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How To Write A Song

We get lots of questions from people on music and song writing, here is one of the most frequently asked, "can you describe how to write a song in detail?" What follows is based upon the advice given by song writers and other industry professionals who have participated as judges for The BOSAs.

The first thing to learn about how to write a song is "don't try to write a hit, you will miss". That's been written in dozens of books on song writing, and said countless times at musical workshops so you've probably heard it before, but it's still worth repeating here anyway.

There is no secret or magic formula for writing a hit because a hit song is a combination of talent, timing and luck. You will never have control over the luck factor, and rarely have any input on the timing either, but what you can do--and should strive for--is you can write a really good song. One that is well crafted and has a unique hook. That will position your song(s) to become hits if and when the timing and luck factor fall into place together.

The first step to learning how to write a song that is good is writing lots of bad and mediocre songs. Just like painting, song writing is an artistic talent based on a combination of intangible feeling and learned technique; so it requires lots of practice, and the only way to practice song writing is by writing songs.

Something that every good song writer does is study other people's songs. Analyze the structure of the repetitive musical components, but also locate and take note of the transitions that add drama or interest. Think about how the melody and lyrics (rhyme and story) compliment one another. By learning to recognize and critique these things in other people's songs you'll ultimately become better at using them in your own.

By practicing song writing and studying other people's songs you're going to develop what's referred to as "song craft". It is, quite simply, the fundamentals of building a song from blank page to full composition with a melody, a story with structured lyrics that fit the music, verses, a chorus, a bridge, transitions, pre-choruses (often called lifts) and so on. Not every song has every one of those elements in it, but they are all components that can be in your song(s), and song craft is the understanding of how to use them, when to use them and equally important; when not to use one them.

But song craft is only half the battle. Song craft is mechanics and theory which can be taught to anybody. The other half of the battle is being able to tap into your emotions and turn them into compelling compositions that will capture a listener's imagination or own feelings.

A good song is both emotional and well crafted, if one of those is missing the song isn't complete. A song can be emotional but poorly crafted, but listeners won't understand it then. It will sound and feel awkward to them. And by the same token a song can be well crafted but lacking in emotion, and that's just as bad because then listeners won't care about it.

As with every rule--especially rules applied to art--there are noteworthy exceptions from time to time. It's easy to point out a hit song here or there that lacked in craft or emotion yet still rose the charts. Again, I'll remind you of the luck factor involved as well as mention that outside influences from marketing efforts to movie/television placement of a song can manipulate charts in the short term. But if you look at the people behind such examples they typically end up being "1 hit wonders", and that's because the things that can have short term effects on the popularity of a song aren't able to sustain an artist for long at all. If they can't compose good songs with a balance of craft and emotions they won't last.

I say all of that not to come down on anybody in specific, in-fact I've been careful not to point out any specific song or artist; but I wanted to make the point that there are no short-cuts to writing good songs. It's a structured art form that can't be fully taught from a book or even a live teacher. There is an element of self progression that can only come from doing. However, it's also something that anybody can become good at if they apply themselves. The only obstacle you may face in learning how to write a good song is yourself.