If you are getting into songwriting and have been looking for a better understanding of the fundamental steps of songwriting than this guide is for you.
Songwriting is an art form and every great artist has there own methods and means of flushing out their ideas and managing the various projects they have in cue.
When it comes to song composition, organization is very helpful and you will certainly benefit in finding a routine that works for you. In this article I want to help you to be more aware of the black and white steps that go into the process.
This guideline is intended for the beginner who is only starting to get their head around the process of organizing workflow. These fundamental steps and tips of songwriting can be combined or reorganized in any number of ways. Take away what you find useful and intermix those useful elements if doing so is advantageous.
Step One: Cultivating Inspiration
Why this is so important is that in order to create songs repetitively you have to develop the skills to be aware of your own capacity to ingest input and output a creative derivative.
Everything in your environment is a resource. If you were a painter I may say everything in your environment is a color. Collecting those resources is something that our person does naturally and even unbeknownst to us. So don’t be surprised that we take and draw from the world around us.
As you progress you can even indulge yourself in this a bit more simply by being conscientious of it. You look around at all the world has to offer and you gradually start to make associations. By making associations you can eventually induce what will be the very spark of an idea. That notion may be just significant enough to warrant a new song about something.
Skill Development
As you progress it will be your responsibility to do things that help you develop this skill and capacity. In doing so, you will see the result to be something that becomes more tangible, something that you can sense more greatly with out having to reach so far for.
Divining the spark is coming to that eureka moment. It would be hard to try and determine exactly how the brain does that. Luckily for us, we don’t have to.
What we should do however is be openly aware that the brain is always doing something. By intentionally considering any number of discontinuous things we feed the minds resource for making these associations.
Eureka Moments
Because we are talking about the fundamental steps of songwriting we have to include those eureka moments. In my experience eureka moments happen when I’m doing something mindless and while all heavy thinking is on the back burner.
For instance when I’m out for a ride on the motorbike and my mind is engaged only in managing the ride. With no other pressing concerns to consider I’ll drift into some stream of thought.
Quite often I’ll find myself humming away at something and then the moment happens when I realize that this is an interesting melody, rhythm or lyric phrasing.
So I do my best to recognize these kinds of circumstances that seemingly induce my inspiration while being careful not to trample all over what is organic about them with systemization.
All in all it is just part of my life and as it is an area of interest for me I’ve grown to become aware of it and I do my best to manage what I can of it.
Step Two: Capture To A Storage Medium
Perhaps the most important of the fundamental steps of songwriting is to carry some basic capture device at the ready. I certainly recommend this to everyone . All of that work to nurture and cultivate your inspiration can be for not if you fail to manage the harvest of new ideas.
Just like a farmer not all fruit will be ripe. Some will be over ripe and some may have even gone rot. But I find that if you do not harvest and manage the crop of inspiration or spark dutifully than you’ll be karmically punished.
Karmically Punished
Wow, did I just say, karmically punished? Yes I did, and what I’m talking about is this; maybe I’m humming a bit of an idea all afternoon. Grinning silly from ear to ear with how fantastically thoughtful or clever I am.
Then I make my way through the living room and my attention is caught by some nonsense on the TV. Suddenly I loose the thread and I’m mortified.
After I do something like this it’s usually quite a while before I have another new idea. I don’t know if it’s the universe that punishes me or if it is my own self loathing that doles out the punishment. Either way lesson learned.
Initial Spark
When you are in that initial moment of ideation, right then and there it is important to work through and capture as much of it as you can. In my experience once that moment is gone, there won’t be getting back to it.
Sure you’ll write the song but it will be the work part of the writing that you’ll be doing. The spark or idea is sort of like the whisper or notion of what the song is and the actual song that you finish is a representation or an approximation of that initial spark or notion.
So take away as much as you can at the time you have the idea. When you actually sit down to make a tangible song you’ll need everything you can collect to help inform your decisions.
Awkward Looks
You should also be advised that sometimes inspiration happens in inconvenient circumstances. So be ready for awkward looks when you go walking down the street singing some new melody into your voice-recording APP on your cellphone because if you are anything like me then you will.
Never waste good ideas. There is really nothing I dislike worse then trying to remember something that was fantastic only to find that I cannot.
Storage Device
The moment you have your idea recorded onto some sort of storage device it is then safe and sound. Then at some future time you can follow up and extrapolate on that idea when you are in a better position to do so.
All of these ideas can begin to mount up so you’ll need to find and organize them in an efficient and commonsense way. Find some method of designation that suites you.
Periodically review through your ideas and sort by the quality of the notion. Eventually you can remove those ideas that you decide are subpar. Re-designate the files you like with some indication to inform you of how valuable you find the idea.
When you’re finally ready to get started flushing some of them out select your favorite ones first. Start with those because it’s best to get on a fast horse and go. Do that in order to get yourself into the habit of doing.
Step Three: Developing the Song
After you have captured the idea to some recording device you’ll be ready to begin to work your way through the song. I like to think of the effort as “Developing the song”.
I once heard it said that some of the famous sculptors would say that what ever they were carving was already there in the stone and that they were only removing what was necessary in order to reveal the sculpture.
In that school of thought, I think of the song as already being there and it’s my job to best expose it. It’s in some ways like the hot and cold game where someone tells us we’re getting hotter or colder in relation to something. But, in this process we may not have another person to give us the feedback.
If that’s the case you’ll rely on skills you’ve developed or are in the process of developing to give you the clues you need to know how to carve your song out of the ether.
Instrumentation
When writing a song and unless it is an acapella work, it will require some backing instrumentation. Choosing the best instrumentation for a song can be part of that process. This shouldn’t be something that is forced you’ll find that if you have basic skills across a number of melodic instruments you’ll be able to ascertain which way to build the song.
Some people may not have the luxury of owning multiple instruments or the skills to feel comfortable with composing on multiple instruments and that is fine. We always cook the best meal we can with whatever ingredients are in the kitchen. If your song goes on to be recorded with the help of an outside producer then deciding which accompanying instrument best supports the melody can be determined at that time.
In the case where you have some basic proficiency with a few melodic instruments it would be now when you would determine which is the best tool to help you unravel the song.
Step Four: Mind Mapping and Linear Brainstorming
Mind mapping is the process of making associations on paper. This process may not be relevant to melodic writing but it can be useful for lyrical brainstorming. Mind maps work like this. You get a nice piece of blank paper and you write words or phrases that relate to your song on that paper.
From there you circle each phrase or word. Then you focus on what those phrases or words make you think of and you write them down surrounding that first initial word or phrase.
You draw a circle around each and then a line from that new circle to the source. You can continue this with new words and thoughts that the secondary’s prompted you to consider and so on and so on.
Eventually you will have mapped out quite a resource to help you in determining all of the thoughts related to the topic you are discussing.
Conveying A Message
For some people the song is a vehicle for them to deliver a specific message that they want to convey. In that case the melody is really secondary to the lyrical message. For these types of situations this method can be especially useful.
Others hear a melody and maybe an energetic hook and they build from that first. And almost like coloring in a coloring book the lyrics simply fill in the lines. For people who work this way and finally decide what it is the song is trying to say the exercise would still be useful.
To explain linear writing I’ll use an analogy. Linear writing is something like a train moving directly from point A to point B in steady progression from left to right. This could be seen as a very organic way to write. So if you’re using a linear method you’ll let the song lead you to the next best way to express itself. By trial and error hot and cold, let your ear inform you and trust your instinct.
Step Five: Finalizing The Primary Chord Progression
Often when I feel inspired I sit down on the piano and try to match the inspiration that I can “hear” in my imagination. In this situation basic chording will do. What is important is trying to keep pace with inspiration so I won’t spend too much time now focused on theory.
If I play a note that doesn’t suit I adjust. At times when I’m playing all of these extended chords it can corrupt my ability to hold focus of the original idea in my mind’s eye. So again this is why its so important to record it down first, and expand open it later.
Music Theory
After you’ve done the process of matching the progression to your melody and after you’re satisfied that you’ve done so affectively. This is the moment to call on your learned music theory and determine which is the best way to play the chords and how it is best to number the fingering for each of those chords.
If you aren’t on a level where you’re able to do those things yet then don’t worry about it. It’s not the necessarily the skill of musicianship that makes a song. In the cases where it isn’t, it will certainly have to do capturing the lightning of the idea.
And, so long as you have done that then you have done your job. The more you do that the more you can let your self grow comfortable with thinking of yourself as a songwriter.
Step Six: Finding The Changes
After you have sorted and captured the basic gist of the songs idea and you have finger mastery of the accompanying progression on whatever melodic instrument you have chosen, you’ll reach another of the fundamental steps of songwriting. This one involves making a decision as to which structural part of the song it is you have written. Here are the common parts of a song:
VERSES:
The verses are the portions of the song that tell the story. Typically there is a first and second verse. Do your very best to make sure that the second verses’ lyrical phrasing matches the level of the first and you’ll be on your way.
CHORUS:
The chorus is most often the signature feature of the song. They often consist of some lyrical phrasing that hooks the audience. Thusly A hook has come to refer to the phrasing that becomes the most recognizable bit of any particular song.
INTRO/RAMP:
The song may have a few bars at the beginning that grab the attention of the listener before going into the first verse. There also may be what is called a ramp to transition from one verse into the chorus.
BRIDGE:
In some ways a bridge can be seen as sort of a third verse but we do our best to make this portion contrast with all of the other parts while still acting as a compliment to the song. It should be an interesting break from everything so far.
From there you’ll have to find and develop the songs changes from that part to the other parts. If you are at a very introductory level you’ll be well served by going through a number of songs you like and reverse engineering them so as to better how to understand the different ways a song can be structured. By doing that a number of times you’ll initiate yourself to the things you need to.
Step Seven: Locking Down Song Structure
After you’ve spent some time building changes into your song, the next fundamental songwriting steps will the ones that go into organizing those changes. There is no right or wrong way however if a song is intended for radio airplay most typically follow a specific structure. Additionally this may be the most common way to structure a song.
- verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-chorus.
Now that you have all that information take the time you need and find the way to organize your song that best interprets it.
Again you are relying on your instinct. If you eventually decide to work with an outside producer to have your song recorded keep in mind that while you do have an instinct you’ll have to cooperate and work together with that producer to realize that song together.
That may not be as fun as doing whatever you want but you’ll find that there is a lot to learn from working with different producers. It may even be enjoyable.
Step Eight: Narrow In On The Hook And Chorus
The hook and chorus are perhaps the most identifiable of all the songwriting fundamental steps. At this point you have the song mapped out and you’ve probably already written a basic hook.
From here you should spend a little time playing with that hook and chorus and how they emerge from the verses. You can try different note phrasings and juxtapose them.
You may find a way to tweak the delivery in a way that evolves from the beginning of the song to the end. This may also add to a climatic ending, which may just make the song.
It might be possible for you to find or include another secondary hook in throughout the song. That may even make things more interesting and memorable. Take the time now working all of these threads to their conclusions. Once you’ve exhausted all your ideas you can settle in on exactly what the song will be.
Step Nine: Test Song On Others
The next of the fundamental steps of songwriting involves getting some feedback. After you have come to consensus with all of the parts of the song and you have mastered some competence with playing the song through. Invite some of your friends over for a listen.
You can play it through and see how the parts you thought would connect actually do or don’t. Don’t be so troubled with any feedback you may get in any particular way. Just use it as a consideration for the next step.
You may decide that you want to ask another artists to join you in recording this song. That can certainly be very advantageous. For more about Collaborations with other artists; Follow this link!
Step Ten: Make Revisions
The next of our songwriting fundamental steps is fixing what didn’t fly. After you’ve played the song for some of your friends you may have found some spots that didn’t quite go over they way you’d intended. You may have also found some places where you could have built some intensity in a more advantageous way.
All of that feedback can give you some insight into what revisions might be made to the song for a good affect. Take your time with this because in truth this part is sort of continuous at least for a while.
During the years I played in a live band, we’d often break a song for a live audience as part of the writing process. The feedback we’d get from playing it live was invaluable. We could in effect pressure test it for a while before we took it into the studio.
Step Eleven: Name The Song Last
The last of the fundamental steps of songwriting is naming the song. Some people recommend naming the song first, and maybe that’s fine. But, I prefer waiting. Having a working title in order to designate it or to communicate which song you are working on amongst other players would be ok for the time being.
But, as far as the official title I’d rather wait until the song complete. When its completed you’ll have finally committed to every part you wrote and you will be certain about what the song is really about. So it seems to make sense that in most cases its best to wait.
Besides there isn’t a real need to be in a hurry. At the very least give yourself a chance to listen back to the song once or twice to be sure it best suits it. You may see that the last lyrical Idea you had embodies the entire sense of the song and that last minute inspiration may be what suits it best.
For more on the cost breakdown of producing a song from writing to a mastered final posted on Spotify; We have a great guide. If you have an interest in that you can follow the link. Check it out!
Lastly
I hope that this discussion of the fundamental steps of songwriting has been of some use to you. And I sincerely wish that you have found the things you are looking for to assist you in your pursuits.
The most important thing to remember is that over time you will build skills and improve upon them. The best advice I can give is to be patient and enjoy yourself.
A few years down the way and you’ll be happy that you made a continued effort. Even as I’ve started getting older there is such a familiar satisfaction in grabbing a guitar and working through an idea that just popped into imagination.
It’s so familiar too me it’s just become my life and I couldn’t imagine my life any other way. So take your time and learn to make old friends of good habits. Then overtime you’ll get somewhere near enough the place you intended to be.
Now go and get to it.
Good Luck!