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Going on a Songwriting Adventure

„Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, and the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn’t get some of that stuff out “, country singer and songwriter Dolly Parton once said. How great if it would be so easy to do that! But sometimes it can be a real struggle to start with a project like songwriting. It’s as if you have a ball of wool in your hand and first have to find the right end of the thread. You have a great idea – but the feeling of first having to untangle and sort everything can be really demotivating. In this case, it’s all your thoughts, ideas, inspirations and feelings you have to sort.  And what if the thread suddenly came to an end and you had to abandon the project?

Michael Maasen, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1520446266423-6daca23fe8c7?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&ixid=M3wxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8fA%3D%3D&auto=format&fit=crop&w=2340&q=80

But whenever you do something creative, you take a risk – and that’s actually almost most of the fun, once you get over the initial demotivation: not to know where all of this is going to lead you to, like a big adventure of creativity inside of your mind! And to make sure not to get lost on this adventure, we can try to sort our thoughts. Fortunately, for songwriting, it’s relatively easy to come up with a kind of guide to what to take with you on your creative journey, with different things that help you find your way through the creative song chaos in your mind. It‘s not like a list of instructions that you just have to follow and then you reach your destination – after all, we are on an adventure! It‘s more like the pieces of a map that you have to put together somehow, and then navigate on your own. And as you know that cannot guarantee that you reach your destination at the end of your journey. But if you have a lot of ideas and are looking for some orientation, this little article might help you to get an overview.

The first piece you need is the main theme you want your song to be about – life in general, death, love, hate, friendship, having fun or something else? Maybe you can also already come up with a message that your song should tell. But it could as well be something for which you have no words – an image you see in front of you, a vague feeling, a memory, or a short melody. Whatever it is, try to capture it in some form. Perhaps you will be able to name this feeling or idea and later develop a message or story from it.

For the rest of our “map”, it doesn’t really make a difference which component you start with. It’s best to start with what you have and then try to fill in the blanks. So, what about starting with the structure? That’s always a good idea when inspiration runs dry, ideas stop flowing and you don’t know what to do. Then a kind of inventory list could be a good help – you write down what you actually want as part of your song and then check off which parts are still missing. Below you will see a list of parts of a pop song as they are often used, which you can use and arrange as you wish:

  1. Most pop songs start with an intro(duction). It might be a short piano melody already reflecting the melody of your chorus, or a unique melody that will be picked up again at the end of the song, or something completely different.
  2. Next is the verse. Its melody is often repeated after the first chorus, maybe including some changes, and with changed lyrics. It oten includes a lot of the storytelling you want to happen in your lyrics.
  3. The chorus is the absolute highlight of your song! Featuring a great melody that won‘t get out of the listener‘s head, it‘s the part of the song that‘s the most easy to hum or dance to and that people would remember if they thought of the song. It‘s a perfect place to convey your core message.
  4. The bridge is a unique piece of your song that is some kind of interlude between a chorus and the final chorus and is not repeated. For example, it can be a great part to tell the (surprising) twist of a story. 

There are also some other components that are not used in every pop song, such as the pre-chorus (as you can find it in Perfect by Ed Sheeran, for example), the instrumental break, or the outro. Sometimes, a song starts with an opening chorus instead of an intro, such as in Kings And Queens by Ava Max. But how can you now put all these pieces together into a well-rounded song? An example of a traditional song structure is Taylor Swift’s Blank Space: intro – verse – chorus – verse – chorus – bridge – chorus. If you like to conclude more different parts, here is another example: intro – verse – pre-chorus – chorus – verse – pre-chorus – chorus – bridge – break – final chorus – outro. This is the order many famous pop songs follow – but don‘t forget that it‘s your song so why not invent your own order?

Let‘s move on to the next piece of our map: Pop songs are often known for their catchy rhythm. Who wouldn’t immediately start grooving when listening to ABBA’s Dancing Queen, for example? But of course, not every pop song has to be danceable – there are so many different facets of moods that can be expressed with rhythms! You can for example choose a groovy dance hit or a romantic pop ballad. As you think about the type of rhythm, you might also have ideas about the instruments you want to use to express your rhythm: drums, booming bass, or soft piano would be just a few examples of all the possibilities you can choose from. In the music charts you often find very catchy and sometimes very simple rhythms, but why not dare a little more complexity and add some jazz?

Now we have a structure and a rhythm – but there is still something very important missing: the melody. Although for a normal pop song it is usually a catchy and simple melody, the most important feature is its uniqueness. If you want people to sing it with you, you might consider a key a lot of people can sing in. And think of your melody as the tune of your voice in a conversation – it should fit to your lyrics and sound naturally when you sing it. If you already have lyrics to sing to you could for example read them out aloud and then slowly add different pitches. And when repeating your melody, you could vary it by adding skips and leaps, changing it a little bit to make it interesting. Plus, what about a grandiose climax at the end of your song where all the emotion „explodes“? On the other hand, you could also think of a song that gets quieter and quieter until the end – choose whatever suits your message! Of course, it‘s not easy to write great hook lines, in other words catchy and unique melody phrases or lines of lyrics. Do you remember the iconic „All the single ladies – all the single ladies!“ by Beyonce? That‘s a perfect example for a hook. But how to get the inspiration for a brilliant hook? Well – one advice by the famous jazz musician Allan Holdsworth was bike riding: „Bike riding is great for your thinking. I can’t say I’ve written an entire tune while cycling, but riding has definitely inspired songwriting ideas.“

To create an atmosphere, highlighting the emotions and creating a three-dimensional piece of music, don‘t forget the harmony about which you can learn more in the article about the circle of fifths. 

Finally, one last pop song element: the lyrics. If you have decided on your song‘s main theme, you could try to collect ideas. You could use traditional brainstorming but what about collecting objects and connecting them to a story or only a few lyrics lines? And what about the form of your lyrics – do you want them to rhyme or just fitting to a consistent rhythm? 

Structure, rhythm, melody, harmony and lyrics: There is so much to experiment with and to create something unique to express your feelings. The number of possibilities can be intimidating and a great adventure – but now, with the pieces of the „map“, I hope you can reach your destination!

Collecting things you like and trying to connect them to a story could be helpful – Thought Catalog, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1488190211105-8b0e65b80b4e?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&ixid=M3wxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8fA%3D%3D&auto=format&fit=crop&w=2070&q=80

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