Let me start with a quick disclaimer: there is no one way to write a song or any piece of work for that matter. This is simply my method of writing, which seems to have worked for me the last few years. Art is all about being creative and unlimited! All that being said, let’s dive into my process.
Step one: reflect on a major (or minor) life event
The best songs usually come from personal experience. Whether this is love, hate, grief, or any other emotion you may be feeling. These feelings can evoke a creative spark that may be the push needed to start writing a song. From personal experience, I find heartbreak and new love are the things I write about best. This fits my lifestyle considering I, unironically, experience both of those things fairly often. But you don’t have to have a major event happen to write a song. There are plenty of artists who take minor things and really dive into detail about what they were feeling at that moment, and these can be some of the most interesting songs to listen to lyrically.
Step two: decide if you want to start with words or background music
My background music of choice is guitar, and I find that starting with a few chords can help the process start up faster. I’ll usually first decide which capo I want to be on, and I’ll play a few chords on each capo to decide which key I want to be in. After deciding where I want to be on my guitar, I’ll play a few familiar chord patterns and try to consider the tone of the song I want to write. Is it sad? Does that mean I need to play the song in a minor/melancholic key? If it’s happy does that mean it needs to be a major key and a happier tone? So that’s how I usually decide on a chord pattern. If you choose to start with lyrics, it’s important that you also have some sort of rhythm in mind. Even if it’s just is the song slow or fast.
Step three: Start writing a verse! or a chorus! or a bridge!
The beauty of songwriting is that you can really start writing lyrics anywhere in the song, and move them around as needed. Sometimes I’ll begin writing a song and realize the first lyrics I wrote would fit better as a chorus rather than a verse. A typical song goes: verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus x2. This is a great way to section off a song and an easy way to break it down so it is not as scary to begin.
step four: take a leap of faith
Once you have a few chords, maybe a lyric or two, it’s time to put them together. Even if it sounds horrible to begin with, you did it! You wrote part of a song! Go you! Writing a song is HARD, and just getting through these first steps can be some of the most difficult moments throughout the process.
step five: don’t be scared to leave a song unfinished
Writer’s block? Can’t find the words to finish off your chorus? Leave it alone for a while! Most people can’t write a full song in one sitting, and I feel that in my experience, it is better to let a song sit for a little while and come back to it with fresh eyes. Although, if you’re a perfectionist like me, you may want to change every lyric after a few days, which is fine, but what you had first is probably pretty good too.
step six: finishing up and editing
You’ve gotten to a stopping point, everything feels right. You’ve got the chords and the lyrics, and you have gotten your message across. What now? Usually, at this point, I do a final run-through of everything. Make sure I have no typos or unintentional marks and make sure the chords fit nicely. I will most likely have the song memorized by now from going through it so often, but if you don’t, now would be a good time to do that.
Step seven: publish it! or don’t!
The hardest part of writing a song for me is letting it go. I love making music and I love having people listen to my music, but there is a part of me that never wants to let anyone else hear my personal thoughts. Even though I deal with this, I still will most likely upload it somewhere. Whether that’s SoundCloud or even just a snippet on Snapchat. Sharing music is part of the process, and it can be scary at first, but people want to hear your creative genius!
So get writing, get strumming, and get creative, because you won’t know if you don’t try.