How to write songs? What You Need To Write A No. 1 Hit.
Do you want learn how to write songs? Do you have a song in your heart and wish you broke it free for the entire world to hear?
The good news is you do not need to be a genius to be able to write a hit song and neither do you need to have years of extensive experience in the music industry. What you do need is a bit of creativity and some musical common sense when it comes to writing a great song.
Here I'll give you some quick tips about how to write songs to the hit marked.
SimplicityUnderestimated by most amateur songwriters and the very thing focused on by professionals, simplicity is a key element of most great songs. Consider one of your favorite songs for example. How many chords are featured in the song? How many different individual notes? You'll find that in both cases they more often than not number less than ten. When in doubt, always remember one thing: KISS (Keep It Simple Silly).
When you want to learn how to write songs for the hit marked, this may be one of the most underestimated concepts.
How to write songs? Be aware of the FORM
On to the more technical side of songwriting and therefore looking at one of the most important aspects of a song: form.
It lends structure to a song and supplies it with a measure of predictability. Now of course some might think that predictability might not be an entirely good thing, but then just take a couple of minutes to think how many popular songs you know that are totally unique in their structure? Not many.
All songs typically follow the shape of verse-chorus-verse-chorus, etc. Once again, keeping it simple will make the whole process not only enjoyable, but bring you one step closer to success. (Learn more about this concept in the Craft section)
Confidence
Not exactly one of the things you'd expect to see on a page concerned with how to write songs, but something that's nevertheless vital to all areas in life. Confidence is the magical unseen ingredient when it comes to writing songs. Why? Well let's just say that songwriting is very reflective in terms of emotion. If you're feeling insecure, then your songs will reflect that.
Melody
Melody is defined as that succession of notes that make for a distinctive sequence. It is this sequence that is rhythmically repeated to lend some characteristic to a song. And if you want an example, just think of any of your favorite songs – is there any part of it that you can hum? Most probably the answer is yes, and that's your melody. (Learn more about this concept in the Craft section)
Harmony
Harmony forms the foundation upon which a melody can be based. These are the chords in a song, which, as previously stated, needn't be ample, but have to vary to a certain degree. When you listen to popular songs doing the rounds at the moment, you will find that the chord sequence is rather predictable, but still leaves room for something unexpected. As such, your aim should be to leave the audience always wanting more. (Learn more about this concept in the Craft section)
Lyrics
There's a trick to writing lyrics to get the most out of what you want to say: refine it. This will make your words more powerful and therefore also more memorable. This is of course only if one of the main focus areas of your song are the words. If you are aiming to get people dancing around and bopping their heads, then you'll obviously put more energy into things like rhythm, melody and harmony.(Learn more about this concept in the Writing lyrics section)
Now of course there are many other elements to song writing that can turn it into a complete science, and you can read about many of these under the CRAFT section, but for all purposes the best thing is of course just to keep it simple. That's one of the most important aspects when you want to learn how to write songs.
Song Energy
If you're hoping your song is going to become a major hit, It's important it has a strong song energy.
Click here to learn more about this concept.
The right Hit Song Chords?
Are you unsure if you're using the right chords for your song? Then you might want to read this article about hit song chords.
Click here to go to it.
Discipline Tips For The Avid SongwriterIf you want to learn to write songs, but are having problem getting started? You may want to read this article about discipline tips for the avid songwriter.
Click here to go directly to it!
Writing a hook
When people are taking about hit-songwriting, they're often talking about writing a hook that works. What is a hook? Click here to read this article about hooks in hit-songwriting.
Click here to read this article about hooks in hit-songwriting.
The Legal Side of Songwriting
Do you need some music business tips? The answer is probably yes.
Click here to get some quick music business tips.
More Songwriting Tips?
For more tips and juicy articles about songwriting, subscribe to my monthly songwriting-guide.com newsletter. This unique inbox offering is packed with information and
100% free. just sign up!
Return from How to write songs to songwriting guide homepage