Basic Songwriting Techniques

Songwriting techniques are very important to develop and hone. These skills take time and yes just like everything else lots of practice. You need to work on songwriting  just like you would work on scales, runs and chord progressions. Maybe if you get good enough you can enter a songwriting competition but first practice. The good news there is almost no end to amount of material that can be used to write a song. The possibilities are limitless. You can get inspired from the tv, newspaper, books, and your everyday life. The bad news is the possibilities are limitless. All that open space or open

So first how do we overcome our fear? What songwriting technique do you use? This is the easiest question to answer when it comes to songwriting techniques . Just do it. To coin the Nike add. Do not worry about what type of song you are writing how it sounds any of that. Simply sit down and write. Write down lyrics chord progressions anything. After a while you will no longer be intimidated by all that open paper and where to start will become the least of your problems.

Where to begin when writing a song? Well there is no correct way to do this. There are a few common methods of writing such as writing the lyrics then composing the music, write a rhythm first then set the rest of the song around that, or start with a melody and build from there. There are other methods but these are some of the most common. I prefer to create a chord progression first and go for there. I suppose that has to do with me being a guitar player before anything else. Try each of these methods and find out what works best for you. We all work and write in different ways. Like I said above just keep writing.

Once you have a method just sit down and start writing your song. If you are starting with lyric remember not every word in the verse has to rhyme. Do not kill you self when writing to make words rhyme that is not what makings of a good song. In fact if you force rhyming it will not sound right. Just write and let then words come to you. Also remember if you like a verse or a word you can always change it later. In fact once the song is done both lyrically and musically you should do a rewrite or two.

Now to the music as I said I am first and for most a guitar player so how I go about songwriting may be different then the norm. When trying to come up with the music for a song I first decide what scale I am going to work with. I am not sure if this is the correct method or not. Most everything I see about writing says you have to work with the major scale and I do use that a lot but not always. I will simply take that scale I am working with a randomly take notes form that scale and put them together. Just to see what works well together and what doesn’t. I do this for melodies and chord progressions. I keep varying the chords or notes until the sound feels right.

The next thing I would strongly recommend is record yourself. For me at least I cannot put an entire song together in my head I need to hear. I would recommend that you get a multi tract recorder and start laying down tracts when you have a rough idea of the song. This way you can listen back and change what is not working and keep what is. It is not always that easy to hear what is good and what is not so good when you are playing. Not to mention with a multi track recorder you can lay down tracks and get an idea what the song would sound like with a full band.

So the bottom line is take these songwriting tips and just keep writing. Write words, rhythms, and melodies whatever but keep doing it. Do not me embarrassed of what you write. I am not kidding consider entering a few songwriting contests it may help you if you are forced to write under a deadline. However Just be proud very few people can say they even tried to write a song let alone actually write one.  Use these songwriting techniques and keep practicing.

I highly recommend this book by Rikky Rooksby How To Write Songs On Guitar - Songwriting Techniques. This is in my personal collection.