How To Write A Song Part One

0 CommentsTuesday • February 14, 2012 • by Imei

Writing a song does not need to be an intimidating task. It can be one if you want it to be.  It can actually be a fun exercise in creativity, and the process of creativity usually begets more creativity. This post contains my thoughts on the simple outlines of creating a song for those who have never tried to do this on their own. There are simple tools available to help you flesh out your song, and while there is no guarantee that it will be worthy of broadcasting, it will put you on the way to writing more material as well as having an enjoyable time time in the process.

If you are a professional musician: my apologies to you. This is not a video for you or your market. However, you might find some comedy in it, because you know exactly what I’m talking about. My hat’s off to you for what you do. Do the world a favor, and keep writing good stuff [Mwah]. Come back for the other part of my series on How To Write A Song, which will cover an option for song writing and performing involving the tools of the trade.

Learn to write a song - without notation! Try this simple exercise to get your started on your songwriting journey. You do not have to be an expert or play an instrument

How To Write A Song Part I: Getting It Down

Music is pure emotion. One of the best places to start in the music writing process is to begin naming a feeling you have personally felt, or that you have observed feeling by proxy. If you want to write about the feelings of a person going through a breakup, but you haven’t personally experienced such an end to a relationship, you should at least observe what others have gone through before you put pen to paper (of fingers to laptop).

Collect thoughts, even if they are fragmented. I often scribble thought down in a little moleskin book I keep in my purse, or I’ll tap a few notes in a memo on my iPhone4S. I am not surprised that at a recent meeting on the subject of creativity, speaker Scott Berkun shared with his audience about one his keys to being more creative involved the regular and disciplined use of recording all of his thoughts in a small notebook. In that notebook, you do not have to make sense to anyone, not even yourself. Just get the thoughts down. My advice: the minute the thought comes to your head, write it down. Do not wait until it is convenient to write (unless you’re driving). If you must, use a voice memo recording device if you can’t write it down. You can sort through these thoughts later.

A few thoughts might emerge as more intriguing than others. Circle them. See if there is some connection. Recognize

Collect ideas for lyrics, and put them all in one place

that their dissonance might be a type of connection. My tip for collecting thoughts: I sometimes put them in a Google Document, so I have them all on one place. I pull up the document on my iPad, and then start creating with it nearby. Here’s an example: I’m writing a sample song, “Bad Boyfriend Blues”, using a standard blues progression AED (that is, I’m starting with in the Key of A major as the tonic key, progressing to D, climaxing in the key of E for the third line (and transitioning back through D), and resolving by returning to the tonic. For those of you interested in music theory from a more neurological point of view, check out “This is Your Brain On Music” by Daniel Levitin).

Be prepared for shitty attempts. Ernest Hemingway said, “The first draft of anything is shit.” Writer Annie Lamott has a whole chapter called, “Shitty First Drafts” [from the book, "Bird By Bird"]. You have to get it in your head the first time you try to create just about anything, it’s going to make you laugh, then make you sick, and then drive you a little mad as you try to tweak it and make it do your bidding. Writing is hard work. Creating anything worth creating is hard work. The flash of insight is just the beginning. From then on, it’s just putting blood, sweat, and tear into the process of getting it finished.

Not everything you write down is going to be useful. More than 1/2 of what is on my “Bad Boyfriend Blues” note is going to go absolutely nowhere [Ed. note: if you think you see something about you or someone you know, chances are 90% that they are NOT about you. If they are about you, no one will know it].

A few of you out there are from “The Secret” camp. You’re shaking your heads, saying, “Well, if you think it’s going to be shitty, then you’re only going to attract shitty things.” Here’s a test for you of “The Secret” Camp. Think really, really, really positive thoughts about how wonderful your first attempt is going to be, and attract all the positive, wonderful, awesome words and ideas and thoughts and content you can. Write it down. Let me know afterwards if it a Grammy award-winning masterpiece on the level of Sir Paul McCartney [if it is, we will all bow to you, and "The Secret" will be employed internationally as that missing piece of why things fail]. My suspicion: creativity requires risk, shitty first drafts, and tweaking.

Give yourself permission to play. While in the creation process, I mess with my content. If it’s dance, I dance in front of the mirror and audition a few options, filming, observing, and tweaking. But while I’m running the intellectual process, I always give a little room and time to just dink around: throw in some extra spins, move in ways I don’t normally move, etc. The same can be applied in the writing process for music. Try a different rhythm or genre. You hate country? Make your piece as twangy as possible. Pop makes you want to vomit? Give it whirl, and sing like you thought you were the epitome of Commerce. Sometimes doing the opposite of what you want to do will unleash the very thing you’re looking for.

The permission to play taps the child within. Hopefully, this child is not afraid of what others think. This child is just happy playing, without judgment or fear. By playing, you liberate what you are passionate about. It cannot help but rise to the surface, usually in something we recognize as a smile on your face.

Leave a trail of breadcrumbs. The creative process is a PROCESS. You may or may not be a one-take wonder. If you can’t finish enough of something in a single sitting to feel confident that you can pick up where you left off, leave yourself a trail of breadcrumbs; that is, record yourself with as much as you’ve gotten down. Afterward, step away, work on something else, and come back when you’re ready.

Here’s my sample [and it's full of shitty mistakes, but it'll serve as my trail of breadcrumbs for the next post]:

Next post: taking the words and putting it into lyrics. How to become the world’s worst poet.

Now it’s your turn. Are you new to song writing? Do you have some tips or thoughts on the songwriting process? Please share them here.

Posted in: music, performance arts

Tagged with: beginner, beginning, easy, how to write, how to write a song, music, music creation, simple