Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 3: Composing a Melody
• Part 2 of 3: Writing the lyrics
• Part 3 of 3: Post-processing the song

Anyone can write a song! This requires only basic knowledge of playing a melodic musical instrument, such as guitar or piano, and knowledge of the proper working methodology. And if you know how to come up with various ideological ideas for melodies, compose song lyrics and combine all this together, then you may well consider yourself a songwriter. It is possible that soon, in an incomprehensible way for yourself, you will already be performing your song on stage in front of a crowd of fans roaring with delight!

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Composing a Melody

1. 1 Decide on the genre of your song. Different genres of music have certain specific features that you can use in your song if you want. If you strive to write a song in the Russian folk style, you may want to use an accordion in your work and build a melody and words for it under the theme of loss and life's difficulties. If you want to compose in a rock style, you can, for example, work with an electric guitar and build powerful chords and lyrics about some rebellion.
2. 2 Choose the tempo and time signature that best suits the mood and genre of the melody you're writing. Faster tempos and time signatures are better for joyful or chaotic songs such as techno or punk rock. Sad or emotional songs such as folk or pop tend to have a slower tempo and time signature. If your song does not suit the suggested options, you can choose something in between as the tempo, which is typical for classical rock music.
   • For example, a punk rock song should usually have a fast, bouncy tempo and use a 4/4 time signature (it consists of metric beats, where one beat is a quarter note of one second, and there are four beats in a given beat).
   • Reggae music is often based on syncopated rhythms, where the strong and weak beats of the melody are displaced from the classically accepted positions, which allows you to give the music an unconventional atmosphere.
   • Try searching the net for the beats and time signatures of the genre of music you want to work in.
3. 3 Come up with a basic guitar or piano melody. Even if you do not intend to use these tools in the final version of the song, they will allow you to easily experiment during the melody creation phase. Start by working with common notes such as do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. Keep the intended theme of the song in mind and arrange the notes in an order that would convey the desired mood.
4. 4 Expand the melody by shifting it to other major or minor keys. Use the key of the melody that best reflects the mood of the song. Experiment with different melody variations until you find one that sounds right and intones right. Major keys are generally considered to be cheerful, joyful, and energetic. Minor keys are more often melancholic and emotional.
   • For example, the key in D minor is often considered the saddest.
   • C major is one of the happiest-sounding tonalities.
   • Depending on the theme chosen for the song, you can also vary the major and minor keys to convey a variety of feelings.
5. 5 Take guitar lessonsif you need help writing ringtones. You don't need to be fluent in guitar to write a song, but knowing the basics is helpful (for example, you need to know how to play individual notes and pick chords, and how you can experiment with guitar tuning). You can apply for one-to-one paid guitar lessons at your nearest music school, or check local advertisements to see if anyone is privately teaching such lessons.
   • You can also try the online video tutorials to hone the skills you already have.
   • Once you have the basics, start experimenting with the melodies of your song and use your guitar to help you develop ideas.
6. 6 Go for co-writing if you need help writing music. If you have a good idea of ​​the constituent elements of your song, but are unsure of how to implement them, consider asking a musically gifted friend to take part in creating the score. He will be able to explain the theme you have conceived, the mood and the semantic content of the future song, and then work together to translate the ideas directly into the music.
   • If you don't know anyone who can help you with this, consider posting an ad on classified sites and forums that you are looking for a partner to collaborate on a song online.
7. 7 Experiment with music software to create music. If you don't know how to play musical instruments, this shouldn't stop you from composing songs! Many people use programs like Ableton to create their own music (especially those in the electronic music genre). The program features hundreds of recorded drum, bass, chord and melody sounds, allowing the user to easily manipulate them and combine them into an endless number of variations to create their own songs.
   • In this program, you can experiment with synthesizer sounds, guitar effects, filters and a wide variety of other options.
   • You can additionally purchase separate plug-ins with libraries of new sounds to add them to the basic sounds of the program. Your possibilities are simply endless.
   SPECIALIST'S ADVICE

   

   Halle payne

   
   
   Trekking leader Halle Payne has been hiking in Northern California for over 3 years. She has been a hiking leader for the Stanford University and Stanford Sierra Conference Center outdoor programs, and has also led outdoor activities and taught the principles of ethical conduct in the wild.

   Halle payne
   Hiking leader

   Halle Payne, singer-songwriter, says: “If you're just getting started with recording music, GarageBand is a great option. If you want to mix and refine your tracks like a professional sound engineer, you can upgrade to paid software like Logic or Pro-Tools. These programs are used in most recording studios. "

Part 2 of 3: Writing the lyrics

1. 1 Choose a title for your song. Perhaps this recommendation will seem strange, but one of the easiest ways to think about the ideological content of a song is to come up with options for its potential names. To search for suitable catchy or meaningful phrases, watch various television shows, films, read books, listen to everyday conversations, and write down whatever you like on a notebook or phone. You can also wait with the title until the music and lyrics are ready. Neither approach is better or worse than the other, so do whatever works best for you.
   • It may be helpful to make a list of questions that might come from the title of the song. Then in the text of the song (in the course of the narration) it will be possible to answer all these questions.
   • Let's say that you have decided to name the song “Hotel Heartbreaker”. Ask yourself the questions: “What is this hotel? What's going on in it? Where is he located?" For example, Elvis in his English-language song of a similar theme Heartbreak Hotel answered all these questions in the text.
2. 2 Write a catchy phrase for your song. A catchy phrase must be memorable so that it keeps spinning in your head over and over again. You can often use this phrase as the title of a song. Play with your ideas in combination with melodies to find the best option. If you already have a list of potential song titles, experiment with them to see if there is anything really grasping among them. To do this, try to hum the words to the tunes you have available.
   • For example, the tune “Lalalalala-lala-la-lalalalala-lala-la” can be considered a tenacious phrase in the song of Pesnyarov “Mowing Yas Stable”.
   • In Natalie's song “Oh God, what a man” a tenacious phrase is presented by the chorus: “Oh God, what a man, I want a son from you. And I want a daughter from you, point and point! "
   • The grasping phrase in Grigory Leps' song "Natalie" corresponds to the title.
   SPECIALIST'S ADVICE

   

   Halle payne

   
   
   Trekking leader Halle Payne has been hiking in Northern California for over 3 years. She has been a hiking leader for the Stanford University and Stanford Sierra Conference Center outdoor programs, and has also led outdoor activities and taught the principles of ethical conduct in the wild.

   Halle payne
   Hiking leader

   Halle Payne, singer-songwriter, says: “A catchy phrase is what makes us hum the song over and over again. For the most part, the grasping phrases are vocal melodies, but in fact, the funky bass part or the call-response can also catch on. "

3. 3 Build a chorus based on a catchy phrase. Sometimes the whole tenacious phrase itself can become your chorus. In other cases, it will be part of the chorus (usually the opening or closing). In any case, the chorus should have a more generalized meaning than your verses. Use the chorus as a way to summarize the song's content without unnecessary detail.
   • For example, in the song Disco Crash "New Year", the chorus tells about the expectation of the New Year and the hopes and disappointments connected with it, but does not reveal what these moments are.
4. 4 Write a versewhich develops the theme presented by the chorus. The verse should provide a powerful, figurative description of the generalized chorus of the topic, including specific examples.
   • So, in the above example, the first verse of the song "New Year" from the Disco Accidents concretizes New Year's expectations by describing the situation with the delayed Santa Claus: "Hello, Happy New Year! The New Year is coming to us and you can freely expect anything. Only where he carries that gray-haired old man who takes gifts for children from a backpack. Hey, Santa Claus, come, we are tired of waiting for you and got me to order your song. Show yourself to us, do not make the children nervous, we will shout: "Santa Claus, hey-gay!" "
5. 5 Write a couple more verses in the same way as the first verse. When the first verse is ready, the next two verses will be easy to write in a relatively short amount of time. In new verses, you need to take the same melody as a basis and use the same poetic style that was laid down in the first verse, but at the same time present new information, developing the theme of the song.

Part 3 of 3: Post-processing the song

1. 1 Decide if you want to use playout in your song. The play is a variation of the chorus that is played only once and introduces the theme of the song in a slightly different way. Use the play to spice up the song with new lyrics laid on the melody in a different or in the same key, but with different chords.
   • Make sure that the inner content of the chorus text is as generalized as the main chorus text. Do not introduce new specifics into it.
   • You might also consider using the loss as a chance to showcase an instrumental solo if you want to emphasize your mastery of a particular instrument.
2. 2 Decide on the final structure of the song. The most common song structure at the moment is as follows: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus. But you can experiment with other structure options, choosing what works best for your song. Take the already prepared elements of the song and try to rearrange them, introduce repeats of some of them, and so on. Experiment until you get the most optimal structure.
   • Some genres use specific song structures. For example, electronic dance music is most often based on the following structure: intro play, verse, chorus, slow down, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, play, chorus, final play.
3. 3 Enter parts of other instruments to give the song a richer sound. Once you've finished working on the main melody and lyrics, you can add drum, bass, and keyboard parts to liven up and accentuate the melody. Other instruments must be used in the same key and time signature that you approved earlier.
   • If you're unsure of how to play other instruments, try recording the base tune on your computer, and then use a music program such as Ableton or GarageBand to introduce new elements into the song.
4. 4 Practice the song until you memorize it. Start by individually singing parts of the song until you have learned all of them. Then go on to play all the parts in full in the correct order, until you achieve smooth transitions from one element to another, when you no longer have to mentally strain to do this.
5. 5 After learning the song, write it down. Use a telephone, digital recorder, laptop with the appropriate software, or a video camera for this. Once your recording is ready, be sure to back it up or upload it to cloud storage. This way you will never forget or lose this song.