3 Songwriting Tips
While I’m certainly no master, I am very opinionated. Here are a few things I think are important to consider when writing a song:
1. Concrete Imagery
Sometimes when we talk, the words we use are pretty abstract — like this sentence. The meaning is understood, but there’s not much to clearly visualize.
Whereas if I’m talking about dusty old red cabinets and the things that might be stored there, now your imagination is painting a picture. Maybe it smells a little rotted. Maybe you get a rush of blood to your face because you’d be embarrassed if someone found out what’s in there.
Describing things with sensory words is good advice and all, but I think the key to understanding imagery is to use a lot of nouns that are actual physical things.
2. Story
I don’t know why, but stories have some magical power based in empathy. When you are similar to the protagonist in some fundamental way, you automatically empathize with them to feel some of what they feel.
The general structure of a story to keep in mind is: a character wants something deeply, and in their quest for whatever it is, they experience obstacles or progress. Maybe hopelessness then redemption.
A song about how beautiful the countryside is might be nice, but it might be even easier to relate to if it’s from the perspective of a dude reminiscing on his way home.
3. Structure
Just like a story needs some progress and some obstacles to be interesting, songs need some structure and some surprises to be interesting. And good surprises are only interesting within the context of a mostly familiar structure, otherwise everything is unexpected and it just sounds like a mess.
Structure can apply to a lot (stories, for example), but two important things are the rhyme scheme and how the sections of the song are arranged.
The music modern people listen to tends to consist of some form of verse-chorus-verse-chorus, so I recommend that. The idea is to have a section, a contrast, and then a familiar section again, and so on. Then you might have a third section that breaks both expectations — usually the “bridge.”
With rhyming it’s the same concept. Maybe the first two lines end in one sound, and then there’s two of another, and after that’s repeated a bit, you have a third new sound for contrast and interest.
Obviously these aren’t the only things to consider in making a song, but keeping them in mind will certainly improve your chances of making a good one.
