Song Writing Tips

Keep in mind while writing who your intended audience is. Are you writing for kids or adults? A specific genre of music? Reminding yourself of this while you are writing a song is a good way to make sure the intended audience is going to like it.

It almost goes without saying that if you love what you are doing, then you will be writing music every single day. If you are just getting started as a writer, make a goal to write at least one song a week – more is good, but remember quality over quantity.

Don’t forget to go out and live a life. Go meet friends and hang out, also spend time with family. Just go to a park and people watch. These are the things that will give you experiences to write about in your songs.

Always carry a note book with you. This way if some lyrics come to mind you can stop and write them down. Also, keep your cell phone with you. If a melody starts playing in your head, you can call yourself and leave a voicemail so that you will not forget it.

Don’t allow yourself to get trapped in writing a whole lot of songs that have the same formula of cord progressions. Be creative and try something new.

Don’t plagiarize someone else’s song. It’s not worth the legal issues that will surface – such as getting sued. You would not want someone stealing your idea, so don’t do it to someone else.

Find inspiration in the works of others. If you find yourself suffering from writers block, put on your favorite cd and see if you get any ideas.

If you are not totally happy with the way a song is progressing, step away from it for a day or two. It is always helpful to come back to it after a break and look at it again. Its not worth the frustration of making yourself work on it, nor is it fare to your fans to record a song that was only half-heartedly done.

Get together with other song writers and collaborate on songs. It’s a cliché for a reason – “two heads are better then one!”

Let your pen flow as the words come to mind. Don't think too hard and have fun. Allow your creativity run without worrying about technical aspects of the song - This way, all your ideas are on paper. Remember that your initial draft can always be edited later.

Don't know music notation? Don't worry. Many famous musicians and songwriters can't actually read or write music. Find a way to create the song, whether on an instrument, or simply through singing a capella (without instruments playing with you). Just consider doing an audio recording of your creation digitally or on tape so that you can come back to it without your ideas being lost.

If you can learn to read and write music along the way, it will only help you in your endeavors, just like reading and writing language make storytelling easier than the oral tradition of ages past. However, there is definitely something to be said to the memorization and internalization of the oral tradition.

Writing down songs that come to you in a dream can be good - keep a notepad or staff paper by your bed. But, then again, you may be like Clark Terry in "A Great Day In Harlem" and find that you have written down part of Stardust ; )

Try composing from your instrument, whether it is a piano, wind instrument, or even your voice. Stravinsky composed the "Rite of Spring" from the piano, not just by writing directly to staff paper, even though he very well could have.

Using a midi program such as MOTU Digital Performer, or even the audio output of a music notation program like Sibelius is a great way to be able to hear what you are writing if you cannot play all the parts at once, as in an orchestral score.

Many of the great composers hand-copied scores of their favorite composers to help them learn. There is a story of Bach traveling over a hundred miles on foot to listen to and see the scores from a favorite composer.

In popular music, song is as much about the story of the lyrics as the notes or performance. People are drawn to a story, especially one that resonates.

Always expand your vocabulary. Your audience will grow and so should you. How? By listening to other songs and picking them apart to see what it is that you like about them. Also - don't give up on something that doesn't sound good the first time. If there are people you respect that like the music, give it a little while.

We have all heard that some of the best things were invented through experimentation. The same goes for music! Experiment and brainstorm. You may go through a hundred crazy ideas, but one of them may be the gold nugget you need.

Color tones can really spice up a song. Using all simple major and minor chords? Try throwing in a 7th, 6th, or 9th now and then. From there, move on to altered tones, such as b5 and #9 chords.

Keep form in mind when writing. There is nothing wrong with composing a song from beginning to end, but you risk and end product that is somewhat "stream-of-consciousness". Even when Debussy in his latter works who did not adhere to a strict form, he still had a pleasing movement from section to section that worked together as a whole.