How to Write Good Songs: A Complete Step by Step Guide

When I entered the field of the music industry, I knew nothing about how to write good songs. Everything was new to me. At that time, I went to many Music producers who made me understand the term MUSIC PRODUCER. There were a lot of technical things that took me a long time to understand musical theory.

So today, I brought you the full procedure, Step by step guide on How to start writing good Music from the beginning. There will be some technical terms and processes that may feel new to you, but don’t worry, I’ve given a detailed explanation about each term. So sit back relaxed and be ready to get the knowledge of How to write good songs OR How does a producer makes a Song.

What is Music Production

Music Production is the process of making a song from scratch to the final draft using various musical instruments and computer software. The procedure of song production contains Mixing, Arranging, Mastering a song until it sounds good to the listeners in various factors. This is done by a Music producer.

The music producer is the one who has the knowledge about every field in the process of making a song. A song can be either produced in the big studios with all the physical equipment available or the same can be produced at home using virtual instruments on the Computer Software called DAW. But either way, Knowledge is mandatory.

What are the 3 steps to write good songs

• Composing
• Songwriting
• Arrangement

1. Composing

What is Composing Music?

Composing music is a form of art that requires musical knowledge of creating a full song with perfect rhythm and beats using a simple note or tune. A composer should be a good listener as he must be capable of creating his own unique composition from any sounds around him.

How to compose music?

Composing music can be fun if done correctly. But if not done correctly, It may be frustrating and you will feel to just Drop the Idea.

So below, I’m presenting the process of Composing Music Step by Step. Make sure you read the full article.

How do you start composing music

Whenever I start composing music, I make sure that I already have a rough tune on my device or mind. We don’t know when a new tune will hit our minds. SO what I do is always keep my phone near to me. When I get the rhythm, It can be a humming or Some random words, I get my mobile out and record it. Later in the process of composing music, I use that rough tune and modify it into a proper song format.

Choose a Theme

You have a scratch tune recorded on your device. Now is the time where you should choose a theme. Choosing a theme means you have to choose the kind of genre for your song. That can be Rock, Soothing, Love Song, Metal, or whatever type you thinking. But make sure that you should give the proper feel to that. Because in the end, Feel is what matters to your listeners.

If you are making a love song, Your song should reach the heart of your Listeners. Think in a way how you feel when you listen to some other artists’ songs in the same genre you are composing. This way you can get a better idea for composing your song.

Choose the tempo

After the selection of the theme of the song, there comes selecting the tempo for your song. This brings a definition to your song a bit more. Your music gets defined if it’s a slow rhythmed song or a fast-beater energy boosted song. This all depends on the BPM. The full form of BPM is Beats per Minute.

Generally, If you want to make a slow Tempo song, you need to choose a low BPM from 76 – 108 BPM. Similarly, for the high tempo song, the BPM will be high as from 120 – 180 BPM. 

The BPM Table

Try things that opens your mind

You have the scratch tune with you, selecting the theme and tempo for your song, Now is the time for you to compose a full song in the correct format. For this purpose, you’ll need your mind to function and think properly.

Many times, artists come under a situation called Artist block. Now, What is Artist Block? So basically, Artist block is a mental freeze situation where an artist is unable to generate new ideas for their upcoming projects. The artists can be of any fields like Painter, Actor. Artist block comes when a person is going through some bad mental condition or is helpless.

This can also happen because of continuously working on a particular topic for days without rest. Due to this, the mind gets tired and blocks the imagination power. So it is equally important for you to take a rest in between while doing the work. This will keep your mind open and will help you to bring a variety of tunes to your mind while composing a song.

Write down whatever story you have in your mind

By the time I enter this phase, I already get a story for the video. If you didn’t think of it yet, don’t worry. Just focus on the theme and tempo of your song, you’ll automatically get the general idea for the video.

Remember, Video is one of the most important factors that decide the story of your song. People are going to watch it again and again if found beautiful. That will increase the chances of your song going viral even more. And also, the story gives the song a different feel. Many of you have noticed that some songs aren’t that good if listened to alone but feel connected while watching a video with the Song.

That’s not because their song is bad or doesn’t have the feel, it’s because the video connects us to the story, and because of that, the story of the song can be felt even more. The idea here must be to write good songs, and for that, the connection is important.

So in short, keep focus while generating ideas for your music video. It should go with the story of your song that will enhance its power.

Observe the surrounding

In order to find a beautiful story for your song and video, one thing you can do is observe your Surrounding. Many times, while looking for something big, we forget to focus on what’s around us.

The story could be just behind you, you are not looking for it. You can look into your life. There may lie a story that is waiting to be told. Many artists do this. They get inspiration from their own life. If they are writing a love song, they can think of how their love life happened, How did they fell in love. They write down all their feelings and later modify them accordingly. You can do the same.

Or you can also ask someone who has gone through the situation in which you are writing the song. So as you see, there are many ways to get inspiration for the idea for the story of your song and music video.

Practice new and Innovative notes

You have everything needed to fill in the format of the song. But with the help of the above steps, the song you’ll make is just gonna be normal like most of the other artists. You have to be unique. Your music should sound different from others who are already ruling the industry.

While listening to other artists’ songs, keep in mind to focus on the exclusive style only they use. Then either you can modify it, or with the help of it, you can make your own. Always feel free to experiment with the instruments. And whichever you like, you can use it on your track.

Form the whole body of the song in a proper format

You have everything you need to make a song. Now is the time to put it all together in the proper format. Remember, we haven’t gone into the writing part yet. It was all just scratch. The tune you have is in humming or the form of rough lyrics.

In the below steps of How to write a song, I’ve given the proper format of a song. So don’t worry if you don’t know about it yet.

You are ready

Now we are in the showdown of Composing. Let’s recap what have we collected yet.

• Theme of the song
• Tempo of the song
• Story for the song
• Story for the Music Video
• Unique beat or music for the track

YOU ARE READY with all the Composition parts.

So basically composing music is generating a rough idea of the tune or music for the video, which later you can polish into the final product by adding other important steps.

2. Songwriting

What is Songwriting?

Songwriting is the process that combines Composing and writing the lyrics in the given format as the writer wishes. The whole song is written with a combination of Lyrics, Melody, Harmony, Tempo, and Rhythm.

During the process of songwriting, one needs to keep in mind that all the above things should be included. We have already covered the Rhythm and tempo, while others are byproducts. They all depend on the mood of your song. So in the next process, we are going to learn HOW TO WRITE A SONG

How to write a song? (how to write good songs)

Well, the way of writing down the lyrics part depends on person to person. You can’t just go on to anyone and ask him his method because the method he does, may not suit you. You have to find your own comforting way to write good songs

The way through which you can set the lyrics according to the rhythm and beats. The process I’m mentioning below is a universal process of writing the song. You can also work a little differently according to your suitability.

Step 1: Look inside for the story

Ok, so the first step is looking into your story. The story that you have in your mind earlier in the form of scratch now is the time for you to focus more on the story. As I said earlier, Story plays the most important role in your song. So make sure that it should be appealing.

Step 2: Write down The story

Look into your story and try to modify it more beautifully. Focus on the words here. Write down the story normally then transform some normal words into musically rhyming words. Add the words that are old even more. That will help your song to fit more with the beat and rhythm.

Step 3: Break that Story into A format

You have the words with you. Now is the time to break the whole story into the format of music that is generally used by every artist. The format gives the idea of how your song is gonna look like when finished.

Since there is no rule in the world of music that you have to follow the given format, you are free to create your own format by adding or rearranging them according to your suitability.

1. Intro

The intro is the starting part of a song from where your song is introduced to its Listeners. It can start with anything. It can be an instrument, you can also start with the vocals or you can put a choir in the beginning. Again that all depends on your taste and talent. How do you want your song to gain attention from the beginning itself?

2. Chorus

It is a point where the mainline from your song comes in a repetitive (optional) way. You have to choose a chorus that should sound catchy. Because this is the part that is going to be remembered and sung by millennials after hearing your song for the first time

3. Hook     

The hook line is where the drop of the song comes. You need to choose this part very catchy as the listeners are going to groove over this line a lot. So be creative a bit more here and give the world a groovy Hook Line.

4. Bridge

As the name says itself, it works in the process of joining the verse to the chorus. The bridge creates a build-up for the next part, that is, Chorus. As you started the second verse slow, from here, you have to start a build-up for the Chorus.

Detailed information about Bridge is written on this blog. You can read it before moving further: What is Bridge in a Song and How to Write a Great One

5. Verse

The verse is a part where your Listeners will find out about the beginning of the story of your song. This is from where the lyrical part will start. You will add the lyrics to your song from here.

6. Outro

The outro is a part where your song ends. And you try to give listeners the best feel of the song that will last forever. So keep in mind that in this section, you have to be slow and the music should have a little bassy theme.

Step 4: You are ready with the Songwriting

Now you are ready with everything that is needed in the process of making music.

• You have music (Rhythm, Tone, Tempo, Harmony and Melody) ready with you.
• Lyrics is ready in the proper format of the song.
• Have the story of music video in mind.

The time has come for us to move onto our next step.  

3. Arrangement

What is arrangement in music?

Remember when we were young, and for the assembly, in our school, we were arranged in a line regarding the height. Now a person who was shorter used to stand in front, whereas the taller one in the back. This was arranged in real life. Same way, there is an arrangement in music too.

Arranging the Vocals, Melody, Rhythm in a selected format from start to end is known as the arrangement in music. Arrange them in this way and you never will have to ask again about how to write good songs.

So in the final, you just have to arrange every part of the song from intro to outro, lyrics to music and you are ready with the final product.

You have a complete product in your hands. To write good songs, you need an open mind and the will to think good.

conclusion

In order to write good songs, requires a lot of practice and with time, you will write good songs one day. Just keep in mind the important points that I’ve mentioned on the list. While writing the lyrics part, think about the story as one of yours or any of your neighbors. In this way, the story you are about to write will feel connected and ideas won’t stop coming.

Always remember to enjoy doing your work, because, at the end of the day, you’ll write as you feel. Don’t let your heart go down when you are writing something or creating an idea.

Finally, Have a faith in yourself, and you’ll get the success you deserve.