A Beginner’s Guide To Songwriting – Part 1
Tutorial Details
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Completion Time: 30 minutes
- A Beginner’s Guide To Songwriting – Part 1
- Beginner’s Guide To Songwriting – Part 2
- Beginner’s Guide To Songwriting – Part 3
This tutorial is the first in a series focused on showing complete beginners how to write a simple song. This series will focus predominantly on the process of writing a song, rather than the specific software and hardware techniques, skills and applications you might need in the recording, mixing, and mastering of that song.
Introduction
Flickr Image by plecojan.
In this series of tutorials I am going to do my best to assume nothing about you, your musical background, your talent, or your level of familiarity with making music. Instead, I ask only that you have a desire and willingness to try out these techniques, work through the process, and be willing to give and receive constructive feedback!
Without further ado – on with the show!
What is Music?
So what, exactly, is music? This is not a trick question! In fact, the answer is much more simple than you might imagine. Acclaimed composer Edgar Varèse claimed, and many agree, that music – at its most fundamental level – is simply organized sound. That’s it. If you have the ability to organize any number of sounds (including zero sounds if you’re a fan of John Cage!) into some kind of structure – any kind – then you have the ability to make music.
That said, it takes something more than organizing random sounds to make something to which you might actually want to listen. Psychology and physiology and philosophy of why we listen to music, etc. is beyond the scope of this tutorial (but if you’re interested in that, check out this book), but suffice it to say that our analysis will center on what makes a typical, popular song work in the context of simple music theory.
Listening: The Heart of Music
“But if a song is sung and there’s no one there to hear, does it even make a sound?” ~ Storyhill
Flickr Image provided by eRiz SLR.
Even the most experienced and accomplished musician will tell you that there is one skill that cannot be practiced enough: the skill of listening. For beginning musicians and songwriters, listening to music with a critical and analytical ear is of the utmost importance. When we begin to listen to music from the perspective of the creator, rather than the consumer, we can begin to identify the elements of a song that work for us as a listener. We identify more clearly why certain songs evoke particular emotions, annoy us, energize us, or put us in a thoughtful mood. On the more mundane level, we can look at the fundamentals of a song and begin to recognize the patterns in its construction, and how it might be similiar or different than other songs.
“But wait,” you might say. “If I listen ‘critically’ to music, I wont be able to enjoy it for what it is! I’ll always be thinking about it!” Trust me when I say that many new musicians have this fear – and if you ask any musician young or old, they will tell you that it simply isn’t true. The more you understand music, the more you can appreciate it on multiple levels. You wont necessarily always be listening critically. But once you develop the skill you will always have the option to listen in a way that allows you to better understand what is going on in any given moment.
Musicians Gem Of Wisdom #1: What I’m about to tell you will no doubt evoke some strong opinions, but I’m going to say it anyway. The more you know and understand about the craft of composing and writing music, the better you will be. I believe that raw talent will take you far. And I believe in breaking the rules to create something new and different. But in music, you can’t truly break the rules without fully understanding them first, and raw talent without dedication and practice will only get you so far. Now, if you don’t want to write music that people want to hear – at least family and friends – then by all means: go make some noise. But if you are truly interested in learning the reasons why people like to listen to certain kinds of music so that you can make music that peple like to listen to, you must understand the rules and structures and language of music.
You understand that listening is an important skill for a new musician. But what are we listening for?
What Makes a Song?
Flickr Image by The b flats/Boni/down with flu.
Blogger and songwriter Graham English says, “We can say a song is good when it achieves its purpose as defined by the artist.” I think the majority of experienced musicians and songwriters would agree with that statement, but what if you’ve never written a song before? What if you’ve never taken a music lesson or played an instrument before? How can you be clear of purpose before you’ve even learned the most basic of forms? Just as in writing you must learn alphabet, words, subject, object, adjective, sentence and paragraph structure, so, too, with music must we learn some of the most basic language before we can clearly state our purpose for a given song.
So for the purposes of this series, let’s lay out a couple of foundational aspects of what elements make up a good pop song.
- Melody is the part of a song that most of us latch on to when we’re listening. It is the aspect of music usually carried by the vocal line in popular music, though occasionally it may be carried temporarily by another, non-vocal, instrument.
- Harmony is the part of a song that supports the melody over time. Harmony helps to give motion and accentuates the emotion by adding tension and release. Harmony is most often carried by the backing instruments such as guitar, piano, and bass, though occasionally other vocalists will harmonize with the lead vocal to make an even stronger musical statement.
- Rhythm is the part of a song that literally is in motion. Every aspect of a song, from the drums to the lead vocal, has a rhythm that works in conjunction with all the other rhythms to form a complete whole.
- Lyrics are often the aspect of a pop song that imparts the most emotion. These are the words that make up the song, and often tell a story or lead the listener on some kind of journey.
- Form is the structure of a song, which can range from very simple to very complex. Song form often includes an introduction, at least one verse, at least one chorus, possibly a bridge, and an outro.
Now to be fair, there are some other aspects of music that can help in making a great song – arrangement (the layout of instruments and lyrics over the course of a song) or the production (how the song is recorded, performed, engineered, etc.) But the truth is, good arrangement and solid production can’t make good a song that lacks a solid foundation of melody, harmony, lyrics, rhythm and form.
Review
Flickr Image by suchitra prints.
This brings us to the close of Part 1 of our tutorial on songwriting. Let’s briefly review what we’ve learned:
- Music is organized sound.
- In order to understand what makes a ‘good pop song’ in the context of this tutorial, we must understand the language of music.
- To begin to understand the language of music, we must learn to listen critically. And remember, critical listening doesn’t mean taking the fun out of music!
- As we listen to music, we can begin to identify the constituent parts of a song: melody, harmony, rhythm, lyrics, and form.
To Be Continued…
Hopefully you’re still with me, dear reader. If not, don’t fret, because in Part 2 we’re going to take a closer look at each element and explore ways to listen for and deconstruct each one by analyzing a variety of popular songs. Until then, I’d like to offer up this challenge:
Pick one or two of your favorite songs and listen to them multiple times. Each time, pay attention to what is happening in regards to each of the aforementioned aspects of music and take some notes on anything you notice now that you’re beginning to listen critically rather than casually.
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By West Latta
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First of all, theoretical knowledge is not at all necessary to compose music, if that’s what’s implied in the “you need to know the language” comment.
Second, it seems as though articles like these are just non-creative fillers, as they serve no real purpose. There isn’t a tutorial to be made on the subject, because there aren’t any rules to follow when composing music.
There isn’t a set of guidelines to follow to make people like your music, and it’s amazing how the author of this article has left out some of the most important aspects of a song, namely the stuff that makes music what it is:
1. Feel
2. Expression
3. Mood
4. etc
Instead it’s just a list of theoretical categories that were created a long time after music was created, so that our civilisation could communicate music on paper. It has nothing to do with music though.
Music is an art form without any rules. A song doesn’t have to have melody, it doesn’t have to have lyrics, it doesn’t have to have verse, chorus, etc. But it will always have expression and a specific feel to it that we will never be able to figure out.
So this article would be much better if the author would cover those areas, instead of just going through stuff that is taught in a music school. Which, frankly, never makes a good musician.
I don’t understand how you could possibly make such a generalization when the full piece is not even finished yet. I find it very unprofessional and superficial that you could attack someone who is writing a multiple part tutorial about things that the very newest songwriters may not know about. If you were a Math major, you wouldn’t study Calculus before Algebra would you?
You must have misread my comment, because there is no attack anywhere.
There have been many filler articles on this website as of late.
Milo: “Music is an art form without any rules.”
This is a terrifying, dangerous statement. In what universe does any art form NOT have rules? Visual artists, for instance, utilize the properties – the ‘laws’, if you like – of light and the nature of sight in combination with their creative faculties to manufacture works of art. The musician is no different. He uses the properties of sound and what is known of the psychological impacts thereof to create music. The musician utilizes modifies the inherent characteristics of sound waves to suit his purposes (such as affecting amplitude or frequency), but never is he able to escape their existence. It would be the equivalent of saying that mathematics is a science without any rules.
In a more formal sense, the musician is bound by such ‘rules’ as correct part-writing (avoiding cross-voicing or parallel fifths / octaves) or proper orchestration or the limits and typical usage of an instrument. As West has indicated, a musician certainly has the freedom to break these limits at any time of his choosing, but it is essential that he understand them first. Unfortunately, this necessity can only be seen from the far side of skill; amateur musicians certainly do not always understand their own need for it.
As to the necessity of this article and its label as a ‘filler’ piece, all I have to say is that this one article may be more important than all of the articles about sound design (from a DAW perspective) put together. After all, imagine what wonderful music we could all be writing if we simply understood some of the most basic rules about music! Sadly, our culture is churning out quite a few ‘audiophiles’ and very few real composers (or even good listeners!).
Finally, as to your very first statement – “theoretical knowledge is not at all necessary to compose music” – I totally agree. Keep in mind, though, that many make a mistake of logic by comparing a creative uneducated musician to an uncreative educated musician, and the winner of the comparison would naturally be a toss-up. But the true comparison should be a creative uneducated musician and a creative educated musician, and in this comparison, the latter will ALWAYS write better music (and the truth is that most musicians – especially educated ones – are creative by nature).
Josh,
I am not a fan of rule-less post-modernism, but I have seen many perfectly creative, talented people gimp themselves with an education in the arts. Once they learned the “rules” to art, they tended to follow those rules into bourgeois oblivion. Art education is great for learning techniques and being exposed to a broader expanse of art, but not so great at fostering creativity.
And do not compare art education to math or science education, they are apples and oranges. Two plus two will always equal four, no matter who is doing the interpretation. On the other hand, parallel fifths have not always been taboo. Many great artists and musicians were reviled in their day for breaking the rules, only to be later appreciated as innovators. Inversely, Top 40 song writers carefully follow the musical formula, but their songs are like nails on a chalkboard to me.
Yes, this article smacks of filler. I only read this article because the concept of teaching someone how to write a song seemed so ham-fisted, as to be funny. It is reminiscent of tutorials on how to have passionate sex. There are certain things in life better experienced than quantified, and arguments to the contrary are usually lead by people trying to rationalize the exorbitant cost of their education which did little for their creativity.
There is one thing we can agree on though; there is entirely too many audiophiles, and too few composers. Unfortunately, I believe that is due to the general emphasis on technology over art in today’s society, and there isn’t a whole lot that can be done to reverse this (nor do I consider it a bad thing overall). Not only does this make great music even more rare, it elevates mediocre music to undeserved acclaim. We live in a bizzarro world where pop “musicians” can have their inept vocals autotuned and then go on to win “awards” for their lack of talent.
Imp,
I have trouble with a few of your statements, though I appreciate your thoughts. Firstly, as to whether or not art education is good at fostering creativity, I can only say from my own experience that my time in college was the most creative time of my life. Never was I writing, playing, or creating more than during those years (and not for assignments; for my own enjoyment). The constant inhalation (or “inspiration”) of material led to many great discoveries and inquiries in my spare time, so if there exists a problem with art education, it lies with the educators or the students; not with the concept.
Secondly, I believe it is fair to compare science education with music education. After all, sound falls partly under the jurisdiction of physics, and the properties of sound waves are certainly not unimportant in discussions of music theory. Also, most compositions are extremely rational. Some might also erroneously assume that artists are very creative and less logical, and that scientists are very logical and less creative. It seems to me that all human beings contain varying amounts of logic and creativity, and their chosen career path revolves more around their enjoyment of their craft than the mental or emotional capacities with which they’re naturally endowed. True artists are also extremely logical (we can see this in the works of the very best composers; if it were not for this, sounds could not be “organized” into music) and true scientists are also extremely creative (or else science would be merely abstract and theoretical instead of being practical, and the most difficult breakthroughs would never be made).
Once again, the aforementioned fallacy of reasoning has been made. You’ve essentially asked the question, “Is it better to be a creative, uneducated musician or an uncreative, educated musician?” And I posit that the question is incorrect; we should be asking whether or not it’s better to be a creative, uneducated musician or a creative, educated musician; and I’m fairly certain that the latter should always be our answer.
Josh
Milo,
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the art of music composition is a craft just like any other art form. Every craft takes technical training. If you think music is such a lawless art, then good for you. However, other people do not, and appreciate things like melody, harmony, texture, form, etc.
great article! looking forward to the next one!!
I agree that this first article seemed mostly like filler, but I am actually quite looking forward hearing more from West Latta.
Of course there are no rules in writing music, and doing a songwriting tutorial in the same manner that someone would do a Photo-shop tutorial would be rather ill advised, but I think it’s certainly possible to provide strong insight into what people should be concerned with while composing a piece of music.
At least a small amount of music theory is probably needed here. Of course the feel and mood of the song is more important than what the score looks like, but without some theoretical knowledge how are we supposed to discuss how effectively or ineffectively a composer creates certain textures, and by what means do they manages to achieve their personal sounds.
I’m just always interested in hearing musicians share opinions on their own creative processes.
Not only was this article interesting, but reading the comments were helpful as well.
Just a couple of clarifying points:
1 – This tutorial is for beginners.
2 – This tutorial specifically asks the question, “What makes a good pop song?”
If someone completely new to music comes up to you and asks how to write a song, and you start talking about anthropology, musical history, and the artistic merits of certain styles of teaching music, you’ll get glossy-eyes before you know it.
Like it or not, there ARE rules for writing good pop music, and this series is specifically about giving beginners some concrete tools and concepts for writing simple, pop music.
Thanks for reading.
An to backup this opinion, have look at this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1fQ1P4Mwlc
Pretty fun, but also gives you something to think about!
That depends on what your definition of ‘good’ is.
Personally, I abhor pop music that has been written according to some rules, even when it’s supposed to be good music, because the rules were followed.
To state without any doubt that there ARE rules makes me shudder when I think of the music you create then.
“Pop” aka “Popular” music isn’t defined by what any individual thinks is “good”. It is defined by what the vast majority of the populous thinks is good, vis a vis – the songs that are sitting on the Billboard charts (at least here in the US).
Again – this series isn’t about artistic merit, and it especially isn’t about appeasing music elitists. It is about giving some basic tools to people who are interested in making pop music, but don’t know where to begin.
imho in regards to noncommercial music there are as many different takes to songwriting as there are human ears in the world..
Thank you for this intro. It is a perfect piece that I have ciculated to some of my newer band members. I look forward to the rest of the series.
for all the people that say there are no rules in music,
If you want to learn somebody to make music, what are you going to say to them? that they can do anything they want?
Thats kind of bullshit
everybody always follows some guidelines to make music, even if they are just the limits of the instrument they use.
I’m very happy with this tutorial series, all the technical tutorials are easy but any real composing tutorials are hard to find.
Finally an article on songwriting.
I hope it will go in-depth and cover all the elements mentioned.
Good start and carry on.
Thanks, aDeeb!
Interesting to read how stirred up people can get from something like this. I guess I tend to take things as they are, and not expect them to be what they aren’t. Not criticizing there, just saying that it might not meet what you were looking for, but hey, that’s fine.
As a side note, I found it interesting, an interesting take on how to approach creating a song or piece of music. And it’ll be interesting to see how this develops in further pieces. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks, Mark!
When is part 2 coming? I want to continue reading!!!
Hi Alex. Around the middle of January – about a month after part 1.
I am reading a lot of tutorials on different websites and i found that one incredible interesting !
I just cant understand why you didnt put the second part online ! I am looking forward to read it.
Thanks
Hi Maxx. I’m sorry to keep you in suspense! Just two weeks to go.
The best advice is the part about listening. Yes, if you are an experienced writer, some of this post would seem elementary, but if you are not experienced you would find some great nuggets of info. We all can learn from every situation. Good work.
Forget the stuck-up know-it-all self-proclaimed Beethovens and let them ride their high horses into the sunset – this is a great start to a series of tutorials aimed at helping beginning musicians understand music they are most likely to be familiar with (i.e. pop music) and to provide tools to set them off on a journey which will one day lead to creation of “feel”, “style”, “emotion” and “expression”. I would be much more afraid if you make a tutorial about how to generate “feel” in music… how on earth would you explain that? instead it is useful to understand what harmony is, what melody is etc…. I’ve seen way too many DJs and techno-heads that don’t even know what an octave is… and say what you want but that sort must make composing a lot more work than feeling.
Great article and great start. I like the beginner approach and am looking forward to future articles!
I would put the rhythm in the first place, the second: intonation
and then everything else
Thank You West, for providing a rich and insightful article (if I were to quote the best sentences, I would be quoting entire paragraphs!).
And to John, yes I do suspect that the members who comment against music theory are mostly electronic based music producers who tend to use samples more than creating music from scratch.
But then again, scratch – in correlation to the topic of this tutorial – is not really scratch: most if not all of modern music utilizes the Western Temperament, yes no? We use the 12 note chromatic scale, for Major, Minor, and other exotic, Non-Western Scales yes no? Most if not all music today utilizes instruments that have a fundamental frequency and harmonics, yes no? Then non of us are truly free of rules, perhaps we’ve just come to take those rules for granted.
I remember Derek Sivers writing – there is no more originality: every principle has already been founded. Styles, will always change, evolve, and recycle, but principles have been there since day one and will be there until the end. Music, even as an art form, is not exempt from the principles that shape it – and the true appreciator of art would recognize there are patterns to a good song (particularly pop songs).
Cheers,
P.S: and totally waiting for part 2!
Hi Endy. I agree, it’s a great series. Enjoy Part 2 and Part 3.
Great article with a great and LOGICAL beginning. I’m sure you knew before you decided to do this series that you wouldn’t please everyone!! I’m somewhat of a “veteran,” but I will certainly continue to the end!! – remembering that NO ONE knows everything about anything!!
Thanks, DurwoodW, Adrian, and everyone. I find it really amusing and poignant that these articles were re-posted today. I’m actually going through a phase right now where I feel again like a complete beginner. I think it is time for me to re-read my own articles and go back into ‘student’ mode!
You’re welcome, West. It’s a fantastic series. If you’re going back into student mode, this is a great place to start!