The Songwriters Starter - part 1
Introduction It often happens at some point in a keyboard player's career that they develop a desire to write their own music. This is quite natural as music involves artistic creativity and what could be more creative that writing your own music but many put it off in the belief that they don't posses the talent or they simply don't know how to start. Now I am not a world famous songwriter and have never had a number 1 hit so this article is just a few tips from an amateur and doesn't pretend to be anything else. This is a starter for those who would like to give it a go and at the very least this will develop your keyboard skills and knowledge of music.
How to start Different songwriters start at different places and there is no hard and fast rule. Some start with a lyric, others like a particular chord progression and start with that, while others have a melody going round in their head. You will start at different places as your skill improves and as the mood takes you. For an absolute beginner I suggest you start with the lyric. There are some very sound reasons why it is best to start with a lyric. The lyric can define the entire structure of the song so half your job is done once you have a complete lyric. It is the lyric that sets the tone of the song. Is it sad and sombre or is it light and fluffy? It is the lyric that suggests the rhythm so it is easier to create a melody to fit rather than try and force a lyric into an existing melody.
The lyric First of all we have to understand that poetry is not necessarily the same as a song lyric. A poem can go on for 15 minutes without a single chorus or repetition but popular songs invariably include 2, 3 and 4, choruses which are repeats of the same thing. A popular song should fit into a 3 to 4 minute time frame unlike a poem that has no time frame. As there are going to be 2 or 3 choruses which repeat themselves it follows that there is not a lot of time left to get the story across so of necessity it should be a short message that you are trying to convey. To start with, and to get a bit of practice, it does not have to be very clever. Just get some lines down and play around with them. For practice purposes it doesn't even have to rhyme. I'm not suggesting that this first attempt is going to be a hit song but just something to play around with. Many songs revolve about love - love gained or love lost - so here is a famous verse written by Justin Hayward of 'Moody Blues' fame to use as an example then, after realising how easy it is, you will be motivated to create something yourself. I have chosen this because it is simple and straight forward. Good songs don't have to be complicated.
The chorus usually involves a distinctive change in the melody and can have a different flow to the words as in:
The way we recite a lyric has a distinctive beat to it. Where do the pauses occur. How do you want to convey the lyric. Once you have written your verse and maybe a chorus, tap your finger as you recite it. It suggests a definite beat doesn't it. Go to your keyboard and find a rhythm that suits your verse and chorus. Don't play anything other than the drum. Is it 3/4 or 4/4. Find something to suit and see if you can recite your lyric to the regular beat of the drum. Doing this you will get a picture of which notes in your music are going to be the minims, crotchets and quavers and where there is going to be a pause in the melody. It may also suggest a change to a word or phrase to make it fit better. Popular music has evolved into pre determined patterns that the listeners prefer to hear. The most popular structure is a verse followed by the second verse, followed by the chorus, followed by another verse. This is referred to a AABA. Other songs might have the ABAB structure - verse, chorus, verse, chorus. Or AABB - verse, verse, chorus, chorus. Having established the structure of your song you can extend it and much popular music today include a third element which is the bridge so you could end up with something like AABAABCBB. listen to your favourite song and see if you can jot down the structure in terms of A, B and C. The title is important and should grab interest. It could be the first line of the first verse. If not it should be the first or last words of the chorus. It should be repeated several times throughout the song. Some words work better in titles than others so see if you can use colours, numbers, animals, birds. The word 'only' works well. If you can incorporate two words that sound similar so much the better. As in 'Only The Lonely' or 'Nights In White Satin'. Aliliteration is the use of words beginning with the same letter in the same line as in 'Teach me to be true'. It just makes remembering the line easier for the listener and rolls off the tongue nicely. Make sure your powerful notes in the melody fall on meaningful words such as 'you' and 'me'. Not on the secondary words such as 'but', 'and', 'the' or 'in'. Such as in 'but YOU and ME'. The powerful sounds are 'AYE', 'EEE', 'OH' and 'OOO'.
That's it for part 1 - get part 2 here
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