea for a song that feels important enough to write about. A book like song building can really help with this aspect and get you writing better quickly.

Writing an intro and outro for your song

How To Start Writing A Melody Songwriter Theory in 2020