Here are 5 Tips For Writing A Good Song:
1. Write lots of bad songs.
One of the keys to writing good songs is to write lots of crappy songs. The most successful songwriters have written terrible song after terrible song. It may not seem that way because you only hear their good material. But they have gone through failure after failure. Don’t stress too much on writing good songs. Focus on writing songs without judging what you’re writing.
It’s a numbers game. Maybe one in ten, one in twenty, or one in a hundred will be a good song, but you will have a good song only when you have written lots of songs. If you have the slightest amount of talent, one of these songs will meet the mark.
2. Your first draft doesn’t have to be perfect.
Let’s say you already have a chord progression or an instrumental. If an idea comes to you, just start singing into some recording device, such as a smart phone. Whatever you feel, just sing it. Even if it’s nonsense words, it doesn’t matter. Get that pure, original vibration of the song recorded. It doesn’t even have to rhyme. Afterwards, you can start the cleaning up process, adding to and subtracting from.
One of the biggest mistakes songwriters make is to try to get it perfect all at once. You can ruin a potentially good song by wasting time trying to get a line to rhyme. The muse usually doesn’t stay around for long so you have to get your ideas down as quickly as possible. You will have all the time in the world to edit.
3. Believe that you will write a good song.
A key prerequisite for writing a good song is having faith in your abilities. If you believe you can’t write a good song, you’re right. If you believe that you can, you’re right too. From a law of attraction perspective, you attract to you whatever it is you think about. See yourself as a good songwriter and you will become one. See yourself as a failure and you’ll never become successful. You need to have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish. Never doubt your abilities. Tell yourself that you have what it takes, as far as writing a good song is concerned.
4. Study “good” songs.
For this point we’re assuming that a good song is the kind of song you hear on the radio. Listen to lots of hit songs and pattern your songs after them. No point re-inventing the wheel. Instead, reverse engineer these songs to find common characteristics. What makes these songs so huge? For instance, notice how often the word, “YOU” is used in most popular songs on the radio today. Make listeners feel that you’re singing about them and identify with your song by using the word, “you”.
The average length of introductions in the Top 40 is 12 seconds. Average time before song gets to the chorus (including the introduction) is 45 seconds. Average length of song is 3:17. After you’ve written your song you may want to check how it stacks up.
5. Be prepared to stop whatever you’re doing when a songwriting idea comes.
Songwriting ideas come without warning and at the worst times. Many of the best songs ever written didn’t come into being by a songwriter sitting down and saying “Let me write a song”. They came at the most inconvenient times. Some of my best ideas come when I’m NOT trying or haven’t decided to write. It’s as if a compelling force takes over. They come when I’m in a hurry to go somewhere, when I’m very busy, when I’m doing some activity which has nothing to do with music.
I simply stop whatever I’m doing and start recording my ideas, usually on my mobile phone. If you’re driving, be prepared to pull up since songwriting requires tapping into the subconscious. It takes a lot of energy and you find yourself not being able to totally focus on anything else. If anyone has tried talking to you when you’re writing a song, you would understand what I mean.
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