Song writing tips are widely available on the internet but how much of it can you actually use practically? I always looked for step by step song writing tips when I started out and always seemed to end up reading pages and pages of music theory or people just telling me to “write from the heart” and “use your emotions” without giving me any advice on how to actually DO that. No song writers sit down to write and think “Ok, I’m just going to write from the heart and everything will be fine.” They all have a set of techniques they use to tap into their creative energy so they can consistently write great songs!

Here are a few PRACTICAL song writing tips you won’t hear anywhere else to get you started writing great songs straight away…

ONE: Choose a topic to write about, say you want to write a song about a recent relationship gone wrong. Take a few sheets of paper and brainstorm words, phrases and lyrics that all relate to it. You’ll need at least two or three sheets so keep writing for as long as you possibly can. Then…put it to one side and leave it alone for a while.

TWO: Grab your instrument and create as many musical ideas as you possibly can. Aim for ten, twenty or even more ideas, chord sequences, riffs, melodies get them all out and most importantly record them on a simple tape recorder. The most important thing here is that you’re not editing ANY THING, you’re recording all of your ideas even the bad ones. Then once you’ve finished, put them to one side and do something else.

I always leave some time after my initial idea session before I try to write the finished song just to allow my mind to sort through the ideas. Often I’ll get ideas pop into my head while I’m not even thinking about song writing even a few weeks after the idea session. When I do come back to my ideas, I’ll take my brainstormed lyric sheets and spend time singing my favorite lines over all of my favorite musical ideas. If things aren’t working out, I’ll move onto the next idea, then the next and the next. Trust me, it will only a matter of time before you hit upon the combination that could lead to your next hit record!

If you want to be a more effective song writer, there are some things that you will have to bear in mind when you are writing songs. You definitely do not want to make any terrible mistakes as it will take out a lot of your time and effort. Here are the 3 things that you have to consider when you are writing songs.

1) Be Aware Of Your Target Audience

This is the first thing that you must do as you will want to identify the group of people that you are targeting. If you are writing a song for old people, you will want to make sure that you have a song that will communicates in a way that they can understand your message. There is a saying “The Simplest Things Works”. You do not have to over complicate the whole process as simple song might be better.

2) Be In A Environment Where You Will Have Inspiration

You will want to identify the environment that will trigger your inspiration and you will be creative. For example, if you feel that you get the most inspiration during the night, you will want to make sure that you have a good environment around you so that you can be creative. Do make some effort to identify the best time and places where you get the most inspiration and you will be surprised by the creativity that comes from you.

3) Do Not Be A Perfectionist

The biggest mistake that people make is being a perfectionist. If you are going to keep on going through the process of creating the song, nobody other than you will be able to listen to your song. If you feel that your song is 85% ready, you can try to ask for opinions from your friends or even to the major video directories where you can get valuable feedback. This will greatly helps to improve your songs better.

Here are the 3 things that you will have to consider when you are writing songs. Do follow it through, closely, and you will be able to write good songs fast and effectively.

Writing songs on the keyboard or piano.

As a song writer, you will always end up with a method that works best for you, whether or not you learn the art of songwriting from a professional songwriter.

I can only speak from my own experience as far as songwriting is concerned, so for myself, playing the guitar and a little piano has helped a lot in my own personal style of songwriting.

For someone just starting out with songwriting, I would suggest buying a small keyboard to help get ideas down.

The nice thing about the piano or keyboard is that if you stick to the key of C, the chords are very easy to play.

Another very usable feature for writing songs on the keyboard is the auto accompaniment function. Setting a good beat and style for a song before you write it can work very nicely towards getting inspired.

A note of caution though, is to remember not to use the one finger feature when creating chords, as you won’t know what it is that you played.

Why I write songs on the guitar.

The main reason why I write songs on a guitar is because that’s my main instrument. Many people who play guitar, even if they are novices at it, somehow, like myself, seem to prefer it as a song writing tool.

As a fairly advanced guitarist, and I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet here, heck, I don’t even own a trumpet.

Okay, where was I now?

Oh yes, I can use guitar riffs, off beats and various other little music nuances to really get the song happening.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it really helps to have a good mastery of the instrument when writing songs.

Be that as it may, the essence of a good song, and I’m talking from a commercial appeal point of view, is good melody, chords that sit nicely on the ear (no funny pictures please) and a good beat.

How to write lyrics.

Now this is the real scary part, mostly because a lot of people thing they are good lyricists, when in fact they aren’t.

I need to make a very clear distinction here between poetry and song lyrics. They are not the same.

The thing with song lyrics is that they don’t have to be that good, they still need to be meaningful though.

Good song lyrics communicate a feeling or concept in easily understandable words that have a tendency towards rhyme.

Writing lyrics for songs is a bit of a black art, if you ask me. Listen to the greatest lyricists of our time, and try to get a feel for what they did that was so powerful.

One thing that they do very effectively is communicate. Listen to Bob Dylan, he’s very clever and a natural.

Are you students sometimes bored in spite of your best efforts? Are you looking for some new and different techniques? Could you use a learning activity that would really wake them up? Would you like to get and keep the students’ interest? Even have them helping you? Then try this classroom-tested technique by using student-selected songs to teach listening comprehension.

Almost everyone loves music. It is a part of our language and life from before birth onwards. As babies, we hear lullabies. As young children we play, sing and dance to a myriad of nursery rhymes. As adolescents, we are consumed by the beat of popular music artists worldwide. As adults, every form of advertising we hear, every special event we experience, is in part, music. Music pervades television, movies, theater, and even the nightly news. When we exercise, when we work, when we play, when we worship and even when we die, music is there to reinforce or alter or every mood and emotion. A catchy tune is played, hummed or sung, at times in our head, as we go about our everyday lives. So, why not include music and songs in language learning as well?

Factors Contributing to Listening Comprehension of Song

• Use of new vocabulary, idioms and expressions – You’ll need to address the new material offered in each song. This includes grammar, vocabulary and usage.

• Pronunciation and accent of the singer – Every native speaker doesn’t pronounce or sing with the same accent. Students may be exposed to an accent which is outside the realm of what they might normally hear in context.

• Use of new grammar and structure Song writers and singers are notoriously “loose” when it comes to use of grammar, structure, pronunciation, stress and other language factors applied to songs. The teacher must prepare for this.

Three Principal Song Selection Criteria

1. Use songs that are popular with the students whenever possible. Unfortunately, students frequently select songs for classroom use which are objectionable in some way making the song unusable.

2. Songs MUST have clear and understandable lyrics. Nothing is worse than a song almost nobody can understand. If you have trouble understanding the lyrics by listening, then another song needs to be selected.

3. Songs should have an appropriate theme. There’s enough bad news, negativity and violence in the world already. Songs with any type of negative theme should be avoided. There are plenty of positive, upbeat, even humorous songs available. Use these.

Music pervades virtually every aspect of our lives

Music pervades virtually every aspect of our lives. Students adore it. It contains numerous useful elements for language teaching and it’s fun for both the teacher and students. So, why not include music and songs in your language learning classes as well?

Purpose of your song

What is the purpose of your song? Is it to make money? Is it to get played on the radio? Or maybe you don’t care about the money and the radio play, but you want to make a song that evokes emotion out of its listeners. Maybe your song’s purpose is to stand the test of time and have listeners 40 years from now.

Here’s how the purpose of your song affects your song structure.

If you want to make money with your song by getting it plugged in with pop artists and into the popular radio stations, you want to follow the general song structure that is used. This isn’t true for all cases (example:Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen), but true for most. And what is this general song structure formula? It is along the lines of A-B-A-B-C-B or in other words, verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus.

The point of this structure is to have a musical theme set and have it repeat to bring about a sense of familiarity to listeners, then introduce a new section (section C) which gives the listener a sense of freshness. After the new section is introduced, a theme that was introduced before is brought in again which makes the section feel both fresh and familiar. This gives the listener more of a chance to feel hooked in without feeling like the song is boring and repetitive.

This idea of creating a sense of familiarity and variety isn’t constricted to the structure A-B-A-B-C-B. The structure can be expanded to A-B-C-A-B-C-D-B aka verse-prechorus-chorus-verse-prechorus-chorus-bridge-chorus. Another example of an extension is A-B-A-B-A-B-C-B, but be weary of getting the song to sound overly repetitious. You can do this by thinking about varying the instrumentation in each section or even use variations where you might do something a little different in the third verse. Personally, repeating a verse and chorus 3 times before the bridge is too much. I give myself a ‘no more than two’ rule for sections other than the chorus. The chorus is given the ‘no more than three’ rule. You can be creative and add subtle changes to expand A-B-A-B-C-B. Another example is A-B-A-B-C-A-B where you have another verse after the bridge.

If you can’t decide what song structure to use, then start with A-B-A-B-C-B. If this structure doesn’t provide the space you need for all your lyrics, expand it. Maybe you can add a prechorus, or add an extra verse in the beginning where the structure would become A-A-B-A-B-C-B.

A lot of times, people feel a need to add to the song when they actually need to leave the song as it is or even remove some of the content. Don’t add lyrics just because you feel a need to fill in the space of the song structure. Cut your structure down to fit your lyrics. For example, if you decided to write a song with the structure A-B-C-A-B-C-D-A-B-C, and your lyrics are too short for the structure. Don’t add more lyrics for the sake of fulfilling the space. If you feel like your lyrics are done and anything else would be filler, then cut down the structure.

If you are the songwriter that doesn’t write songs in order to get them played on the top 40 list, then you have more freedom than the pop song writers. You can even write a song that’s 30 minutes long if you wanted. Would that mean people will listen to it? My guess is only if you make a song that contains high value.

You can have a song structure that is A – A – A – A. If you use that structure, I advise that you have really really good lyrics, or have an interesting instrumentation or chord progression that gives listeners a sense of variety. You can have a structure of A – B – C – D with no recurring themes.

One cool thing you can do is have a section play a theme that sounds similar to another theme that occurred earlier in the song. You can make it a variation of a theme, or a theme that gives a hint of another theme. There are no limits. This way of songwriting gives you a chance to think outside the box.

You can turn it into an exercise. Here’s an example exercise. Write 3 songs. The first song has to have the structure A – B – C – D – E, the second song has to be A – A – A – A, and the third song has to be A – B – A – B – B’(a variation of B). Doing fun exercises turn songwriting into a fun game. Have fun with it. Go wild