Hey there! Do you want to write a song, but have no idea where to start? Or maybe you love writing lyrics, but you’re not sure how to make them into a wholeeee song – look no further! Let’s break down the process of writing a song, because you don’t have to be a professional musician – or even play an instrument – to get started!
Drumroll pleaseeeee 🥁🥁🥁
Here’s how to write a song in 5 simple steps!
Step 1. Get Inspired 💫
Inspiration is one of the BEST places to start if you want to write a song!
Think about WHY you want to write a song – is there a story you really want to tell, or a vibe you want to share? Maybe you want to work on your improvisation skills or music theory knowledge, or you want to be able to play your own song with your band!
Let’s get thinking about YOUR song…
- What story or message do you want to tell?
- Does your song have a theme? Could you sum it up in just one word?
- If this song was a colour, what colour would it be?
- Do you have any ideas for a title?
- Are there any genres or styles you want to use?
Just need a quick boost of creative energy? Here’s some ideas to get those creative juices flowing:
- Write down every. little. idea. This could be in the notes on your phone, or maybe a dedicated songwriting notebook — you can even record voice memos of any melodies that pop into your head! Some of the best songs start as a few words scribbles on a scrap piece of paper 📄
- Listen to some of your favourite songs, albums or sound tracks — what do you like about them? The lyrics, instrumentation, harmonies? What would you add if you were the artist? Why?
- Set yourself a 5 minute time limit: what can you come up with?? ⏰
- Use a random word generator and write a song about something completely new
- Write from a new perspective, a fictional character, someone with a different experience from you. This is helpful to get out of a rut!
- Embrace the imperfection, try not to get stuck on the details or small mistakes you want to fix, leave that for later — try to get the whole song our before you overthink it!
- Switch up your space, try writing outside, on the train, in a different room – this can help unlock your creativity and stop overthinking! 🌳
Need something more? Get listening 🎧
There is SO MUCH music at the tip of our fingers, listen to as much as you can! Make sure to listen to your favourite artists, songs and albums, as well as something new! By listening deeply to the songs that you love, as well as branching out into a wide breadth of music, you will have heapssss of inspiration for your own songwriting. If you need help finding new music, try listening to your friends fav artists, check out what’s trending on the Top 50, or dust off the old records and CDs to listen to some classics 💿
If nothing sparks your interest, don’t stress! Jump straight into finding an instrumental track or ad libbing a melody! Because for some people? Inspiration comes from writing the music, instead of the other way around. It’s important for you to find your OWN process as a songwriter — what works for others may not work for you, and that’s okay!
Okay, let’s get writing that song!
Step 2. Pick your instrumental track or type beat 🎵
Alright, so you’ve got heaps inspiration and cool ideas… let’s get working on the instrumental section of the song! There’s two important building blocks (aside from melody/lyrics) in almost every song — RHYTHM and CHORDS. There are so many different ways to start writing the instrumental section of your song, and you can change it up at any stage! First, let’s have a look at how to craft an instrumental if you have noooo idea how to play an instrument (yes, it is possible)…
Type Beats 🪩
So… what even is a type beat??
Type beats are pre-recorded tracks that are inspired by production techniques or artist styles. These aren’t direct copies from any actual song, but they REALLY capture the essence of a genre or artist! Type beats follow the general form of a song, so this means you can write verses, choruses and a bridge, all with the one track!
Here’s a great summary of what a type beat is, from our instrumental genius Coach Liam:
“An instrumental backing track that follows a form with hooks – hooks are something that brings you into a song and is repeated, like an earworm!” – Liam Kelly
Where can you find type beats?
You can find type beats on Youtube or SoundCloud, as well as other music websites that often allow you to download them for free or a small charge! Epidemic Sound has heaps of royalty free tracks and typebeats.com has their beats categorised by artist and genre.
Be aware that you’ll need the rights to a type beat if you want to release the music – type beats can be a great starting point to get the general sound of the song, but you might choose to re-record the song before you release it — or make sure you’ve purchased the copyright!
Self-produced tracks 🎧
Self-produced tracks are beats that YOU make yourself!
For this, you’ll need a digital audio workstation – also known as a DAW. A DAW is software that allows you to record, edit and produce and share audio content. These allow you to record audio (vocals and instrumentals), as well as use Musical Instrument Digital Interface – also called a MIDI – and virtual instruments to create your beat! Production softwares/DAWs like FL Studio, ProTools, Ableton, Reaper, GarageBand (for Mac) or Adobe Audition are fairly easy to learn and sometimes come with a free trial period!
These are a littleeee bit more time-intensive, but are totally worth the effort, especially if you want to release the song, as you won’t have to worry about copyright!
Accompany Yourself
If you play an instrument, this is a GREAT way to start writing your song!
Lets have a look into rhythm and chord progressions 🎉
A great tip is to record your improvisation (using voice memos or even just videoing yourself), listen back and see if there’s anything that sounds catchy.
Rhythm 🥁
The rhythm is the driving force of pretty much every song — a drum beat, bass line or strumming pattern. It has repetitive sounds in the same order each time, with a little bit of variation to create a rise and fall throughout the song. Think of a basic rock drum beat, or even a metronome!
A song with a reallyyy iconic rhythm section is Believer by Imagine Dragons!
Chord progressions 🎹
Next up, we have chord progressions. The chord progression is a sequence of chords that are played one after another, and repeated throughout the song. The movement between these different chords creates the iconic sound/narrative of the song — this means you can write something joyous, melancholic, upbeat, and everything in between 🎶
Finding a chord progression:
- Choose a key for your song, what do you think sounds best with the theme of the song, or which keys can you comfortably play/sing in!
- Experiment with chords in that key 🎸
- Trial and error! See what sounds good, and what doesn’t!
- Copy some of your favourite chord progressions… here are some of our top picks!
Common chord progressions
Chord progressions are often written in roman numerals, from 1-7 (I–ii–iii–IV–V–vi–vii) — this is based on the scale degree (notes of the scale) which the song is written in!
Here are some of our BEST beginner chord progressions (and the top hits you may have heard them in) 🌟
IV-I-V-vi — Umbrella, Rihanna
I-V-ii-IV — Hot N Cold, Katy Perry
ii-IV-I-V — Wonderwall, Oasis
V-IV-I — Sweet Home Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd
I/Vi — Truth Hurts, Lizzo
12-bar blues//I-I-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V-V-I-I — Johnny B. Goode, Chuck Berry
The jazz progression//ii -V-I — Autumn Leaves, Nat King Cole
Step 3. Ad-lib your melody 🎤
Let your instrumental track or type beat play and just start singing! You don’t have to have any lyrics, or even any ideas of what your melody will sound like, improvisation and experimentation is a great way to come up with heaps of ideas for your melody super quickly!
Let’s break it down…
What exactly is ad libbing?
Ad-libbing means to sing or hum a melody without a lyric or phase to sing to. It is an improvised form of vocalisation, with no preparation of words – just unscripted dialogue or sound. You could ad lib on a single word or phrase (such as ‘love’) – or even just a sound, like an ‘ah’, ‘ee’ or ‘ooh-yeah’!
If you’re struggling to get into the groove, try singing along with a song, then putting your own spin onto the melody!
Ad-lib and experimentation are suuuuper important in songwriting, and sometimes even make it into the final take! Check out this Vanity Fair interview with Billie Eilish, where she shows us some ad-libs that made it into the final production of her song! The ad libbed sections add to the depth of sound, which you can hear in the final production 💙
Forming a melody
A melody is basically just pitch (notes) + rhythm (patterns). When you sing Happy Birthday? You’re singing the melody 🥳
When you’re ad libbing along to your instrumental track, you are most likely following the chord progression to form the melody. An alternative way is to use the notes of a scale – if you have a bar of a C major chord, try putting together different notes from the C major scale – this is especially useful for writing instrumental licks and riffs, but can create a really interesting vocal melody, too!
Don’t forget to keep the GENRE of your song in mind. If you are writing a rap song, you are more likely to go for a monotone melody, whereas a jazz song would have a more fast paced and experimental melody!
Remember, try not to overcomplicate it – if you have a listen to your favourite artists, chances are they will repeat melodies with only slight variations, repetition is what gets stuck in your head and makes a song an earworm! The more you practise writing melodies, the better you will get! You’ll start to get an idea of the sounds and rhythms you like, how to move through the chord progression smoothly and ways to mix it up when you want something new 💫
Step 4. Write your lyrics 📝
Okay, so you’ve got a beat, melody and lotssss of inspiration – let’s write some lyrics!
You may already have a story to tell, a theme or message you’d like to explore – if so, start writing! But, we don’t always know EXACTLY what our song is going to be about, in that case, let me introduce you to your new (songwriting) best friend…
108 Songwriting Prompt Cards from SoundCheck the Store!
These prompt cards are made by industry professionals, singers, songwriters and instrumentalists to help you write your song! Proven to spark creativity, they are the PERFECT way to inspire your songwriting 🌟
These cards have got heaps of interesting song topics, catchy hook lines, thought-provoking questions and some challenges to really get your creative juices flowing! The cards also come with a handy ‘how to’ guide, so you’ll feel superrr supported in your songwriting journey. Close your eyes, pick a card and let your mind do the rest!
Want to see the 108 Songwriting Prompt Cards in action?? Check out Coach Mikala writing a song with the Songwriting Prompts Cards in just 15 minutes (WOW!) 🤯
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Alright, you’ve got a story to tell… how can you make it a cohesive & catchy song?
Poetry and rhyme schemes
You might have noticed that some songs finish each phrase with a word that rhymes with the last line, or maybe every second line ends with a word that rhymes… this is a rhyme scheme!
A rhyme scheme is the order of the words that rhyme. So many songs have rhyming words, it makes the lyrics easier to remember and usually complements the sound of the melody. Rhyming words can also emphasise a certain theme or emotion…
Let’s have a look at rhyming in action with Pharrell Williams’s pop hit Happy! The lyrics to the chorus go a little something like this…
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do
Now, not only does he repeat the word ‘happy’ throughout the chorus to really emphasise this theme, he also rhymes ‘you’ with ‘do’ which creates a super catchy chorus! This is also an ABAB rhyme scheme, where the 1st line rhymes with (or is identical to) the 3rd line and the 2nd rhymes with the 4th, and so on.
But… some songs don’t use a strict rhyme scheme, or maybe they loosely implement rhymes – think of Lorde’s Alternative/Indie Pop masterpiece Royals…
And we’ll never be royals
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
The ONLY rhyming words that Lorde uses in the chorus of this song is ‘buzz’ and ‘us’, and these are actually slant rhymes (AKA near rhymes or half rhymes) which end with a similar but not identical sound! Even the verses don’t feature many rhyming words — like, at all. This is an example of an ABCC rhyme scheme, where the first two lines have no rhyme, but the 3rd and 4th lines rhyme. Despite barely using rhyme, this is still a totally ICONIC song, with a great flow and contagious energy ✨
Remember, when it comes to rhyming, write what is most natural to you! That might be heaps of rhyming words, or none at all, stay true to what sounds good to YOU 🥰
Andddd, if you are struggling putting together lyrics with your melody, try starting with a poem! This will give you a basic idea of the sentences and phrasing, THEN match it to your melody, and make any necessary changes so it fits seamlessly with the melody and rhythm. Poems and song lyrics are suuuuper similar, so if you’ve got any poems gathering dust, grab them out and use them in your songwriting!
Step 5. Collaborate with others 💜
You can collaborate at ANY stage of the songwriting process, such as…
- Writing lyrics with others
- Experimenting with harmonies and ad-libs 🎤
- Working with a producer
- Recording songs with a full band of musicians 🎙️
- Asking your friends, family or other musicians for feedback
Another great way to write a song is in a band! Together, a band can decide on a genre, topic or idea — maybe one musician has an idea or riff, and everyone can put their ideas on the table! Each band member can work on their own section of the song, asking for feedback from the band when you need it!
Check out Candi Wade talking about her experience being in a band! Coach Candi is a vocalist in the Ballarat-based dream rock band Dayfever. Candi has worked as a solo artist AND in a band, so she knows allll the ins and outs of collaborating as a musician 🤩
“Collaboration is so important, you all bounce off each other and songs that might start off somewhat sombre can become beat driven and fun once everyone has added their creative input.” — Candi Wade
If you want to see more of Coach Candi, check out her band journey here – or follow her on Instagram @___.candi.___
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Taking your song to the next level 📈
Okay, so you’ve written the song and it’s sounding awesome… butttt you want to take it to the next level — record, produce and mix the song so you can release it for the world to hear (which is SO COOL btw) 🌈
You can also record and produce a song by yourself! By using an audio interface, you can record instruments and vocals at home! Otherwise, you can find a recorder/producer to help you polish off the final song.
Once the song is done… Do I need to be signed to a label? Or can I release songs independently?
Anyone can release music on streaming platforms like SoundCloud for free, up to 2.5 hours of uploads. You can also upload a snippet of your song to a social media platform – like Instagram, TikTok – totally for free. This is a great way to document your songwriting journey, and get some people hooked on your sound!
Let’s take a look at a local Ballarat independent artist — Aaliyah Bise. Aaliyah has been writing and releasing songs since 2022, and you can find her music on ANY streaming platform. She uses an online music distributor ((DistroKid), which allows her to distribute an unlimited amount of music onto all music streaming platforms for a yearly fee. Aaliyah has been able to play HUGE gigs, get upwards of 10k streams on her songs and play her new single on ABC Radio! 💜
Okay, now you’ve got HEAPS of inspiration, ideas and useful tips – go write your song! Andddd, we would love to hear what you write! Tag us in any of your creations on Instagram… @soundcheckau 💟
Or, for some more inspiration, check out some of the SoundCheck Fams original songs here! This playlist features original music created and released by SoundCheck coaches and local Ballarat musicians. We are so. proud. of these wonderful musicians 🥳🌈
