A step-by-step masterclass.
To someone who has never written a song before, the idea of songwriting could be quite daunting.
You might hear tracks that were written by your favourite artists and wonder how they ever managed to come up with something that sounded so ‘magic’.
Maybe you have sat down at your instrument countless times, staring down at the blank canvas that lay there before you and spent far too long aimlessly stringing together random chords in a hope to find two that fit together?
Perhaps you have always wished to become a songwriter, but have always written yourself off as ‘not being born creative’ and concluded that this skillset was far out of reach?
Or maybe you’re a veteran songwriter, but you are frequently running into brick walls and writers block that prevent you from writing your best material?
Regardless, the information in this guide will unlock your inner songwriter.
“Songwriting, isn’t that unteachable? I thought you were either born creative or you weren’t.”
These methods have turned hundreds and hundreds of people who swore they’d never be able to write a song into competent and confident songwriters.
These methods have also turned existing songwriters into music theory powerhouses.
Regardless of wherever you are at, together we will inspire your creativity through a simple approach to music theory and give you the tools and techniques you need to bring your musical visions to life.
Heads up!
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1. Prerequisites
2. The Five Steps to Songwriting
3. Details
4. Advanced Techniques
5. In Closing
Answers
Prerequisites
Songwriting is a creative process, there is no arguing that.
However, not everyone is able to convert their natural creativity into a theoretically-sound composition. This fact alone is why people subscribe to the myth of believing that they are unable to become a songwriter, due to their lack of natural creativity.
Well, this is why our methods are so game-changing.
Songwriting — a creative art form that was thought to be unteachable — is now able to be learned by anyone, regardless of their natural level of creativity.
The trick is to not try to write music through creativity, but through a rational approach, instead. These rational approaches can turn anyone (and we mean anyone) into a competent and confident songwriter.
The truth is, your creativity can only shine if it has a bed of rationality to work upon. So, to compensate for that need, we will first learn music theory as a way to help you build that foundation.
Although there will be rules to learn in the beginning (to set the previously mentioned rational foundation for creativity), they should be considered more so as guidelines to follow. As you become more comfortable with these rules, you will learn how you will be able to break them in the most creative ways possible.
It’s a well known fact that music theory can be a little hard to understand at first. I liken learning music theory to watching a confusing movie — on your first viewing you half-understand, but after the second time through (once you know the overview of the full story) it begins to makes much more sense.
So, as much as we have tried to write this guide in the most digestible way possible, don’t get frustrated if it all doesn’t click with you on the first time around. Stick with the exercises, practice the techniques and read this guide all over again if you have to.
Eventually, it will all suddenly make sense and you will realise how simple and logical it all really is.
We have created and refined this approach to songwriting with the assumption that you are capable of playing a chord based instrument (ideally a guitar or a piano) at a beginner to intermediate level. More or less, this means that if you know how to make pleasant sound come out of your instrument and know your basic chords and notes, you are good to go!
But before we can dive into the fun stuff and begin writing songs, we should first revisit (or visit, if these concepts are new to you) the miscellaneous theory that you must know before we can write original compositions.
The three topics we will address are; The Note Spectrum, The Major Scale and Tonality.
Now, because I want to be able to get you to writing songs as quickly as possible, I am going to go through these introductory topics as quick as possible, too — which may make this section seem like a lot of information at once.
As you read on, please keep in mind that if you were to be taught these topics at a private lesson with me, each one would be taught over a half hour lesson at minimum. Some topics would take an hour.
So yes, this section is concise and straight to the point, but don’t let that overwhelm you. Work through this information slowly and make sure that you fully understand what you have read before moving on.
The Note Spectrum
The first thing we must learn is the musical notes and how they fit together.
We call this The Note Spectrum.
As you can see, the natural notes of The Note Spectrum run alphabetically from A through to G. Once you reach the end, it simply repeats all over again in the next octave.
But what I am showing you there isn’t The Note Spectrum in its entirety. I am introducing you to each of its parts in smaller steps, as to not confuse. You won’t see them in the diagram above, but in between most notes on the spectrum are ‘bridging’ notes, called sharps and flats.
You can move either direction on the note spectrum, but things get interesting when you do.
If you move up the note spectrum, you will run into the ‘bridging’ notes known as sharps (#).
It looks like this:
Moving backward on The Note Spectrum, however, you will come across the ‘bridging’ notes that are known as flats (b). They look like this:
That, above, is The Note Spectrum in its entirety. Natural notes, with a sharp and a flat in between most of them.
Now, let’s talk about navigating The Note Spectrum.
Moving a one note in either direction on the spectrum is known as a moving a ‘semitone’ interval. Moving two notes on the spectrum in either direction is known as a moving a ‘tone’ interval.
Moving forward one semitone from a note on the spectrum is known as ‘sharpening’ a note, whilst moving backward from a note is known as ‘flattening’ a note.
Like, if you move one semitone forward from the A note, you will land on A#.
If you move one note backward from the A note, you will land on Ab. Make sense?
Astute eyes will have already noticed that every note has a sharp (#), except for E and B. And therefore, it can also be said that every note has a flat (b) except for C and F. This is correct, and can be easily observed on a piano — you won’t see black keys in front of the E and B notes (or behind the C and F notes, depending on how you want to look at it).
So, what happens if you want to move a semitone forward from B? It’s simple, you just move to the next note available, as you usually would. And since there is no sharp available, you just move directly to the next note, which in this case would be C.
Now, if you are like most people, you are probably currently scratching your head, asking yourself why the bridging notes are called two different things. Like, why is the note between C and D called both C# and Db? Is the note C# or is it Db? When is it one or the other? It may seem confusing at first, but it actually makes a lot of sense.
First, you should know that all sharp notes have a corresponding flat note, and, therefore, all flat notes have a corresponding sharp note. This means that the bridging notes do in fact hold two values at the same time — both a sharp value and a flat value.
For example, moving one semitone forward on the spectrum from D (sharpening) will give you D#. However, moving one semitone backward on the spectrum from E (flattening) will give you Eb. This means that the bridge note between D and E can be known as either D# or Eb.
“Ah! So, you call it a sharp or a flat depending on which way you moved to arrive at the note.” Kind of, but not always. That’s just a good way to introduce how they work.
I know, I know. It may seem strange at first — I mean, if they are the same note values, why not use just one? Why not just forget flats even exist and only talk in sharp values? — but you will see why we need both sharps and flats once we dive heavier into scales and chords in The Five Steps to Songwriting. For now, it is completely OK to speak of the bridging notes on The Note Spectrum as exclusively sharps or flats.
In fact, I will be doing exactly that. As most of our techniques will move you forward on the spectrum, I’ll be referring to any bridging notes in their sharp values.
Does that all make sense? Ok, great. Then it’s time that I tell you something a little confusing.
Even though you will notice that there are no B#, Cb, E# or Fb notes on the spectrum, there will eventually come a point in which we will need to consider these ‘invisible’ notes as real. Don’t let that confuse you, though. It all works in the exact same way. As they are all a semitone apart, ‘B#’ is also C, ‘Cb’ is also B, ‘E#’ is also F and ‘Fb’ is also E.
This might be tiring you out, which is to be expected. This kind of theory isn’t exciting. But don’t let it get you down. Needing to apply this specific rule of theory is incredibly uncommon. Truth be told, you might not ever stumble across B# or Fb in the wild, but regardless of their rarity, I think it’s best you learn of their existence so you are prepared should you encounter them on your songwriting journey.
Plus, remember, my goal isn’t to teach you basic music theory, I’m here to turn you into a songwriter that knows their music theory back to front.
Now, although the music theory in this section may initially seem confusing, in reality it is actually incredibly straight forward and logical;
The Note Spectrum moves alphabetically from A to G, then repeats to begin at the next octave.
In the middle of each natural note, there is a sharp (#) note and a flat (b) note that hold the same value.
The sharp value is found from moving up from the previous natural note, the flat value is found by moving backwards from the natural note above.
Every natural note has a sharp note above it, except for B and E.
Every natural note has a flat value below it, except for C and F.
Moving one step in either direction is known as a semitone interval, moving two steps is known as a tone interval.
That’s pretty much it, really.
The Major Scale
I can tell you now that there are way more scales in music than just the major scale, but this simple scale is worth more than the rest combined.
And guess what?
All those other scales can be traced back to the major scale. The major scale is like the godfather of music; it may not be the most rare or unique sounding scale, but it is the single most important scale in music theory — and it is the first step forward your songwriting journey, regardless of whatever genre you wish to write in.
The major scale is the made up of seven notes — and they are the building blocks for essentially everything that we will be covering in this guide.
Don’t let its simple looks deceive you, the major scale is far more than it appears on the surface. As you’ll see as you read on, each of the major scale’s seven notes expand to a be part of something much, much bigger, opening up portals to worlds of songwriting potential.
It’s potential to shape-shift into any sound is exactly why the major scale is your go-to weapon of choice when songwriting, no matter what kind of song you wish to write.
In music, each key has its own major scale that can be found by following the exact same pattern. All you have to do is find your desired note on The Note Spectrum (natural or bridge note) and follow this formula, moving forward these intervals:
This simple formula is the key to finding the major scale of any note on the spectrum. Forget having to learn a bunch of scale patterns, you committing this one pattern to memory will unlock every single major scale in music!
Say that we wish to find the seven notes that make up the major scale of C. Obviously, the first step is to start at the note of C on The Note Spectrum.
Next, we will begin to move up the spectrum as instructed by the major scale formula, and take note of each note we land on after we move each interval that is required.
So, we’ll start on C. Next, a tone will take us to D. Next, a tone will take us to E. Next, a semitone will take us to F. Next, a tone will take us to G. Next, a tone will take us to A. Next, a tone will take us to B. Then, a semitone will take us back to C!
After landing on seven notes, we will have discovered that the C major scale are C D E F G A & B. To move up the final semitone in the formula will bring you back to C again — which will reset the scale to continue in the next octave.
You may have noticed that in this example we managed to dance our way through the spectrum without hitting a single bridging note. This is not by mere chance — C major actually has a key signature of zero sharps or flats.
What is a key signature? Well, each major key has a unique key signature based on the amount of sharps or flats it contains in its scale. C is the only key with none of either.
Let’s do another example so we can make sure that you understand this formula.
Say you wish to find the seven notes that make up the D major scale. Now, just as for any key, we will move the required amounts on the spectrum as instructed by the formula, writing down each note we land on along the way.
One Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone later we will see that the seven notes of the D major scale are D E F# G A B & C#. To move up the final semi-tone will bring you to D again, in which (like the previous example, and in every other major scale) the scale will repeats in the next octave above.
But this time we managed to hit two sharps on our journey. This is because D major has the unique key signature of two sharps. Make sense?
The major scale is your best friend when it comes to songwriting, so make sure you know the formula back to front.
Repeat it until you can recite it without thinking: Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone.
You learn this simple formula and you will know how to find any major scale in music.
Tonality & Chords
You may already be aware that a lot music revolves around chords.
And we will be using a lot of chords throughout this guide, but mostly in their simplest (and most common) forms, that are called ‘triads’.
Triads are chords that are made up of three notes. The most common triads are known as major and minor chords.
So, how do you find them? Well, to find a major chord, you will first need to look to the major scale. The major chord of a certain note is found by taking the first, third and fifth note of that note’s major scale. The first note is also known as the root note of the scale.
For example, let’s say we wanted to find the three notes that make up a C major chord.
First, we need to write down the C major scale: C D E F G A B.
Clearly, we can see that the triad of C major is C, E and G — the first, third and fifth notes of the major scale. Easy, right? This means that if we play these three notes at the same time, we’ll have a C major chord. Simple.
But, what about minor chords? How do we find them?
Well, the way that most people learn minor chords is by learning the minor scale and then taking the first, third and fifth notes of that. The issue with that approach is that it requires you to have to learn an entirely new scale — and our goal is to keep everything revolving around the major scale!
The time will eventually come in which we learn the minor scale, but only when we’re ready to tie it back to the major scale. So, instead of teaching you something unrelated for the sake of it, I’m going to give you a formula to work out the minor chord of any key, while only needing to know the key’s major scale.
To find a minor chord, do the exact same process as you would for a major chord — take notes one, three and five of the key’s major scale. To convert this major chord into a minor chord, however, all you have to do is flatten the third note.
Let’s return to the previous example, in which we found that a C major chord is made up of the notes C, E and G. If we flatten the third note (as required to find the minor chord of C), we will flatten the E note to Eb.
This means that a C minor chord is made up of the notes C, Eb and G (the 1st, flattened 3rd and 5th notes of the C major scale). Make sense?
All you have got to do is take the major triad and flatten the third. And — as some of my younger students liked to describe it — that’s how you make a ‘happy’ chord turn ‘sad’.
Depending on how adventurous you are, you may already be thinking, ‘Well, if I can flatten the third to change the tonality of a chord, can I flatten the other notes in the triad, too?’ Well, yes you can.
‘All right! Let’s flatten the first note!’ Well, not that one. You can’t flatten the first, as changing it would change the root note of the chord and make it an entirely different chord altogether.
‘OK… then, how about the fifth? Can I flatten that?’ Yes, you can. Flattening the third note will give you a minor chord, but flattening the fifth note will give you an uncommon (though sometimes useful) chord, known as a half-diminished. A half-diminished chord sounds… kind of evil.
A major half-diminished chord is created by taking the notes one, three and five of a major scale and flattening the fifth note.
And if we know that flattening the third of a major triad gives a minor chord, and flattening a fifth of a major triad gives a half-diminished chord, it’s pretty simple to deduct that flattening both the third and the fifth of a major triad will give a minor half-diminished chord (which sounds both sad and evil!) It all makes logical sense like that.
Now, whether you will be using a ton of half-diminished chords in your songwriting (whether they be major or minor) is another story altogether (Spoiler: you probably won’t), but it’s good to know how this all works, right?
Now, let’s apply this knowledge in another real world scenario. Say you know the D major scale, but you would like to work out the three notes that make up a D major chord.
You would first play the D major scale and see that the notes are D E F# G A B and C#. Then, you would find notes one, three and five — D, F# and A. Ta da! You have found the three notes that make up a D major chord.
But let’s say that you wanted to work out the three notes that make up a D minor chord, instead. In that case, you would take the notes one, three and five that you previously worked out (D, F# and A) and flatten the third by moving back one semitone on the spectrum. Your result would be that D, F and A are the three notes that make up a D minor chord.
But now let’s say you’re feeling super evil and want to work out the three notes that make up a D half-diminished chord.
Simply take your major triad (D, F# and A) and flatten the fifth. Now, you’ve got D, F# and Ab — the three notes of a D half-diminished! (A quick note: You might be wondering why I didn’t say ‘a D major half-diminished’. In music, a major tonality is implied. You only add other words on if the tonality is changed, like if it were a D minor chord. If you asked a musician to ‘play a D chord’ without any instructions on tonality, they will play a D major. You don’t need to say the word ‘major’, unless you are talking about the specific key of a song. If everyone assumes the song is in a major key (which most are), they will assume all chords mentioned are major chords, unless told otherwise.)
And lastly, lets say that you are feeling like a sad, super evil genius and want to find the three notes that make up a D minor half-diminished chord. Simply take your original major triad (D, F# and A) and flatten both the third and fifth. You will find that the three notes that make up a D minor half-diminished chord are D, F and Ab. Easy, right?
But theory is super boring without implementation.
If it can’t directly improve your songwriting, it’s usually exhausting to learn.
The good news is that we are now officially done with the prerequisite theory that you need to know to learn our songwriting methods. From here on out, it is practical and fun.
However, don’t think that everything you have just learned isn’t practical or applicable for your songwriting — you couldn’t be more wrong!
This formula of finding triads can be applied to so many facets of of songwriting; creating chords, chord voicings, lead riffs, melodies, harmonies, arpeggios and many other creative things that will bring your creative works to life.
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The Five Steps to Songwriting
It is time to start songwriting.
From here on out, every piece of theory you learn will have a direct impact on your creativity. Every step you complete from here on will take you that one step closer to creating a song.
However, it goes without saying, you must ensure that you are completely comfortable with the last section before you read on, as the techniques you learned will be referenced quite often as we are writing our music.
Before we begin, let’s go over a few things.
Firstly, this section is called ‘The Five Steps to Songwriting’, but let me clarify: these aren’t the only five steps you will need to create a song that is ready for radio.
Consider an artist that is staring at a blank canvas. Whilst this section won’t give the artist a finished painting, it will take their blank, white canvas and transform it into a solid outline of what the eventual artwork will be.
Sometimes a finished painting is just a few simple lines on a page, other times it is made up of incredible detail. The exact same thing goes for your music. How basic or advanced your composition becomes is completely up to you. This is your creative work, after all.
But if detail isn’t your thing and you are only looking to write a basic, simple song, you will achieve that by the end of this section.
If you are looking to complete a song with a ton of added detail, however, this section will get the ball rolling. You will add all of your desired detail with the techniques that are taught in the next section.
Secondly, my goal is not to write your song for you. I am just here to provide you with the necessary tools you need to bring your creative vision to life.
When it comes to songwriting, there really is no right or wrong answer (even with all of the ‘rules’ of theory); it ultimately comes down to what you think sounds good. The ‘correct choice’ is the one that resonates with you the most and effectively communicates your internal vision to the world.
Regardless of whatever I am teaching you, you are the artist and these are your songs — which means that you ultimately make the creative decisions.
After we have completed all five steps, you will have a foundation set for a song. You will have written a piece of music that is ready to take to accompanying musicians and will have enough there to inspire them to create their own parts and bring your vision to life.
But if you are the kind of songwriter that wishes to write the entire composition themselves and not rely on any other music artists, the section following this one will allow you to do so, by giving you an overview of how to write lyrics, compose your own lead parts, melodies, additional detail and much more. This, right here, is your first step forward.
My goal in this section is to show you how to take a single note on a page and transform it into a song that is ready to build upon, one that reflects the sound you want the world to hear.
The Five Steps to Songwriting is a simple, repeatable formula that I have refined over many years. It has transformed hundreds and hundreds of people who swore they ‘weren’t born creative’ into competent and confident songwriters. There is truly nothing like it available anywhere else (in fact, songwriting is often referred to as ‘unteachable’ by many) and I am so excited to see what it will do for you and your music journey.
So, with that being said, go and grab a piece of paper and your instrument. It is time to get started!
#1: Pick a Key
The first step of the The Five Steps to Songwriting is to pick a key for your song.
Even though this is quite a simple decision, some thought still has to be put into it, as whatever key you choose will affect the entire outcome of the song. This is the single point of focus from which your entire composition will expand from.
You might be thinking ‘But, how will I know if I chose the correct key? I am brand new to this, after all.’ The good news is that there is no wrong answer. In the worst case scenario, you will choose a key that has more chords that are uncomfortable to play on your instrument when considered in comparison to another key that you could have chosen instead.
Or, if you are a singer, you might choose a key that isn’t as comfortable for your voice as another choice might have been. The more you practice these five steps and try them out on various key choices, the more you will become familiar with your favourite keys and how they sound.
First of all, we need to revisit the note spectrum.
Each note listed above is a potential choice for the key of your song.
You can pick any one of the notes on the spectrum to get started (natural, sharp or flat), but I will give you a bit of guidance to prevent you from running into that aforementioned ‘worst case scenario’: Your goal while getting started as a songwriter should be to choose a key that feels comfortable on your instrument, as this will make the songwriting experience much more enjoyable for you.
For example, if you are a piano player, this might mean picking the key of C at first, as it is a very easy key to play in on piano.
If you are a guitarist, I would avoid picking any sharp or flat key, as they tend to require you to play the chord voicings as bar chords, which can feel far less comfortable than playing open chords.
But ultimately it’s up to you. If you are confident on your instrument and are feeling adventurous, you can choose a key at random, if you wish!
Once you have decided on your key, write it down on your piece of paper.
That’s all. Step one is very simple. Just choose a key and you are good to move on.
#2: Apply the Basic Note Spectrum
Now, it’s time to apply the ‘Basic’ Note Spectrum for the key you have chosen.
‘Hold up… you told me about the Note Spectrum, but what is the ‘Basic’ Note Spectrum?’
Well, the basic note spectrum is just like the Note Spectrum, but it’s even simpler!
The ‘Basic’ Note Spectrum is our little term for when the Note Spectrum is written without any bridging notes (i.e. without any sharps or flats).
To write the Basic Note Spectrum, all you have to do is write down the root note of your chosen key and then write alphabetically until you have all seven letters on your page. When you have finished writing, you should be one note away from hitting the note of your chosen key again.
But if you are being ambitious and have chosen a sharp or flat key for your song, just write down the letter of your key without the sharp or flat symbol.
Once you finish this step, you should have seven notes in front of you that are written in alphabetical order. Just like the first step, this one is also really not that complicated.
Let’s look at a few examples.
Example 1: You have chosen the key of E.
You would write out: E F G A B C D
Example 2: You have chosen the key of A.
You would write out: A B C D E F G
C’mon, now. It is almost too easy.
Alphabetical order from your key, with no sharps or flats written down. That’s all you gotta do.
#3: Fill In the Sharps or Flats
So, we have taken a single note and transformed it into the Basic Note Spectrum.
Now it is time to fill in the sharps and flats and transform these mere alphabetical letters on your page into the major scale of your chosen key.
To find the sharps and flats of your key is a relatively simple process. All you need to do is play the major scale of your chosen key on your instrument (revise the mantra we learned in the previous chapter if you need to) and double-check each note you play against the ones written down as your answer to step two.
If the note you play on your instrument is the same as the corresponding note you have written down, do not change a thing and move on to the next one.
If you are playing a different note to the corresponding note you have written down, however, you will need to modify the note you have written down to change it to be the same as the one you are playing on your instrument. You will do this by either adding a sharp symbol (#) or a flat symbol (b).
What’s that? A flat symbol? Yes, there is a chance that you will need to use flats in this step. Remember when we learned that all keys have a unique key signatures? Well, sometimes they have a certain number of sharps, other times a certain number of flats.
But before you ask: no, you won’t ever come across a key that has both sharps and flats in its key signature. It will be either one or the other.
And remember, each key signature is unique, which means that no other major scale will share the same number of sharps or flats with another. This means you can identify each key based on how many sharps or flats its key signature has. In fact, this is the way that the key is presented when written on a piece of sheet music.
Let’s say you have chosen the key of E major. Your answer to step two would be E F G A B C D.
Now, play the first note of E major scale on your instrument. It is an E note. Check this against the first note of the spectrum you have written down. It is an E as well. Nothing needs to be changed. You can move on to the next note.
Now, play the second note of the E major scale on your instrument. It is an F# note. Check this note against the second note of the spectrum you have written down. On your paper, it would currently say F, so we will need to add a # symbol to the F on your paper to make it an F# note (so it matches the actual note of the major scale).
When you continue this process for the rest of the notes of the scale, you will eventually find that the final product is no longer E F G A B C D, but now E F# G# A B C# D#. You will see that the scale of E major has a key signature of four sharps.
Ok, so we have mentioned a few keys with sharp key signatures. But, what about the flat keys? When would we ever stumble across them? And if we did find one, how would we know to mark it as a flat and not as its corresponding sharp value? Wow, you are asking the right questions.
Let’s see it in an example.
Say you have chosen the key of F major. Your answer to step two would be F G A B C D E.
In this key, you will find that it is mostly smooth sailing as you play through your major scale, as no notes will need to be modified. However, once you arrive at the B note on your paper, things won’t add up. In front of you will be a B note, but you will be playing an A# on your instrument. I’ll tell you now that it is not correct to write out the scale as F G A A# C D E, as no base note should ever repeat itself. So, how do we fix this?
Well, as we learned in the previous chapter, every sharp note has a corresponding flat note. Which means, A# is also Bb! Therefore the correct way to modify the note spectrum on your piece of paper is to add a flat to your B note and transform it to Bb, the same note value as A#.
Your final result will be F G A Bb C D E. This means that F major has a key signature of one flat.
If you get stuck, there are answers at the end of this guide. I only have one rule: there is to be no cheating whatsoever! Make sure that you always work out the solution for yourself. Only ever go to the answers section to check your work, not to discover the solution. The point of this guide is to turn you into a music artist that is competent and confident in their music theory, so they can be prepared for anything songwriting throws at them. You can never be truly creative if you rely on having to look up answers to work out your compositions.
Upon completing this step, you will have the major scale of your chosen key written correctly on your piece of paper.
Now, it is normally at this point that some of my students will say, ‘Why not skip steps one and two altogether and just write out the major scale of your chosen key? It seems like they overcomplicate the process.’ Yes, when you become familiar enough with the major scale, you can do that. But, forcing you to check every note against your instrument is for a purpose — it will make sure that you write each scale correctly.
Many students that have tried to jump ahead and skip steps have ended up with incorrect scales that repeat notes, contain both sharps and flats or are missing notes altogether. Doing it the way I am teaching you means that you will get it done right. Remember, you should only ever be adding a sharp or a flat to the notes you have written down. You should never find yourself scribbling out a letter to replace it with another, as you will then be repeating letters (which is not allowed!).
In front of you is just a major scale, yes. Nothing to write home about. But now it is time that we transformed that simple major scale into something special.
Before we move on, there is something I want you to take into consideration. This process of filling in the sharps and flats works on the first time for nearly all of the keys. However, if you pick a key such as G#, you may run into a problem.
Step two of The Five Steps to Songwriting will leave you with notes written alphabetically G through to F. Once you start step three and begin cross-referencing each note against your instrument, you will find that each note has to be modified with a sharp. Eventually, you will reach the final note of your scale and realise that you have F written down but you need it to be a G. This doesn’t mean that you have gotten it wrong, it is a sign that the scale you are trying to work out has a flat key signature, instead.
Should you ever encounter this issue, you should re-write your answer as the flat equivalent. This means that your key of G# is actually Ab. You should go back and modify your answer to step two, to change it from G through to F to A through to G, so you can begin to modify it with flats, instead of sharps.
You will find (upon completion) that you will have a scale with four flats (Ab Bb C Db Eb F G), which is the key signature of Ab major (which is technically G#).
If your scale isn’t working, it does not necessarily mean that you are doing something wrong. Try going back and modifying your originally chosen key to a flat scale, instead.
But, as I said, this is rarely encountered — but it’s good to know, right?
#4: Fill In the Majors & Minors
Remember when I initially told you that the major scale is capable of opening portals of songwriting creativity? Well, in this step you will see exactly what I mean.
We are going to take your two-dimensional major scale and transform it into a ‘three dimensional’ chord bank by using triads — these are the chords that you will build your songs from.
This transformation is easily achieved by using the power of the following mantra:
Say it out loud. It has a rhythm to it, which makes it easy to remember.
Before we see examples, there are a few shorthand notes to mention first.
maj = major
min = minor
dim = diminished
Ok, so that mantra is cool and all, but how exactly does it bring the major scale to life? Well, if you notice, there are seven notes in the major scale. There are also seven words in that mantra. Coincidence? Nope.
Has it clicked yet? The mantra applies directly to your major scale!
Take your answer from step three and write either ‘maj’, ‘min’ or ‘dim’ on each letter, based on what the mantra says.
Like, say you chose C major. Your answer to step three would be C D E F G A B. Now, let’s add the mantra (maj min min maj maj min dim) on top of that scale. Now your scale looks like this; Cmaj, Dmin, Emin, Fmaj, Gmaj, Amin, Bdim.
Now, just as sharps and flats have a symbol to represent them (# and b), so do the items you have just added on above.
First of all, let’s talk about majors. If you remember a while ago, I said that most of the time, mentioning a ‘major’ tonality is redundant. People assume that everything is major unless told otherwise. So, any major chord doesn’t need anything written beside it, and it will be presumed to be a major chord.
Now, for minors. If you write a little ‘m’ beside a note, it changes the notation of the chord into a minor chord.
Lastly, diminisheds. If you write it with a little ‘o’ beside it, it is a minor half-diminished chord.
Therefore, in shorthand your example will become C Dm Em F G Am Bo. It’s that simple! (I guess when you look at it in shorthand, the mantra actually becomes “blank, little m, little m, blank, blank, little m, little o” — which may have a better rhythm to it, but it doesn’t explain the tonality of the chords as well the main mantra, so remember that one, instead).
Do you see the power of the major scale now? That one simple mantra took it from two-dimensional notes on your page and transformed them into a list of all of the chords within that scale.
All that’s left to do is choose the ones that you like the sound of best — it’s time to build your song!
#5: Choose Your Chords
It is now time to do what you have been waiting for: It is time to get creative!
But before we start choosing chords, we must first think of how we will arrange our composition — this is called deciding on your song’s structure.
To make things simple, let’s create a song together that makes use of three main sections; a Verse, a Chorus and a Bridge.
Choosing a structure for your song might not be the most exciting part of songwriting, but it makes your job a whole lot easier. Because of a little forethought and planning, we now know that we need to create a chord progression for three individual sections.
Next, we have to choose how many bars of music we want each chord progression to run for. This is a creative decision that is entirely up to you, but to explain the process in a simple example, let’s decide that each chord progression will be four bars long (as a four bar chord progression is quite common in a lot of genres of music).
Next, you will have to decide how many chords will fit into each bar. Again, this is a creative decision that you will change depending on the song you create, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s say that each bar of our example will only contain one chord. This means that we will need four chords for each of our chord progressions.
Now, because we are writing in a major key, we will need the first bar of every chord progression to start with the tonic chord (the chord of the root note of the scale). However, don’t think that this will always be the case — we will discuss starting chord progressions with other chords when we look at modes in a later chapter.
But, that is getting ahead of ourselves. Our goal at the moment is to keep things simple, which is why we are writing in a major key. Write down the tonic chord as the first chord in your progression for each section.
Next, you will need to choose three other chords from your chord bank to complete your first section, the verse. Until you become familiar with how each chord sounds in a scale, this step will be probably be mostly trial and error, so feel free to choose your chords at random and make your adjustments as you go.
Write down each chord you chose on your working out paper. Once you have chosen all three and finished the section, play it through on your instrument and hear the chords in context. If a chord doesn’t sound how you’d like it to, simply remove it from your progression and choose another one from your chord bank.
Once you have found the remaining three chords that you are happy with, move on and complete the same process for the other progressions you need to write, the chorus and bridge sections.
By the way, you are allowed to repeat chords within your progressions, so don’t think you have to pick four entirely unique chords. How this song ends up sounding is completely up to you! Your four chord progression could be just one chord in all four bars, if you really wanted to — but then you will need to find ways to make that sound interesting for a listener.
You should now have three complete chord progressions written down that you like the sound of. Before you play them, however, there are a few questions you will need to answer to work out how you want these chords to be performed;
Do you want a fast song? Do you want a slow song? What about a loud song? Or a soft song? Do you want to play each chord for four beats or three beats before you change? Or maybe you will play some chords for four beats and others for different amounts?
The possibilities are nearly endless. Experiment with different genres, tempo, time signatures and expressive techniques until you are completely happy with how your song is performed.
The same chord progression could be used one day in an Irish folk ballad, the next in a pop punk single, the next day in a club-thumping electro song and the next in an underground rap track. It all depends on how you want it to be performed.
A word of advice, though: sometimes it is best to not over-think it and just play the chord progression. Songwriting is a creative process, and by just playing your chord progressions you will find that your emotions will naturally tell you how you want it to sound.
Lastly, you will need to arrange these sections of yours into your chosen song structure. We will get into much further detail of how to approach structure soon, but for now let’s keep it simple.
We will play through the verse twice, the chorus once, the verse twice again, the chorus twice, the bridge once and then finally the chorus twice. This is a simple and very common structure for pop or rock songs. In short hand, it looks like this: V V C V V C C B C C.
Go ahead, give it a play-through.
Once you have finished, I have great news for you: you have just played through your very first song. A congratulations is in order!
Look at you go. You have just written your first song and completed the Five Steps to Songwriting! Together we turned one single note into something emotive and special. But simply playing through a few chord progressions is just the beginning. It doesn’t necessarily have to end here.
Remember the artist analogy? We are no longer staring at a blank canvas, we have the outline for a really good song — it is now time to add the colour. The more detail you add to your song, the more you will be able to express yourself, the more unique your song will become and the more it will move the person listening to it.
Keep in mind that our simple examples are just that, simple examples to get your started. Don’t think that your songs need to be as limited as our examples have been! You could choose to write your songs in five bar progressions, if you would like to.
Or, maybe you would do a five bar progression verse with a four bar progression chorus? Maybe you’d like to make chords change quicker in one section by halving your bar so it includes two two-beat chord changes instead of one four-beat chord? It is completely fine to repeat chords in a progression, use longer progressions (other than our example of four), halve the length of how long the chords are played or even add in chords that are outside of your chord bank (if you want to break away from the major scale sound.
That’s right, you have my permission to break the rules now). Never stop trying new things!
Regardless of how much more time you want to spend on it, your song in its current state is now ‘jam ready’, so feel free to get a couple of your musical friends together and have a play through. It is just so much fun to hear a song come to life with live music. How they grow up so fast… remember when it was just a single note on a page?
You should practice the entire five-step process until you are confident that you know it back to front. Work your way through completing the process for each key, making sure to keep a copy of your final workings so you can reference them at any time. Once you have completed the five steps for all of the keys on the note spectrum, you will have a database full of every single possible chord bank there is!
You have learned the rules, so now it is time to break them. Just remember, you can always hit the ‘undo’ button it if it doesn’t sound good… So, what have you got to lose? Always be experimenting.
After you have completed the Five Steps a few times and written a few songs, pick your favourite one and head on over to the next section. It is time to start adding the professional details that bring a song to life.
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Details
Congratulations on making it through the Five Steps! Although you could call it a day, close this guide and consider your song finished at its present state, let’s be real: what you have in front of you is more of a basic outline for what your song could be. It’s now time to unlock its full potential!
To return to the artist analogy, sometimes great art can be a simple drawing using a very select amount of colours. Other times, however, you might need to create a hyper-detailed painting for it to perfectly represent your internal vision.
Although you may not have intentions of using every technique listed from here on out, I do recommend that you take the time to read and understand them, as they will play a bigger part in your songwriting journey than you may at first think.
The topics we will discuss in this chapter will be Writing Ostinatos & Melodies, The Relative Minor, Structure & Dynamics and Writing Lyrics. Each of these topics will present new ideas and techniques to bring out further depth, emotion and colour from your creation.
Ostinatos
Ostinato is the musical term for a short repeated phrase of notes. Depending on your instrument, it could also be called a ‘riff’, ‘hook’ or a ‘lick’.
Personally, I would say that an ostinato is usually the most recognisable part of a song, next to anything that contains lyrics.
I will prove it. Imagine that you ask your friend to identify the song that you are about to play on a guitar. It would be incredibly difficult for them to guess the song if you only strummed the tonic, as they would have to guess from the millions of other compositions out there that are in the same key. Playing the chord progression to your friend would narrow down their options slightly, but they may still guess incorrectly due to the many songs that both share the same chord progressions and are performed in a similar style. But I can say with surety that if you played the ostinato, the only way that they would not be able to correctly identify the song would be if they hadn’t heard it before.
Even though some ostinatos can sound slightly similar to another, most of the time they are completely unique to their song. So, it goes without saying: although your chord progressions can be the same as another songs (within reason), never copy ostinatos (or lyrics, or melodies for that matter) from another artist.
That is the kind of thing that lands people in court and discredits their songwriting credibility.
Ostinatos can be split into two categories, Melodic and Rhythmic.
Melodic
Imagine that you are trying to get your friend to guess another song.
This time the challenge is that you have to somehow sing the song to them without using any words or performing vocal melodies — you must hum or whistle something that is played on an instrument. The melody that you end up performing is most likely the ostinato of that particular song.
Some examples of well known ostinatos are ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson, ‘Dammit’ by Blink-182, ‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns and Roses or ‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears.
However, ostinatos aren’t limited to being performed on an instrument.
A singer can perform a melodic ostinato, most of the time by singing a hook with little to no lyrics. Examples of vocal ostinatos can be heard in songs such as ‘Hey Jude’ by the Beatles (”Na Na Na Na!”) and ‘Bad Romance’ by Lady Gaga (”Ro ma, Ro ma ma!”).
Although not essential, melodic ostinatos are a fantastic way to bring your song to its own unique spotlight.
Rhythmic
Rhythmic ostinatos are a little harder to identify, but can play a huge part in shaping a songs identity.
Most rhythmic ostinatos are subtle, due to their lack of melodic range. This means that the same rhythmic patterns can sometimes be heard across multiple songs.
Some rhythmic ostinatos are instantly recognisable, as heard in such works as ‘My Sharona’ by the Knack, ‘Shake It Off’ by Taylor Swift or ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen, but most rhythmic ostinatos play more of an accompanying role in the composition.
Writing an Ostinato
It is difficult to rationally explain how to write a rhythmic ostinato, as most just seem to ‘happen’ as a result of passive rhythmic choices (such as the tempo, rhythm, dynamics, volume and character of the performance). There are some occasions, however, in which you might start writing a song based around a rhythmic ostinato that you create.
Melodic ostinatos are a different beast altogether.
Writing a melodic ostinato is as simple as playing the major scale of your chosen key over the top of the chord progression you wish to have the ostinato perform on.
There is a ton of theory on how certain notes work with certain chords (based on their chord voicings), however, my goal here is to show you how to write songwriting aside a set of guidelines, without limiting you to writing within a set of rules.
It will be up to your ears to decide what sounds good (as the ‘correct answer’ is always what sounds good to you). As the chords you have chosen originate from the major scale, any of the notes within the major scale of your chosen key will work over the top of them — though you will have to experiment to find the specific notes that you think suit your composition best.
I recommend doing this by recording your chord progression (even if just off a mobile phone) and playing over the top of your recording. The ostinato you create can be anything from one note to many — it all comes down to your personal opinion.
Play the major scale of your chosen key in a random fashion (while still playing in time) over your recording until you hear a short phrase that you like the sound of. Maybe you find on the second chord of the progression that you like a certain run of notes that you just improvised.
So, remember those notes and play them each time the second chord rotates around in your recording. Keep playing until you find the notes you like for all of the chords — they can be as simple or as complicated as you like.
Once you have found all of the notes for each chord in your progression, you will then have completed your ostinato! Make sure to record it as soon as possible, so you don’t forget it.
An easy technique to make the notes of your scale fit seamlessly over the accompanying chords is to play the same note on your ostinato as the chord in the first note of the bar. This is not the only way you can approach writing an ostinato, but it is a technique many well known ostinatos use.
You can hear this technique in action when listening to the opening riff of ‘Dammit’ by Blink-182. The riff is in C major and is a great example of how you can create an effective ostinato with a relatively small amount of notes. The accompanying chords behind the riff are C, G, Am and F.
Each time the first beat of the bar arrives, the ostinato matches the note of the current chord in the progression. After this note, the riff plays D D E, the second and third notes of the C major scale.
This continues for every chord until the final chord in the progression, where E E D is played instead, to switch up the pattern and add closure to the riff.
Now you have seen it in action, you can go about creating your ostinato in the same way! Why not make your first note of your ostinato be the note of your chordal accompaniment then add a few notes of the scale after? You might choose to switch those ‘after notes’ to be something brand new each time the chord changes, or you may keep it the same? It is ultimately up to you. Sometimes a riff can be as simple as two repeating notes that don’t ever change!
After you have written your ostinato, you should decide the instrument you want it to be played on. This decision will depend on your genre and available instrumentation. It can also change per composition, too. One song you might want your ostinato to be played on a guitar, on another you may want it to be played on a xylophone.
There is also no need to over-complicate a composition just to show off your technical skills. Don’t think you need a ridiculously complicated riff to find success (then again, it worked for Dragonforce). There have been fantastic works of art that have gone on to see a large amount of success that were built on absolute simplicity.
However, sometimes simple might be too simple. If you find that your song is too bland, be sure to keep adding detail until you can sit back, listen objectively and think ‘Perfect, it’s finished.’
Now, we have just scratched the surface of a very deep topic, as writing ostinatos can sometimes end up becoming an unexpectedly complicated process. However, the basic idea is always the same, so refer to these techniques as the foundation for your creative process, and expand upon them when you desire.
These techniques work for any key, scale or chord bank, too — which means it will work well for anything you wish to achieve in songwriting.
Vocal Melodies
When writing vocal melodies, some songwriters will write the melody first, before even thinking about touching their instrument to write the accompaniment.
Others will sit down and write a melody over their pre-written composition through a rational process, and discover a melodic phrase that they will add lyrics to later.
The process to writing a vocal melody is the same: simply record the chord progression for which you would like to write a melody over and begin to play your chosen scale over the top of the playback, experimenting with different melodic phrases until you find something you like.
If you are writing your vocal melodies on an instrument (yes, that is allowed), a good tip is to imagine a vocal singing the phrases as you play your notes.
This will help you to not over complicate the riff (a fast ostinato might sound great on a guitar, but it might be too fast for a vocalist to sing).
If you are a vocalist and are comfortable with your chosen scale, you can record the chord progression and begin to sing the notes of your chosen scale over the top of your playback in the same way that you would when writing an ostinato.
Experiment with melodic runs, repeated phrases, short fast notes and long drawn out notes, vibrato, sliding in between notes and any other expressive techniques until you find something you like.
Personally, when I write songs I sing a combination of mumbling and gibberish over the top of my chord progressions as I am working out my melodies to give an idea of how lyrics will eventually sound in context within the finished product. This has lead to a few confused people who have overheard me writing songs. They are normally left wondering what on Earth I am doing, or which alien race I am trying to communicate with.
But as you will quickly learn with songwriting: if it is strange, but it works, then it is worth doing.
Expect that you will always be your biggest critic. There will often be times in which you will be lost wondering whether the idea you have just come up with is good or not.
If you run into this roadblock, make sure to take a good break. Don’t listen to your song for an extended period of time (sometimes hours, sometimes days). After enough time has passed that you forget how it even sounds, listen to it again with a clear head. You will immediately be able to tell whether you like it or not. Your song might not yet be perfect, but a lot of the time listening with fresh ears will grant you the perspective to see how to fix it (if it requires fixing).
The best case scenario is that you never forget how the melody goes after taking a break. That means you must have written something great! If you find yourself humming or whistling your melodies without a conscious intention, you know that others will, too.
Once you have got the melodies you are happy with, you can move on to start filling in the notes of your melodies with lyrics.
And we will be talking about how to do exactly that very shortly.
But first, the relative minor!
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The Relative Minor
In The Five Steps to Songwriting, we took one single note and transformed it into the basic outline for an entire song.
You might remember that there was a pretty severe limitation on the way we chose our chords for our progressions in the final step — each chord progression had to start on the tonic.
This limitation kept the song in a major tonality and is the reason that your progressions would likely have had a generally vibrant and positive sound, no matter how they were played.
Starting the chord progression on the tonic is a very common practice, but it may not be something you wish to do every time you write a chord progression.
For the times that you are looking for a different sound, you can use the relative minor.
You know the difference between a major and minor chord. You also know that the major scale is known for its ‘happy’ sound and the minor is known for its ‘sad’ sound. What you might not know is that the minor scale is not a completely separate scale — it is a direct relative of the major scale.
The major scale contains seven unique notes. We know this. But get this: for every major scale there is a also a minor scale in a different key that shares the exact same seven unique notes (the same key signature). This connection to the major scale is known as the relative minor.
Finding the relative minor of a specific key is simple. All you need to do is play your desired keys major scale. The relative minor is always the sixth note of the major scale.
Let’s look at it in an example, in the key of C. The scale for C major is C D E F G A B. The sixth note of the C major scale is A. This means that the A minor scale is the relative minor of C major and contains the exact same notes (zero sharps or flats).
The only difference is, instead of playing the scale as C through to C as you would in the major scale, you play from A through to A, thus performing the A minor scale. To write out the A minor scale would give you A B C D E F G. As you can see, they share the exact same seven notes, a scale that contains no sharps or flats.
Let’s do another example, this time in the key of D major. The D major scale is D E F# G A B C#. The relative minor of D major is B minor (the sixth note of the D major scale). This means that the scale for B minor is B C# D E F# G A (writing the scale in the same order, just starting on B instead of D).
As you can see, it is the same process: you start on the sixth note of the major scale and play through until you hit the sixth note again.
It’s easy to see why it’s called the ‘relative’ minor, right? Every single note in the relative minor is identical to its tonic major.
If you are ever in a position in which you have a minor scale and need to find the relative major, instead, it is just as simple of a process. The third note of any minor scale is the relative major.
In the last example we found that B minor is the relative minor for D major. We also found that the notes of B minor are B C# D E F# G A, the very same notes as the D major scale. As you can see, D is the third note within this minor scale.
This same formula works for every relative major to be found from a minor scale.
Using the relative minor is a very important tool in songwriting. It can be used on both a chordal or melodic level, both with very interesting results that add further flavour and depth to your compositions.
The relative major can also add dramatic effect to songs or set the initial feeling of your piece.
As you become familiar with the sound of the relative minor, you will begin to hear it in the many songs that make use of its unique power.
To see how the relative minor can work for your compositions, we will discuss its implementation in the two main practical applications; chords and melodies.
Chords
Using the relative minor on a chordal level can add a large amount of emotional impact to your composition.
The good news is, the implementation of the relative minor on a chordal level is super easy!
Just as all of the notes within the relative minor scale are the same as its major, all chords within the relative minor’s chord bank are the exact same as the ones from the tonic’s, too!
To make use of the relative minor in your songwriting, it is not a complicated process. In fact, you don’t even have to switch any scales or use any formulas.
As we know that all of the chords are the same as the relative major’s, implementing the relative minor is as simple as choosing the relative minor chord to be the first chord in your chord progression. That is all you have to do, really. The rest of the chords you choose for your progression are still chosen from the tonic’s chord bank, just like you did in step five of the Five Steps to Songwriting.
Using the relative minor as your first chord will make your progression sound powerful, as it will contrast the usual major tonality and add emotional impact. Personally, I love the sound of a relative minor progression immediately following a major chord progression!
Let’s look at it in an example. In the key of G major, we found that the seven chords of the key are; G Am Bm C D Em F#o. We also know that the relative minor of G major is E minor (the sixth note of the G major scale). Therefore, all notes (and chords) within the E minor scale are the exact same as all of the notes (and chords) within the G major scale.
So, let’s say that we wish to write a ‘happy’ sounding verse but a ‘sad’ sounding chorus. This is easily achieved by utilising the relative minor.
Verse: These four chords will be G D Em C. Notice how we are starting on the G, as the key is G major. As this is a major key, this will create the ‘happy’ sound we are after.
Chorus: To achieve the minor ‘sad’ sound we are looking for, we will need to create a progression that starts on the relative minor. Since we know that the relative minor of G major is E minor, all we have to do is make our first chord of the progression an E minor chord. We can then pick three other chords from the chord bank as we wish, as usual. Our chorus’ chord progression will be Em C G D.
Play one chord progression immediately after the other (and repeat) to familiarise yourself with the sound that the relative minor brings. Hear how it brings a new flavour to your song? So many songs make use of the power it holds.
But the relative minor doesn’t only have to be used to add contrast to a major song — you could even write your entire song in a minor key, if that is the sound you are after!
Melodic
The relative minor can also be utilised as an effective tool for creating the melodies that sit over your chord progressions. These may be performed as ostinatos, vocal melodies or solos (amongst many other implementations).
There are four different combinations for pairing the relative minor with its relative major key.
All of them can be implemented with the same technique that we learned in ‘Writing Ostinatos and Melodies’. Learning this will open another portal to songwriting creativity.
We will look at all four combinations below and hear the interesting sounds they create when combined.
Major over Major
This combination is found by playing a major scale melody over a major scale chord progression. It does not use the relative minor at all. Combining a major scale melody over major scale chords will ultimately result in a very ‘major’ sound, which could be described as happy or joyful, depending on how it is played. This is one of the two most common combinations.
Minor over Minor
The second of the two most common combinations is found by playing a minor scale melody over minor scale chords. This combination is utilising the relative minor, but it does not contain any of the relative major. Playing a minor scale melody over minor scale chords will give a very ‘minor’ sound, which could be described as sad or emotional, depending on how it is played.
Major over Minor
An uncommon, yet welcomed, sound is found by placing a major scale melody over a relative minor scale chord progression. Doing so will create a unique sonic character as a result of combining a ‘happy’ sounding melody with a ‘sad’ sounding chord progression. The minor chords provide a thick chordal bedding that draws the listeners attention, while the major scale performed on top creates a harmonic balance of the two contrasting scales.
Minor over Major
This combination is created by placing a relative minor scale melody over the relative major scale chords. This is a very unusual style of combination. It is not used very often and can create a very uncomfortable sound, depending on how it is used. However, if you can find a way to make this work for you in your composition, go for it!
Using this technique of combination is a fantastic way to expand the interest of your compositions. It will help you create diverse and more colourful sounding ostinatos, melodies and solos.
Simply record your chord progression and experiment with each of the scales as you write your melodies. You never know where you will find the magic that you are looking for.
Regardless of whether you use it on a chordal or melodic level, the relative minor is a fantastic tool to have under your belt when songwriting.
Experiment around using it whenever the opportunity presents itself. It might just be exactly what your composition needs for that extra emotional impact.
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Structure & Dynamics
Every section in your composition needs to be sorted into a specific arrangement in order for the song to be its most effective. This is referred to as the songs structure — we touched on this a little when we first did The Five Steps to Songwriting.
This art of arrangement will become much easier as you grow more confident in your songwriting, so as always, be open to experimenting while you are getting started. You will never make mistakes, you will just learn what you like and dislike when arranging your compositions.
Here are some examples of the questions that you should be asking yourself;
‘How many times do I want the listener to hear the chorus? Is it a strong chorus? Are the verses stronger? Should I maybe repeat the verses after the bridge instead of returning to the chorus?’
‘Maybe I should put another chorus in between those verses? To contrast, I could have the chorus much quieter by only having it played by the guitar and vocals’
‘I love the verse melody. Maybe I should repeat the verse after the second chorus, though I will make sure that it sounds different by moving the melody up an octave. I will also make the section be played louder with more emphasis, to contrast it from the other verses.’
Modifying the structure can be much more than just arranging your sections into an order you like. It can expose the less interesting parts of your composition and give you the opportunity to modify the dynamics, melodies, lyrics, percussive elements or anything else that needs to be altered to add contrast to your song.
A good approach is to revolve your structure around the most important elements of your song.
Make sure that the best parts of your song are repeated more than the less interesting parts. Has your song got lyrics that tell a story? If so, make sure that you don’t have too much ‘dead air’ between your lyrics, as your listener will want to hear the story that your song is telling. If your song has an extra-catchy chorus, feel free to repeat it more than you usually would.
Amazing, inspiring and cleverly written sections arranged in the wrong order can turn a potentially groundbreaking song into something people will listen to once.
On the other hand, an average sounding song arranged correctly (with a correct approach to dynamics) could turn a potentially boring sounding song it into a great one! Y
our recording device is your best friend here. Record your song the whole way through in your chosen structure and listen to it back. You will notice that it is a totally different experience to hear your song through as a listener. Take note of how you think your song flows and adjust anything you consider to be dead air or something that makes you lose interest while listening. These adjustments could be achieved by modifying the structure or the dynamics of your composition.
While you are new to songwriting, look at a songs in a similar genre to yours as a template or guide for a way to approach your structure and dynamics. Make sure to take note of the things that they repeat and why you think that they repeat it.
For example, you may find that songs similar in genre to yours tend to repeat the chorus a lot. Think about what your favourite part of those songs are. Is it the chorus? You will find that most of the time, the sections that are repeated are the most memorable to the listener. Try to remember this while you are composing your songs.
But just know that there is such thing as overkill! Don’t try to repeat your chorus eleven times in your song. Anyone will get bored if they hear the same thing too many times!
Each section you create may or may not require its own unique chord progression. You might want to write something new for each section, but maybe you might have your introduction be the verse progression played instrumentally, softer, with less instruments? Some compositions never repeat a section (as heard in some metal music) which can also be a very effective approach to structure. Some arrangements (as heard often in electronic music) rely on a lot of repetition for their songs to become their most effective.
As you can see, there are no rules. The structure you create and the way you shape your dynamics will only be limited by your imagination. As always, do whatever you think sounds correct for your composition.
At this point, we have talked quite a lot about structure, but only a little about dynamics. Dynamics are just as important as anything else and need to be a top priority when composing and arranging your song.
Hearing the word ‘dynamics’ would make many think that it is the art of controlling volume within a song. While this is true, the dynamics of the song doesn’t only have to be a passive result of the volume of the performance.
The dynamic range of a song can be crafted by refining the approach to arrangement — the art of giving your composition musical variety. Contrast and interest can also be developed and controlled within your composition by the way you add and remove instrumental layers and control the expressive techniques on your performance.
Using layers to modify your composition’s dynamic range could be as simple as introducing a string section in the final chorus of your song to separate it from the other choruses.
Or maybe you might add a key change in the bridge to give your song that lift you desire?
Maybe instead of the first verse being as loud as the second, maybe you decide to strip it back to a single acoustic guitar to bring attention to the vocals?
Expressive techniques are also equally as important as layers to help you create an interesting piece.
This term refers to the way that your instrumentation or vocals are performed within your arrangement. Like does the singer whisper, sing softly, sing loudly, yell or scream your vocal lines? Does the electric guitar have any effects on it, like distortion, delay or a phaser? Does your string section need to play their part pizzicato or staccato?
As you can see, just like your overall composition, the instruments themselves have their own dynamic ranges. The combinations are nearly endless and will help you create further depth and interest within your songwriting.
You can also create a unique dynamic engagement with the listener by utilising various rhythmic techniques.
Each chord progression you write can be performed in a million different ways — so which one are you going to choose to bring your song to life? Are you going to play the verse with a bit of swing, to give it a soft jazz vibe? Or maybe you might write a rhythmic pattern that the guitars, bass and drums all lock in on to give a wall of crushing sound? Sometimes your song calls for simplicity, so you might play each chord the same way in each progression, but why settle for simple when you have the knowledge to turn your work into so much more?
Of course, controlling the volume of your composition will also help you create interest in the dynamics within your composition. This could be looked at on a macro level, synergising nicely with your consideration of structure and arrangement.
Like maybe you have written a soft, intimate verse? Why not rock the verse up loud at the end of the song? This could bring the house down. What if you have a loud song in general, with loud verses and choruses? Why not write a quiet bridge to contrast it and really rope the listener in.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that a louder song will capture more attention. This is simply not true. A soft song can be equally as effective in capturing attention, as could anything in between. It is all about how you make use of your structure and dynamics.
Always remember, your goal is to create a sense of interest through contrast.
Add layers, subtract layers, use effects, play differently, be loud, be soft: keep building interesting sounds and combinations and your songs will stand out amongst the rest.
Heads up!
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Writing Lyrics
Before we begin, I want to bring up the fact that this chapter on writing lyrics could easily be as long as this entire book.
Writing lyrics is an extremely personal process that is very difficult to teach in a rational, step-by-step approach.
Finding your ideal process for lyric writing can take time to develop, as the process of writing lyrics can come easier to some than to others.
However, we have come up with some pointers and techniques to get you started on the right path.
Your first step is to decide on a theme for your composition. What exactly do you want your song to say? What message are you trying to get across? What emotion are you trying to make the listener feel? Answering these questions will give you a direction for your creative lyric writing.
If you are stuck, listen to the instrumental version of your composition and consider how it makes you feel. It is very important that the music and the lyrics are telling the same story.
Inspiration Techniques
After you have decided on your lyrical theme, it is time to take that concept and expand it into a full set of lyrics. Below are a few little techniques that have gotten us by over the years. Try them all and see which one works best for you.
Stream of Consciousness
This lyric writing technique is quite simple, yet very effective.
All you need is a pen, a recording of your composition, a piece of paper and a timer.
First, write your theme at the top of the page. Then, put a recording of your song on repeat, set your timer for five minutes.
As your music plays, begin writing about your theme without stopping your pen moving on the paper. Write down anything that comes to you, without letting your pen rest. This is easier said than done — sometimes you will feel tempted to stop once you have ran out of ideas, but continue writing, no matter how strange it may seem.
Forcing yourself to continue writing helps you break through self-criticism, perfectionism, over-thinking, second guessing and procrastination by forcing a constant stream of raw and honest thought.
Always look forward. Concentrate on the next word you will write and never let yourself stop to think about the last thing you wrote down.
The key to this exercise is to make sure that your pen is constantly moving.
This technique is also great for lyric writing when you are struggling to come up with a theme at all — simply put pen to paper and let your thoughts do the rest.
Once the five minutes are up, revise what you have written down. Sometimes you will have your inspiration for lyrics right there in front of you. If you are lucky, you might even see lyrics ready for draft already written on your paper.
Most of the time what you have written down in front of you will be enough to be transferred to a new sheet of paper to begin refining into something more polished and concrete. You may also see things that you have written down that inspire further writing. While much more vague than finished lyrics, these little ideas will at least give you a direction to continue to move forward.
In the worst case scenario you will have nothing written down that you are happy with — if that’s the case, just set a new timer and start again!
If you find that you are consistently coming up with nothing usable, you may have chosen a theme that doesn’t particularly inspire you. In that case, choose a new theme and start once again.
Song Analysis
Research songs that contain your favourite lyrics for inspiration. However, the trick is to not listen to the songs — just print a copy of their lyrics and grab a pen. Read these lyrics out loud somewhere where there is no background noise — this will help you connect with the words that are in front of you.
Make sure to read them out loud like you would read a book, like you are telling a story or reading a poem. Try your hardest to not sing them or read them with any sense of rhythm. This will ensure that you focus on the words themselves and not get caught up in a ghost of their musical context.
As you read through, notate the things that they are talking about and how they are communicating their theme.
Take note of rhymes and the rhyming structure (if any) that they use and also the rhythm of the lyrics.
Finding what you like and understanding why you like it will ultimately help you sharpen your skills as a lyricist.
The Poetry Method
This exercise will target your melody, phrasing and rhythm building skills. These skills are imperative for a lyricist to have for when the time comes to transform your words on a page into song lyrics with a melody and rhythmic character.
The Poetry Method is the exercise of adapting an existing poem into a song.
First, find a poet you like. If you don’t have a favourite, just find a random one that you like the vibe of. Try to get one of their poems to fit over a melody you write for your composition (just like we learned in ‘Writing Ostinatos and Melodies’).
Make the lyrics sound convincing and be sure that they all fit correctly over the song and make sense when read aloud.
Upon completion you should have a musical version of your original poem that can be performed as if it were a real song.
This is way harder than you may think — no cheating and chopping off the ends of sentences!
Lyrics in Structure
Let’s break the songwriting process down by looking at the role that lyrics play in the different sections of musical compositions.
Whether you write lyrics over all, some or none of the sections is completely up to you and your creative decision.
Introduction
The introduction of a song is designed to set the mood of a composition. Lyrics are not too often heard in introductions, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t ever experiment. Bringing in a vocal hook over the introduction might be exactly what your song needs. Or maybe you might bring in a small line or two (specifically written for the introduction), that will set the perfect tone?
Verse
Consider verses to be your ‘storytelling zone’. Go into detail explaining what your song has set out to say. Use your verses to express the different aspects of your theme. A verse can be easily identified from its common characteristic of the melody (generally) staying the same each time the section repeats, while the lyrics will typically change.
Chorus
The heavy hitter! The chorus is the section of the song that generally repeats its lyrics and melodies without significantly changing. This is the section that should contain your clear, articulate and (ideally) catchy lyrics and melodies. This is also a great place to have a vocal hook to really catch the listeners attention. Lyrically speaking, though, this section should be your bold statement, a summary on what the theme of your song is.
Bridge
Although not essential, a standard bridge can be typically found around two-thirds to three-quarters of the way through a composition. A bridge typically introduces a new or fresh musical or melodic idea to the song. Melodically it should (generally) sound different to the rest of the composition, whilst still complimenting the previous sections. A bridge can lead back into a final chorus, a final verse or it could end a song altogether. Make sure that your lyrics (if you choose to have them) in the bridge tie in thematically to your overall song and the section that will follow.
Use the guide above to begin to work your lyrics into the melodies you have written for your composition. But remember that it is just that: a guide, and not a set of rules.
Feel free to get creative. Sing your lyrics in many different ways over a recording of your composition until you feel that you have found the words that are the best emotional representation of your chosen theme.
Some Lyrical Advice
Here are some final points to consider while writing your lyrics:
Language Techniques
Do you want your work to be an easy to understand conversation with the listener? If so, make sure to aim for a straight forward, very literal approach. But maybe you wish to inspire the listener by encouraging them to fall into the fantasy world your lyrics have created? In this case, use metaphor and simile to encourage their imagination.
Rhyme Techniques
Simple rhyming patterns can be very easy for the listener to follow along with, but they can also easily make your song become predictable and stale. To expand your skills, try writing sets of lyrics that rhyme and have no rhyming pattern at all. While less traditional, lyrics that don’t rhyme can be very powerful when used correctly. This will sharpen your approach and broaden your possibilities of writing style.
Clichés
Avoid them. Find your own way to describe the things that you want to say.
Stay on Path
Don’t over complicate your lyrics by adding too many ideas within the one song. Stay on the path of what you initially set out to achieve.
Your Best Hook
If you wish to use a vocal hook, make sure to use a lyric that sums your entire theme up. You usually want the listener to remember your message, not a random line that makes no sense out of context.
Finally, be true to yourself. Don’t try to emulate someone else. Sure, study the writers you like and take note of their tendencies and techniques, but make sure you ultimately put your own creative spin on it.
You need to shape your individual artist identity, not become a carbon copy of someone else.
Anyone can try to be someone else, but no one is better at being you than you are.
Heads up!
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Modes; the Hidden World
Previously we learned that each major key has a relative minor key that resides as the sixth note within that tonic’s major scale.
But it should excite you to know that we have merely just scratched the surface.
Remember how I said that the single notes of a major scale each open up to reveal new portals for songwriting creativity? Well, it’s not just the sixth note of the scale that hides a relative scale, every single other note within the major scale has a relative scale too!
These relative scales are known as ‘modes’. Just like the relative minor, each mode has its own sound and flavour that it can add to a composition. They all deserve a place within your songwriting tool kit.
The major and minor scales may be the most commonly heard in popular music, though each of the modes have played an important part in music since music existed. There is a good chance you have heard modes used in various compositions and not even been aware of them.
Just like the relative minor, modes can be used in both a chordal and melodic implementation.
Since you already know how to apply the relative minor, I have got good news: you already know how to apply any mode!
The seven modes (and their order) are as follows;
Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixo-Lydian, Aeolian, Locrian.
The task of remembering these seven names of Greek origin may seem like an arduous one. Rest assured, there’s a mantra (of course there is — there always is!) to give you a helping hand. This order can be easily remembered by reciting: I Don’t Particularly Like Modes A Lot.
The first letter of each word in the sentence corresponds to the first letter of the Greek mode name, which will at least give you a little hint on which word it is. The actual names themselves, however, will have to be something you try to commit to memory.
Now it’s time for the cool part, the information that makes this confusing topic of how modes fit in to the big picture quite easy to understand.
First of all, let me tell you that the name for the major scale is the Ionian mode, the first mode.
Secondly, I will say that the name of the relative minor scale is the Aeolian mode, the sixth mode.
Can you see where this is heading?
Just like the Aeolian (relative minor), each mode listed above is a ‘relative’ to the tonic‘s major scale!
So, just as the Aeolian mode can be found by locating the sixth note of the tonic’s major scale, all other relative modes can be found in the same way, too: by referring to its position in the mode order.
Simply put, the relative Dorian mode of a key can be found on the second note within the original major scale. The relative Phrygian mode is found on the third note. The Lydian mode is found on the fourth. The Mixo-Lydian mode is found on the fifth. As we already know, the Aeolian (relative minor) is on the sixth. And finally, the relative Locrian mode is on the seventh!
We know that the Aeolian (relative minor) is found by playing the tonic Ionian scale from the sixth note until you hit the sixth note again. Well, this is also the same for the rest of the modes, as they all follow the same pattern. Dorian is found by playing the second note until you hit the second note again, the Phrygian is third note to the third note, the Lydian by playing the fourth note to fourth note, the Mixo-Lydian is the fifth note to fifth note, the Aeolian is the sixth to sixth (we know this already) and the Locrian is the seventh to seventh.
Now, let’s see it in a practical example by using the key of C.
If we start with the C Major scale, which is C D E F G A B, we will have automatically found the C Ionian mode.
Now, if we start on the second note of C Ionian and carry it to the next octave, which is D E F G A B C, we will have discovered D Dorian, the relative Dorian mode to C major.
If we start on the third note of C Ionian and carry it to the next octave, we will play E F G A B C D and discover E Phrygian.
If we start on the fourth note of C Ionian and carry it to the next octave, we will play F G A B C D E and discover F Lydian.
If we start on the fifth note of C Ionian and carry it to the next octave, we will find G A B C D E F and play the G Mixo-Lydian mode.
If we start on the sixth note of C Ionian and carry it to the next octave, we will play A B C D E F G and play the A Aeolian mode, the relative minor scale of C major.
If we start on the seventh note of C Ionian and carry it to the next octave, we will play B C D E F G A and discover B Locrian, the relative half-diminished mode of C major (or Ionian — it’s the same thing).
As you can see, the C Ionian mode contains the exact same notes (key signature) as the D Dorian, as does the E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixo-Lydian, A Aeolian and B Locrian — a scale with no sharps or flats.
As I said before, all roads lead directly back to the major scale!
In step four of The Five Steps to Songwriting, we learned that the major scale has a tonality that transfers it from a ‘two dimensional’ scale into a ‘three dimensional’ chord bank.
The exact same process can be done for modes! All you have to do is apply the step four mantra (major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, minor half-diminished) to notes of the major scale:
1. Ionian – Major
2. Dorian – Minor
3. Phrygian – Minor
4. Lydian – Major
5. Mixo-Lydian – Major
6. Aeolian – Minor (Relative Minor)
7. Locrian – Minor Half-Diminished
In the beginning we chose one note. We then turned that note into a major scale. We then turned that major scale into a chord bank made up of major chords, minor chords and a minor half-diminished chord. We then found out that the sixth note of the scale and chord bank is the relative minor, also known as the Aeolian mode — it contains the same notes as its tonic. And now, we have filled in the remaining five positions in the major scale’s chord bank, showing that each note in the scale has its own relative mode (and therefore, chord bank).
Consider this an extra step to The Five Steps to Songwriting.
You can now add the ‘I Don’t Particularly Like Modes A Lot’ mantra to your chord banks, showing you which of the relative scales are major, which are minor and which one is minor half-diminished.
All relative modes contain the same notes and same chords as the tonic’s key, yet add completely different tonal qualities when used on their own or combined with the other modes.
You now have the knowledge to work out any of the relative modes for any possible key, something we have found students consider to be quite an advanced and difficult piece of theory in the past.
But now that you can see how it all fits together, it is simple, right?
Let’s put it into action.
As we learned in the Relative Minor chapter, the usage of relative keys can be broken down into chordal choices and melodic combinations. As every mode follows the same rules, the exact same principle can be applied to their implementation also. Experimentation and trial and error will be your best friend here, as there are more combinations than you may at first think.
Chords
At first, I insisted that you only write chord progressions that start with the first chord of the scale.
Then, once we learned the implementation of the relative minor, I said you can start your progressions on the sixth note of the scale.
Now that you understand all the modes, you are free to start your progressions with any chord in the scale — as you now know why you will be choosing that chord and it’s relation to your music theory.
For example, let’s say that we are in the key of C and wish to start a chord progression on the Em chord. The Em chord is the third position of the C major scale, and the third mode of the scale is always the Phrygian, which means that using an Em chord as our first chord in our progression has therefore converted it into a Phrygian chord progression. If you started your progression on an F, however, (whilst still in the key of C), you would be writing a Lydian chord progression. Starting on a G would give you a Mixo-Lydian progression, and so on, and so on — you get it by now, I’m sure.
To show this in an example, continuing the use of the key of C major:
C major: C Dm Em F G Am Bo
D Dorian: Dm Em G Am Bo C Dm
E Phrygian: Em F G Am Bo C Dm
F Lydian: F G Am Bo C Dm Em
G Mixo-Lydian: G Am Bo C Dm Em F
A Aeolian: Am Bo C Dm Em F G
B Locrian: Bo C Dm Em F G Am
As you can see, all of the chords are the same within each of the relative keys — containing the exact same key signature (in the case of C major, no sharps or flats). This means that your starting chord of your progressions can be any chord you desire within that major key.
You may wish to write a song in C major with a F Lydian bridge, for contrast. Or maybe you want to write an entire song in E Phrygian? It is completely up to you and your creativity.
Even if you never return to the tonic major, it will always be there as a subtle backbone that holds all the scales together.
Melodies
You may recall in the Relative Minor chapter that we went through the four different combinations of scales and chordal accompaniment between the major and minor scale; major over major, minor over minor, major over minor and minor over major.
We noticed that all four have distinct sounds and all would be used for different reasons. Well, each mode has the exact same potential based on its combination with different chordal or melodic accompaniment.
Now, there are far too many options of modal combinations to list subjective opinions on their sounds when combined in this section, so experiment around — your ears are ultimately your best friends. Whatever sounds good to you will always be the right answer.
Just like we have done before, record your progression and take note of which mode it was written in. Play it back and begin to write your melody over the top by playing all of the different modes in combination.
It will always be a safe bet to use the same mode in your melody as you used for your chordal accompaniment, but make sure to take a moment to experiment with other modal combinations — you might just find the perfect sound for your composition.
Heads up!
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Some Parting Words
You may have started reading this book because you wanted to dive into the world of songwriting, but had little idea of how to get started.
We sincerely hope our methods have helped you achieve your goal.
However, your personal method and approach to songwriting will develop as you practice and become increasingly confident with the techniques that are taught within this book. The way you end up writing will most likely differ substantially to how anyone else writes their music. That is what makes songwriting such a personal and special process.
I have had countless students say that they could never be songwriters, because they thought that people are either born creative or they are not. This is simply not true. This program has shown you that songwriting is a very achievable process for anyone, when approached through a refined rational method.
You chose a note and transformed it until you had created an entire song. Each step brought you closer to your finished product, based on a set of mantras, techniques and rules of theory. You then could add as much or as little detail as you liked, to really personalise your composition.
But after enough practice, there will come a time that you shed your cocoon and emerge completely creative minded. Instead of sitting down with a process in front of you, you may just have a song come to you one day while you are at work or doing the groceries. The melody may come first, or maybe you’ll just have a ‘feel’ for a song repeat in your mind all day. Instead of writing from the ground up, you will begin to write your song based around your creative idea, doing what you can to bring your creative vision to life. This will be when you have transitioned to a completely creative writing process.
A creative mindset comes from a ton of practice, becoming comfortable with your instrument and experience. You must write and reflect upon one hundred songs to learn the things that you like and the things that you don’t. And most importantly, why you do or don’t like it. Understanding the ‘why’ will give you a strength for the next song you write, improving your skill and increasing your creative mindset through the process of subconscious decision making.
Remaining Objective
Being a songwriter has its ups and downs. There will be times in which you don’t like anything that you write and there will be times in which it’s the polar opposite.
Both of these thought processes can be detrimental to your finished product, so it is important to develop and maintain an objective ear when you are critiquing your own songs.
"I'm not liking what I'm writing."
There will sometimes be days, weeks or even months in which you will dislike everything you write. It will feel like no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to come up with that song you are hoping to write.
This may occur for a few reasons;
Writer's Block
A common (and very real) mind-state that affects a musicians ability to write songs is known as ‘writers block’.
It is frustrating, it is real and it is something that every songwriter will quickly become familiar with.
Below are some specifics of why your writers block may be occurring and how you could go about trying to fix it.
You are trying to force it.
If you are finding yourself completely uninspired when you pick up your instrument, you may be trying to force creativity at a time of day that might not work for you.
Some people are night owls and can only feel creative and ‘in the zone’ in the hours past midnight.
Other people can’t focus when they are tired and prefer to work in the early morning sunlight, as they find it inspiring for their songwriting process.
You have to find the time that works for you. If you find your current situation isn’t working, switch it up and try something new.
You have burnt yourself out.
Sometimes songwriters will aim to write a handful of songs for an EP or album recording. They will sit down for a few weeks and write 4 new songs — but for the life of them, they won’t be able to finish another that they like.
This is known as being burnt out. All of the inspiration they had has been used on the previous songs. To put it simply: they are out of ideas.
This one is simple to fix, though. As much as you may not want to, take a break.
Take a while (sometimes a few days, other times a week) to clear your head. Look for more inspiration. If long walks make you feel inspired, go do that. Read, watch TV, go to the movies — do whatever you need to do to clear your head. If you have to listen to music, listen to something that is in a completely different genre to the genres you usually listen to.
By keeping your brain active in areas other than creative writing, you will soon feel refreshed and ready to get back to it in no time.
You are being too hard on yourself.
We have all seen the exaggeration on TV and in movies in which the waste paper basket of a writer is overflowing with scrunched up pieces of paper from all the ideas that they have considered to be rubbish. It is quite a common thing.
But each piece of paper you put in the bin is raising the bar another notch higher for something that will impress you. Each new idea that you create will have to make up for all of the ideas you got frustrated at for not being good enough.
If you have spent a bunch of time writing a song and you feel frustrated, take a break. If it is late, go to bed and sleep on it. Don’t delete the recording from your computer or throw the piece of paper your lyrics are written on in the bin.
Spend at least eight hours away from what you have created and return another time to address it with a clear state of mind.
Usually, when it is time to revisit you will find yourself feeling surprised — this song really wasn’t as bad as you remembered it!
Now, I am not saying that you will love what you had written in its current state, but there is a good chance that you will now know what to do to polish it into that impressive composition you are after once you are looking at it with a fresh perspective.
"I love what I am writing!"
There will also be times in which you will be over the moon about everything you write.
This generally tends to occur when you are finding your stride as a songwriter, or after you have found a fresh stream of inspiration.
While it is a fantastic thing to be proud of your work, don’t let your pride get in the way of you being able to hear the rough edges that need sanding.
There are a lot of songwriters out there that become too focused on what they think sounds good to notice what doesn’t.
Rock bands might love that one loud riff they wrote so much that they choose to ignore all of the bland verses and choruses that fall around it. If they could objectively notice the downfalls of their work, they could improve them to make the entire song as good as that riff they love so much.
Don’t get me wrong, in no way is positivity a bad thing. A confidently written song will shine over a song that was written without any every time. Though, if your confidence is blocking you from seeing your song objectively, it will only slow you down in the long run.
So, remain objective about your compositions. Make sure that you are proud of everything you create, from the start to the finish. Never accept a first draft as what you use for the final copy. Never release your songs or perform them live until you are confident that they are at their best possible quality.
This is what separates the good songwriters from the average.
Now, for the answers.
All answers are available in the free PDF of this mega-guide. Want a copy?
The Answers
If you want the answers to all of the theory, simply click one of the buttons on this page to get your PDF version.
The PDF version contains all of the answers.
But, as the whole point of this training was to teach you how to work these answers out yourself (so you are prepared for anything that songwriting throws at you), these answers should be used for reference only!
This means that it is fine to check the answers to make sure that your answer was correct, but it is not fine to skip the method in this book and use the answers as your ‘go to’ as a fast track for when you’re writing a song.
Always work it out first, then reference it if you need to. It will benefit you so much more in the long run.