For aspiring songwriters arriving at payoffsong.com, the burning question is often, “How Do You Make A Song?” Whether you’re a complete novice or have dabbled in songwriting and seek to refine your skills, understanding the fundamentals is crucial. It’s essential to start with solid techniques and cultivate good habits right from the outset to avoid having to correct ingrained, less effective approaches later. Let’s explore a step-by-step guide to songwriting, answering that fundamental question: “How do I write a song?”
Chapters
- Finding Your Song’s Core: The Topic
- Brainstorming Catchy Song Titles
- Selecting the Perfect Title for Your Song
- Blueprinting Your Song’s Structure
- Discovering Your Song’s Groove and Melody
- Crafting Compelling Lyrics
- Polishing and Finalizing Your Song
1. Discovering Your Song’s Core: The Topic
When embarking on your first songwriting journey, it’s highly recommended to begin with a topic that ignites your passion or evokes strong emotions. This personal connection serves as powerful fuel for your creativity.
For example, if you’re experiencing the exhilaration of new love, channeling that emotion into a love song can feel incredibly natural and authentic. Conversely, if you’re navigating the pain of heartbreak, exploring those raw feelings through song can be cathartic and deeply resonant. In our SongTown workshops, we often conduct an exercise where participants list three things they urgently want to communicate to someone. This simple prompt consistently yields a wealth of compelling and heartfelt song ideas. Choosing a topic that genuinely interests you and stirs your emotions will invariably ignite your creative spark far more effectively than a subject matter that feels purely fabricated or emotionally distant.
2. Brainstorming Catchy Song Titles
Once you’ve identified your topic, the next step in how you make a song is to brainstorm a collection of intriguing song titles that creatively capture the essence of the emotion or feeling you wish to convey.
Let’s imagine you’ve chosen heartbreak as your central theme. In this phase, prioritize generating titles that resonate with authenticity rather than focusing solely on clever wordplay. Authenticity lends credibility to your song and significantly enhances its potential to emotionally impact listeners. Consider titles like:
- Never Again (expressing the resolution to avoid future heartbreak)
- Why (a direct question reflecting the pain of betrayal)
- There’s Nothing Good In Goodbye (capturing the inherent sadness of farewells)
The more titles you generate during this brainstorming session, the better. Selecting the strongest title from a diverse pool is invariably more effective than settling for the very first idea that surfaces.
3. Selecting the Perfect Title for Your Song
The subsequent crucial step in understanding how to make a song is choosing your definitive title. Let’s say you gravitate towards “Never Again.” By solidifying this as your title, you establish it as the central theme, the core idea that will anchor your chorus. The chorus, in contemporary songwriting across almost all genres, serves as the most pivotal component of a song.
Choosing your title upfront is advantageous because it provides a clear direction for your songwriting process. As the insightful Tim Johnson wisely stated, “It’s easier to get to where you are going if you know your destination.” Having your title as your ‘destination’ empowers you to write towards it with purpose and intention, rather than meandering aimlessly in search of a direction. Your audience seeks a cohesive journey, not a rambling, directionless exploration.
4. Blueprinting Your Song’s Structure
With your title chosen, it’s time to employ a technique called “blueprinting” to strategically map out the narrative and emotional progression of your song. While the book “Song Building” offers an in-depth exploration of blueprinting, here’s a concise overview.
The core of blueprinting involves crafting a brief, impactful sentence that encapsulates the message you intend to communicate within each distinct section of your song. Crucially, remember that your verses serve the purpose of setting the stage for the central idea presented in your chorus. Your chorus should function as the “bottom line,” the ultimate takeaway message of your song.
Think of each song section as having a specific job:
- Verse 1: Introduces the characters involved, establishes the context of the story, and sets the scene, enabling the listener to readily follow the narrative unfolding in the song.
- Chorus: Presents your song’s core idea or dominant emotion – which is embodied in your chosen title.
- Verse 2: Expands upon the central idea or emotion introduced in the chorus, taking it to a deeper level or exploring a new facet of it.
Applying blueprinting to our example, “Never Again,” might look like this:
- Verse 1: “You broke my heart, and now you’re seeking a second chance.”
- Chorus: “Never again will I trust you.”
- Verse 2: “You’ll have to find someone else to hurt.”
Notice how Verse 1 introduces the key players – the singer and the former love interest who caused pain. It also establishes the immediate context: the other person is returning, seeking reconciliation after causing heartbreak. In this particular song example, the setting is less critical; the song’s core revolves around a personal, emotional conversation, making the physical location less relevant. However, in other songs, the setting might be integral to the narrative. For instance, a song about falling in love on a specific beach would necessitate incorporating that setting into your blueprint.
The chorus then powerfully delivers the central theme: “NEVER AGAIN!”
This declaration is a strong assertion, representing the singer’s firm stance to protect their heart and establish boundaries.
Moving to Verse 2, the objective is to advance the central theme further. In our example, the singer amplifies the “Never Again” sentiment by explicitly telling the other person to seek someone else to mistreat. This progression moves the narrative forward; the singer isn’t just reiterating their refusal to trust again, but actively directs the other person away, implying they should inflict their hurtful behavior elsewhere.
A common pitfall in second verses is simply rephrasing the first verse with different words. This repetition can bore listeners and stalls the narrative’s momentum. While there might be an inclination to further elaborate on the pain inflicted in the first verse, that ground has already been covered. There’s no need to revisit it.
Mastering the specific functions of each song section and honing the skill of blueprinting provides a robust foundation for crafting lyrics that are clear, easily understood, and emotionally engaging. Furthermore, blueprinting becomes your safeguard against writer’s block, particularly when facing the notorious second verse. By pre-planning the message of each section, you enter the lyric writing phase with a clear roadmap. Once you’ve refined a blueprint that resonates with you, you’re well-prepared to begin composing your song.
5. Discovering Your Song’s Groove and Melody
If you are musically inclined and play an instrument, leverage this skill to explore various feels and grooves that complement your lyrical theme. Given that our example song centers on a breakup, experimenting with minor chords could be a fitting starting point. The overall tempo and feel would likely lean towards a ballad or a mid-tempo groove. Crucially, ensure that the melody you develop doesn’t sound upbeat or cheerful, as this would clash with the song’s melancholic lyrical content.
If you don’t play an instrument, you can still engage in melodic exploration by vocally experimenting – simply singing or humming different melodic phrases. Clay Mills offers valuable techniques for crafting compelling melodies in “Mastering Melody Writing“. However, the most accessible approach is often to simply begin experimenting, allowing yourself to intuitively discover melodies and grooves that naturally enhance your lyrical direction.
One insightful technique shared by a songwriting mentor involves repeatedly singing the song title while tapping out various rhythms on a leg or surface. This process continues until a rhythm and melodic contour emerge that allows the title to be sung as naturally as spoken. This signals the discovery of the song’s inherent groove. The rest of the song can then be organically built around this foundational melody that so effectively captures the essence of the title.
how to write a song
New Alt Text: A visual representation of the songwriting process, suggesting a step-by-step approach to creating a song, relevant to the “how do you make a song” topic.
6. Crafting Compelling Lyrics
With a groove and feel that resonates with you, the next step in learning how do you make a song is to begin writing your lyrics. A logical starting point is the beginning of the song, Verse 1. Refer back to your blueprint for Verse 1:
Verse 1 – You broke my heart and now you want a second chance.
Your task now is to transform this straightforward blueprint sentence into engaging and creative opening lines. While the blueprint is intentionally simple and direct, the lyrics should elevate the idea with more evocative language. Consider lines like:
Baby broken hearts don’t give second chances
This opening line has a certain sass and attitude while effectively conveying the core message of the blueprint in a more captivating way. From there, continue to develop the verse:
Baby broken hearts don’t give second chances
So don’t you come crawling back to me
You always took what we had for granted
But you lost it when your goodbye set me free
This verse feels cohesive and effectively sets the stage. Now, move on to crafting the chorus. Since the title “Never Again” is central, the chorus should emphasize and amplify this phrase. Consider:
Never again
Will you taste this kiss
Never again
Will your name roll off my lips
Do I love you?
Will I trust you?
Never again
Initially, there might be an inclination to use the word “Hurt” in the chorus, but the blueprint serves as a reminder that “hurt” is a key concept intended for Verse 2. Notice how each section of the song diligently adheres to its blueprint idea, avoiding the mixing or overlapping of concepts between sections.
Learning to dedicate each section of your song to communicating a single, strong idea is paramount to creating songs that are easily understood and emotionally resonant for listeners.
If you’ve ever encountered a song that seemed to wander aimlessly, lacking focus, it’s highly likely that the songwriter lacked a clear initial vision of their intended message. Similarly, songs that leave listeners confused, prompting questions like “What was that even about?” often suffer from a lack of clear communication. Clear communication in songwriting is not accidental; it’s the result of deliberate planning. Outlining the intended message of each song section before writing a single lyric is a highly effective strategy to ensure clarity and purpose in your songwriting.
7. Polishing and Finalizing Your Song
Continue this process of blueprinting, melodic exploration, and lyric writing to complete the rest of your song. After completing Verse 2, consider whether a bridge section could enhance the song further by adding a new dimension or taking the central idea to an even deeper level. As one seasoned publisher advised, “Don’t build a bridge unless there’s a river to cross.” If a bridge can genuinely advance the narrative or emotional arc, then incorporate one. If not, an instrumental solo followed by a return to the chorus can provide variation and maintain momentum.
Hopefully, this guide provides a solid foundation for embarking on your songwriting journey and answering the question, “how do you make a song?”. For those eager to delve deeper, “7 Books Every Songwriter Should Read” offers excellent further reading suggestions.
Remember, patience is key. Mastering how to make a song and crafting songs of quality takes time and dedicated practice. May this be the first of many songs you create!
Write on!
MD
