How Do You Go About Writing A Song? Part 1

Part 1

There will be very little “theory” in this tutorial! Just a smidge!
And what little there is, is only a few very basic things you’ll
need to understand for this tutorial to make sense. So it “connects”!

Something important to remember . . .
Every melody has been sung.
Every chord progression has been played.
Every word has been sung!

Every melody has been sung. There are only 12 notes! Right? The
Chromatic Scale is simply playing all notes, in order. On a piano,
that would mean playing every key from one note, up (or down)
to that same pitch, an octave higher – or lower. All notes, including
the black keys.

Every key, every major or minor scale comes from the Chromatic Scale.

Every key has 7 notes. For example, the key of C has only C D EF G A BC
Plus, sometimes notes outside of the key are used in a melody. But for
the most part, most of the time, a melody will come from these 7 notes.

Every chord progression has been played. At some point in music history,
every possible combination of chords has been played together. And many
chord progressions have been played 1000s of times, the same exact
chords, in the same exact order – 1000 times! 1000s of songs!

Every key has 7 chords. The basic Do Re Mi, played using chords. And those
7 chords, for the most part, are going to support any melody you come up with.
If your melody uses a note outside of the key in which the song is written, an
accidental, then a chord outside of the key might be used. Or a chord might
need to be altered to include that note.

All of the notes in all 7 chords are in the major scale. As in, in the key
f C, the notes are C D EF G A BC. The chords in the C Major Chord (or Harmony)
scale are C Dm Em F G Am Bdim. And every one of these 7 chords share the notes,
some of the 7 notes, of the major scale. Each of these chords has 3 notes
from the scale.

Most Blues, Gospel, Folk, Rock and Rock-a-Billy songs use the same 3 chords,
pretty much in the same order. Most SURF songs and Spaghetti Westerns use
the same chords. Most early R and B/Motown songs use the same chords. Most
Pop songs today use the same 3 or 4 chord progressions. Latin Rock songs
follow the same structure, for the most part!

Every word has been sung! There are only so many words, and word
combinations. Right?

So what makes each of those 100s and 100s of songs unique? FEELING! Tempo.
Lyrics. Arrangements and orchestration! The combination of different common
bass lines over common chord changes. Drum beat. Instrument fills. Solos.

Sometimes it’s simply adding a chord to the progression. Adding embellishment
to a chord. Adding a key change in the middle of the song. Or writing a unique
bridge! Maybe using a different turn-around rather than the most commonly used
in that particular genre. Like adding a Jazz 2 5 1 before resolving back to
the verse.

OK, enough theory to get you through to the next tutorial! Promise!

So how do you write a new song?

If all melodies and chord progressions have already been written,
how do you write one that's different? You probably don't! There
will be one out there somewhere much like what you're writing.

So how do you write a NEW song?
By making the melody, and chord progression your own! OWN IT! Play
it from the heart!

I’m NOT saying COPY IT! Not at all! But when you write that melody,
FEEL IT! Put your feeling into it. And own it! When you play the chords,
same thing. FEEL IT! And OWN IT!

This tutorial series (which might actually develop into a workshop) will
be fairly long. This is the introduction to song writing.

This series won’t be so much about writing or reading music. Not focused
on writing notation. It will focus on the actual act of writing a song.
Lyrics, melody, chords!

So, what exactly do you do to write a song? What steps do you take?
How do you prepare? What tools, and what skills do you need?

Three words . . . It’s a process!

Not everyone does it the same way. Heck, everyone doesn’t even do
it the same way every time!
Let’s say you have a goal. You want to write a song. OK. What’s the
first step? If you just sit down one day, pencil and paper in hand, or
computer on, ready to start typing, or guitar and audio recorder are
ready to do . . . That’s gonna be a challenge. You tell yourself . . . OK,
write a song!

First let me ask you what you mean by “write a song”. Do you mean
write the lyrics to a song? Do you mean make up a melody for a song?
Do you mean, what’s a cool chord progression to make into a song?

How will you come up with any of the above? And how will you decide
what kind of feeling the song should have? And what will the message
of the song be? And how do you put all of that together, at the same
time!?!

Well, you probably don’t! Even if you want to do ALL of this, create a
song from beginning to end, all verses, a chorus, maybe a bridge! An
intro, and outro! All of it! You probably won’t “write” it all at the same
time. Maybe, but doubtful!

May I have a moment, please?
A better idea, IMHO, is to “wait for a MOMENT”! A moment? Huh!?!

A familiar phrase you often hear from a song writer is “comes to mind”.
It just came to mind one day. THAT . . . is a MOMENT!

You’re doing something, playing a game, watching a movie or TV, maybe
you’re raking leaves . . . and a phrase comes to mind. A few words. A
single thought! In that moment, think about those words. And think about
what you are feeling, right now, in the moment!

Those words are an idea! While you contemplate what those words mean
to you, ask yourself what they mean. Ask yourself how you could relay that
meaning to someone else! Ask yourself how you could get someone else to
feel what you are feeling right now! And, most importantly, ask yourself why
you want someone to feel what you are feeling!

You also need to think about what you are doing, and consider what exactly
was it that made you think of that phrase. What single event, or series of
events just transpired that gave you the phrase? What about that event caused
you to feel the way you do! You need to capture all of this, IN that moment in
time! So you can recall it!

You need to keep that moment! And keep the feeling! You’ll need to “recall
the moment” when you finish what you’re doing, and sit down to write the
song. You’ll not only have a few words of inspiration to work with, but you’ll
have the FEELING! PLUS you’ll know why you want to share your moment by
writing the song!

So, you could just sit down and start writing, as in the first example. Or you
could wait for a MOMENT, save it. Or if you’re lucky, head to your studio or
playing area, and get to work writing about your moment, while it’s still
fresh! But if you do as I said, capture that moment, think about what the words
in the simple phrase means to you, and remember the feeling . . . you can recall
it when you’re ready.

Creating A Moment
You can also create a moment. This is all a part of the creative process. You need

be able to expand your moment to write about it. And the same creative juices
you use to expand a moment can be used to create one!

It is possible to simply pick a time, sit down, and start creating. Like a painter
with a blank canvas, kinda sorta! The painter has his paints and brushes. You
have your thoughts, your voice, maybe your guitar or piano.

A painter might have a mental picture. Might know what they want to paint.
What they want to express. What feelings they want to portray. Or maybe
they have an object in front of them. Or they’re looking at a landscape. Or
just looking out of the window, and get an inspiration!

You have the same things. Your thoughts. Your words. Your instrument. And
your feelings. But instead of spreading paint on a canvas, you will spread
words, melody and chords.

Expanding the moment!
I personally don’t think I’m writing a song. What I do is recall the moment when
I’m ready to start. Or sometimes I just work on creating a feeling. Creating a
moment. But then I need to turn one phrase into many! Expand the thoughts I
have into sentences. Express feelings with words.

Expand the moment! Let the feeling grow. FEEL how you feel! Think about how
you feel. It’s not about writing sentences with an end word that rhymes with
other sentence last words! THAT is the mechanical part of it, sure. In most cases,
that’s a familiar format. But then again, there are some great songs that don’t
rhyme at all!

I’m going to go into a lot of detail as to how to start the lyric writing process in
a following tutorial in this series. It’s a part of expanding the moment. And there
are some things you can do to help you in the process.

This will be a part of the whole process. Coming up with a melody. Writing the
supporting chords.

I’ll make one additional point in this tutorial. It’s not always a phrase that creates
the moment! Sometimes it’s a melody! Same scenario, but instead of a phrase, a
melody just jumps into your head! You do the same exact thing as above. CAPTURE
the moment! The melody. And analyze it the same way you did the phrase above.
Think about the same things. Scroll back up to the “May I have a moment, please?”
part, and substitute “melody” for phrase or words.

Additionally, sometimes it’s the chords that create the moment! You’re just playing
some songs, or practicing some chord progressions, and “something” hits you! You
play a few chords, and you start to feel something. The chords, how you played them,
the order in which you played them, how you strummed them, or picked them.

Same thing! Your playing of some specific chords created the moment! Capture it!

OK, that’s it for the intro. We’ll get into detail about all the things you need so
you can put your creative juices to work, productively, and artistically, and . . .

MUSICALLY!

PS: My father-in-law used to say THEEND! Th-ee'-nd. Like Fiend! He only said it
after watching a movie, right at the end.

He’d just stand up and say, very theatrically . . . THEEND . . . The End! : )

Part 2: Creating A Melody

Part 2: Let's write a song!

Part 2 will be more about using inspiration to write. For example,
when a melody comes to mind, what do you do ‘physically’ to
write the song? When a chord progression, a combination of a
couple chords, or sometimes . . . just the sound when you strummed
one chord gives you a ‘feeling’, what do you do? Or, when a phrase
hits you! Or a word someone said, or you said . . . or maybe just a
thought . . . what do you do!

I’m just gonna make up something, write a song in REAL TIME!

Remember . . .
Every melody has been sung.
Every chord progression has been played.
Every word has been sung!

Well, guess what? Every song has not been written!

It’s a process!

Click here to go to Part 2. Let's write a song in real time!
Click here for Part 2!

Hope you found this interesting. If you did, please feel welcome
to drop me a line. Email me, or drop me a PM on Facebook!

Email me any time! ~/~ Wayne on Facebook

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