Carve Your Thoughts Into A Meaningful Song Using These Songwriting tips

Songwriting is a creative art that comes from within. However, like all other creative professions, writing songs, at times, can get too challenging.

Consider a situation where you sit down to write the most beautiful piece of art. But as soon as you pick up your pen to jot down your thoughts, you go all blank – a situation where you cannot put your thoughts in words or come up with a relatable scenario. Not only that, sometimes you may fail to gather thoughts and ways to start.

Are you fed up with this and want to avoid all such problems?

Don’t worry. With these seven songwriting tips, get more efficient in your songwriting pursuit and release encapsulating albums to reach the top, even No.1 on Spotify.

1. Take Inspiration from your Favorite Artists

Bob Dylan, the famous songwriter, remarked: “Expose yourself to everything that your favorite artist has exposed himself to.”

Hence, it clarifies that the starting point should be getting musical ideas from the sources you like.

Check up your favorite artist’s work and listen to it carefully to scrutinize each minor element. In this way, you can get a general idea of beginning your song and structuring it.

Instead of only checking up their work, here are some more ways to make the most out of these songwriting tips:

• Dig deep for old tunes and analyze them. Maybe it’s time you show your fans some timeless gem work.
• Pick up your favorite tracks and identify what attracts you the most. Is it the melody, chords, or chords that makes it unique? Scrutinize it carefully and implement the findings in your songs.
• Check artwork and engulf yourselves with nature for a while. They both can also spark your imagination and fetch you some ideas.

While this sounds great, wait until you hear the rest of our songwriting tips.

2. Integrate Your Senses To Create A Concept

You can get the best piece only after planning. Hence, before you rush to write songs, create a concept first.

If you follow step #1, you might have a fair idea of what type of song you want. Hence, now all you have to do is use the power of your five senses to define the atmosphere, short story, patterns, and illustration, which create a basic starting point for you.

Since you’ve defined your song’s genre, now you can start adding in melodies, quotes, and lyrics to generate your piece.

3. Start with Your Melody First

Melody is the priceless aspect of the songwriting process that strengthens your script. It is the set of single notes satisfying and forming the song’s tune in technical terms. Even if people forget the lyrics, they will remember the song through the melody.

Well, it definitely doesn’t mean that lyrics are not important. In fact, writing lyrics is the most critical and painstaking process of songwriting, providing the layout and story of the song.

However, lyrics mostly copy the melody. Hence, if the melody is set straight, you can be sure that your lyrics will relate to it.

Let’s see what John Legend, the famous singer, has to say about melody: “I usually create the musical structure and melody of the song at the start…. In my opinion, music always dictates the lyrics.”

Even the industry experts agree that melody will make or break the song. Therefore, writing melodies is an artwork that can provide your music with the recognition it deserves.

4. Create a Progressive Structure

You have decided upon your melody; That’s perfect. Now, it’s time you begin structuring and the writing process.

Begin with your lyric writing, which is often the most challenging process. With the melody being decided, you can write lyrics that revolve around it. Furthermore, keep an open mind and change when inspiration strikes you.

Once done with the initial draft, you have to structure it by giving an eye-catching hook and map it alternatively between bridges and verses. One example of a standard structure is as follows: verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ bridge/ chorus.

A pro tip is to use rhyme in your lyrics, making lyrics more open-ended, catchy, and fun. Many people will resonate well with rhymes and remember your song.

5. Create Igniting Riffs

Setting a relatable rhythm and riffs will enhance the tune that most people seek. In simple terms, riffs are a succession of notes played repeatedly across a song. Most commonly, it can even set the song’s melody, and a good riff may set its place in many people’s minds.

Let’s hear what Dimebag Darrell, a famous musician, has to say about riffs: “I, along with my band, knows that when we are jamming to great guitar riffs, it’s about time we create the best song.”

6. Know the Songwriting Software

We understand that you’re not an audio engineer, but knowing several basics about the digital audio station (DAW) will really help you. Even getting vocal presets will help you set up a starter vocal chain. They are the main tool of songwriting production, which can facilitate you to translate your ideas into the software. Hence, you must be comfortable working with the following famous DAW software:

• Pro tools
• Ableton
• Logic X
• Studio One
• FL Studio
• Garage Band

Learning the keystrokes/shortcuts and reading through the manual guides will help you understand some features that will boost your efficiency in writing a new song. Since you won’t require an audio engineer, you can write your own songs and pitch them to the producers on your own, which saves tons of engineer costs.

7. Past Experience Can Come in Handy

Can’t seem to think of anything? Does Everything appear to be a cloud mist in front of you? Maybe it’s time to unleash the thoughts within. Melissa Etheridge quotes, “I do use my past experiences when writing songs” past traumas and experiences can get you some interesting scripts.

Another way to generate musical ideas is by mingling and hanging out with professionals. Collaborating with them can help you break past your potential and get a new musical idea. You can even show them your unfinished work and get critiques/suggestions, allowing you to enhance your current work.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do Beginners start songwriting?

You must be patient and slowly progress forward if you’re a beginner. Here are some tips for beginning your journey:

• Learn the basics of songwriting, music theory, and scripts
• Listen to a wide variety of songs and create your library.
• Start writing your thoughts.
• Slowly improve and take suggestions from experts.

What are the five most important aspects of songwriting?

• Genre and topic/song title
• Structure
• Lyrics
• Production process and tools
• Editing

What is a hook in a song?

It’s simply the part of the song which catches the reader’s attention and makes him/her listen to the full song. It can either be one of the following:

• Melody
• Riffs
• First few lines of the song
• Distant sounds

Does a song need a chorus?

No, not every song can have one. Several songs can just revolve around the verses and work on the bridge part.

Does every song have an outro?

An outro or coda is the final part of the song. Almost all songs have one, and it signals to the listener that the song is about to end. It can either be one of the following:

• The reverse of the intro in slow motion
• Section without lyrics
• Copy of other sections
• Solo instrumental

Communicate Feelings Through Melodies

Songwriting is undoubtedly not an easy process. But if you have zeal and passion for creating music, you can break barriers through your never-ending effort.

Do you want to get at par with your favorite songwriters? With these songwriting tips listed above, unleash the creative beast within yourself and emerge as an expert, producing tracks that leave people murmuring.