How to Write a Song – Learning Basic Songwriting

Contrary to popular belief, professional musicians and songwriters aren’t the only people who write songs. Everyday people who want to express themselves musically or try a new creative outlet also write songs, whether for fun, profit, or both. Though many songwriters aim to write pop songs—any type of “popular” song you’d hear on the radio—you can apply the songwriting techniques in this chart to many genres of music, from country to blues to hard rock.

What Makes Up a Song?

Nearly all songs, regardless of their type, consist of four central musical elements:

• Melody: This is a succession of single notes, varying in pitch, that make up a recognizable musical phrase. The melody is usually the lead vocal part of the song—the part to which you can easily hum along. Writing melodies that are both pleasing to the ear and catchy, or memorable, can be challenging.
• Lyrics: Words that a songwriter sets to music are called lyrics. They create the meaning and mood of the song and give listeners a story or emotion to relate to. Instrumentals are songs that contain no lyrics.
• Rhythm: The time component of music, rhythm includes the tempo (pace) and beat (pulse). Most pop songs have the same rhythm throughout, though some change either the tempo or beat midsong.
• Harmony: These are musical notes sounded together to create chords. The harmony is the musical foundation that supports the melody. Most songs contain a chord progression, a series of chords over which a vocalist sings a song’s lyrics.

In addition to these elements, nearly all songs have a few basic parts that form the building blocks of the song’s musical and lyrical structure (see The Parts of a Song). Songwriters arrange these parts into a variety of different orders, called song structures (see Song Structure and Forms).

Why Write Songs?

Some people write songs just for fun, whereas others do it for performance and/or profit.

• For fun: Many novice songwriters write songs to express emotions or just for pleasure. Writing for yourself, without the pressure of having to share your songs with others, is a great way to learn songwriting.
• For performance: Songs written for performance should please the listener, not just the songwriter or performer. Beginners often graduate to writing songs for performance once they’re confident in their ability to write songs that others will enjoy.
• For profit: Songwriters can make money by selling the rights to their songs to other performers or by getting paid to perform the songs themselves. Some songwriters do both.

What You Need to Know to Write Songs

This guide will teach you everything you need to know to get started writing songs, even if you don’t know how to read, write, or play music. Though it’s helpful to know how to play guitar, piano, or any other instrument that produces chords, it’s not essential. You can still write lyrics and melodies, then partner with someone who does play an instrument and can provide musical accompaniment to your melodies and lyrics.

Why You Don’t Need to Read Music to Write Songs

Most composers of classical music tend to create music by transcribing it from their minds to the written page using musical notation, the system of symbols used to represent music visually. But most songwriters don’t work that way. Instead, songwriting usually happens by “feel,” meaning that the songwriter comes up with a melody or series of chords and builds the song piece by piece, without writing any of it in musical notation.