And that, in a nutshell, is about it. So dive in and start playing around. In songwriting, that really comes down to writing grooves — short accompaniment ideas that you can repeat and repeat over a changing chord sequence.
Most grooves are based on simple chord repetitions or figuration — sometimes called arpeggios or broken chords. Of course, if you have the experience, you can create something more intricate and ambitious. In fact, the most important thing with grooves is always that you come up with a groove that fits the vibe or mood of your song.
Try brainstorming a few different groove styles that could work for this song. You can use whatever instruments or kit you have available — my examples were on piano, but you could easily create the same effect on a guitar, in a DAW or with any other instrument. And again, simple is good. If you need to, take a moment to put them all together into a single project file, score or a rough recording. Nice work. Like with your choruses, I recommend you aim to write 8 lyric lines and 16 measures of music.
As you probably know, in a verse-chorus song, the verses usually have the same music but a fresh lyric each time. Writing a verse chord progression works in pretty much the same way as writing a chorus chord progression. Again, this process is essentially the same as creating a chorus groove, only with a few extra subtleties. One really neat way to do that is to take some element of your chorus groove and transform it into something else in your verse — so if your chorus groove has a really distinctive rhythm or a specific chord shape, you could use one or both of them in your verse groove.
And it can often make the writing process much easier because it gives you a specific idea to start writing with. This process works exactly the same as before — you want to take the essence of your groove idea and repeat it as your chords change. To create your own verse masterplan, you just want to think of two related but different subtopics or focal points for each of your verses.
For example, in a love song, you could focus the first verse around a first date and the second verse around a second date. Or you spend the first verse talking about the more superficial things you like about someone and the second verse talking about some deeper, more substantial things.
The possibilities are literally endless — but what matters is that you have a firm game plan for your verses before you start writing them.
So spend some time now brainstorming a few different options. Sure, writing any part of a song can be tough. So to make things easier, as well as the verse masterplan you just came up with, I recommend you create a lyric idea brainstorm for each of your verses. Your goal is to come up with more words and phrases than you can possibly ever use — maybe fifty to a hundred words — because the more words you come up with in the brainstorming stage, the easier the actual writing is going to be.
When I first heard all about you, I knew I had to know more, Still, I sat there counting the minutes Until you walked in the door…. And again, if it helps, you can sketch out your verse melody rhythmically first — try to figure out how its rhythm fits over your chords — before you try and add any notes. In your chorus, you want to make a bit of a statement — so chorus melodies are often kind of declamatory or showy. But in your humble verses you just want to help us feel at home and get to know your singer and song, so you can try to come up with something that feels more chatty, and more rhythmic than melodic, here.
Like we touched on before, a verse build is an increase in energy and intensity in your verses that helps make your choruses feel extra important. In short, in pretty much every great song ever, each verse and chorus works together as a pair with a mini rise and fall, starting at low intensity at the start of the verse, and feeling like it really lands somewhere in each chorus. One really simple way to do that is just to add a gradual crescendo — an increase in volume — in the second half of your verses.
Still, there are a handful of more fun and more advanced ways of creating that kind of build effect in your verses. Here are a few of the best ones:. To see what I mean — or if you want some more inspiration and ideas — the best thing to do is to go listen to some of your favorite songs to figure out how they manage their own verse builds.
The process is pretty much identical to the process you used in your first verse lyric, only this time you have a slightly different subtopic or theme to start with. So like before, I recommend you take that theme and spend some time brainstorming key words, phrases and rhymes that are related to that idea. Like before, you want to fill at least a full page with words and ideas you could use — with something like fifty to a hundred in total.
Coming up with a verse masterplan should make figuring out what to talk about no harder than it was in your first verse lyric, but with your second verse there two extra things to bear in mind. The first is that, as a rule, you want your second verse lyric to use exactly the same rhyme scheme and more-or-less exactly the same syllable patterns in each line. The exact syllable patterns you use is a bit negotiable — you often find songwriters adding or taking away a syllable or two and adjusting their verse melody accordingly.
Find the melody in your lyric. Choose one or two of the phrases you came up with in Step 4. Say them out loud. Now say them again with LOTS of emotion. Exaggerate the emotion in the lines. Notice the natural rhythm and melody of your speech when you say the lines with lots of feeling.
This is the beginning of your chorus melody. Play with it until it feels comfortable. Begin to add chords to your chorus melody. Try a simple, repeated chord pattern. Scroll down to the section on Chord Progressions. Play with the melody and chords until you find something you like. Work on the lyric in your first verse. Focus on the question you chose in Step 4.
Make your first line something that will get listeners interested: an intriguing statement, a question, or a description of the situation. In your second line, consider restating the first line in a different way or adding more information. Go through Steps 5 and 6 with your verse melody and chords. Connect your verse and chorus. After you have a verse and chorus, create a transition between them so that they flow naturally. You may need to raise or lower your verse melody or change the last line to get to your chorus smoothly.
If not, you can skip that part of the process entirely. In fact, many songwriters prefer to start with an element they know will be central to the rest of the song. Is your song about something? Do you speak to it directly in the lyrics? Or is it more of a general theme? Most songs are made up of three key structural elements— verse , chorus and bridge.
The chorus is where that development pays off. It also tends to be the catchiest, most memorable moment. The bridge is a contrasting section that leads the song in a different direction before heading back to a verse or chorus. Bridges are typically used to shake up the pattern and make familiar elements like the chorus hit extra hard when they come back in. There are plenty of variations on these basics so check out our other resources about song structure to get the full picture.
But most songs can be broken into these three parts. Arrangement is a big subject in music. It includes topics like key , tempo , instrumentation , chord voicings and more. A great song with a strong arrangement is a beautiful thing. But even a rock solid tune needs the right presentation to shine. Creative blocks seem like they can strike at any time. Part of being a strong songwriter is learning how to beat creative blocks or make them less disruptive when they come along.
In fact, there are plenty of strategies out there to help you kickstart your creativity and get back into songwriting flow. Check out our list of 17 ridiculous songwriting tips that actually work when nothing else does the trick.
Luckily, there are some incredible digital tools available that can help you be more productive and finish songs faster. It seems tough when you first start, but everyone can do it if they put in some effort to learn the basics. From fostering inspiration to crafting the final presentation, there are a lot of steps involved in songwriting.
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