Songwriting as a hobby

Songwriting

Becoming a lyricist - songwriter begins with a love of music and the power or lyrics. Many songwriters channel their emotions into songs and end up creating lyrical masterpieces. To get started you don`t need anything more than a simple desire to write songs.

Basic information:

The song must make an impact the first time it is heard. Then, you’ll need a melody that grabs the listeners. Next are the lyrics. Anyone listening to the song must be able to relate to it – and also feel like singing along. Attention must be paid to the structure of the song so that it flows and feels complete.

How about genre? Does it fit the genre you are writing in? Are the sounds right and in tune? And finally – who’s singing it? Is the performer doing full justice to the song?

An interesting lyric is essential. It must be so catchy that it sounds great to the listener – rather than like a monotonous reading. A good sound structure must complete the song. You can get a pretty good idea by looking at successful songs and analyzing what makes them so popular.

What Makes Up The Structure Of The Song?

Every song has a verse, a chorus, a hook and a bridge. The chorus is a group of lines that are repeated and make the song sound catchy.

The chorus can be the same or have small changes every time it is repeated through the song. Here’s where you will find the song’s hook. The hook could be the title of the song.

While most songs we hear do have a chorus, it is not mandatory. The bridge of the song summarizes the song’s message, or it could give the song a memorable and sudden twist.

Writing The Song

Start with a strong song title. This can be done through a brainwave of your own – or by jotting down appropriate words on a pad. The next step is to choose the form for the song. You could pick from the verse-chorus bridge form or the verse-verse-verse form, or even the verse-verse-bridge depending on the kind of song you intend to write.

You would need to work on a catchy, melodious hook with chorus – featuring the song title. The beginning and end of the chorus are two good places to put the song title in. Then, work on the verses. Here, remember that the first and last line of the verse is what your listeners will recall first. You could also create the lines before the chorus so that they sound more interesting and attention grabbing.

If you are planning to add a bridge, make sure that it is unique and different – distinctive in how the words are phrased.

One way to turn your song into a great one is to really carry the listener, building up the tension, so that at the final chorus, they get enthralled ad excited. Another way to jazz up your song is to include a rap. You must carefully think about where it will feature in your song. Some songs have a beautiful instrumental bridge that’s memorable and identifies the song.

With your song almost ready, all you need to do is keep tweaking it, honing it to make sure that you are in the right genre with it. Now is the time to judge whether you want to edit some parts of the songs or make additions.

The salient parts of a hit song – there could be variations depending on the type of music, but you can assume that these will more or less fit most types of music like country / pop/ rock.

• Hook the listener at the starting line, making them eager for more
• The song must be hum-able after the listener hears it a few times

• No complex words – the lyrics must be easy to pick up and sing along. Let the words flow naturally.
• The lyrics must be authentic and from the heart.
• Concentrate more on song meaning.
• Rhyming is not mandatory – but it is certainly one of the elements that make some songs really memorable and easy to remember. But don’t overdo it. The worst thing is to force an overdose of rhymes into the song and make it look contrived.
• Make the theme or idea of the song with as much mass appeal as possible. The more people that can identify with the song, the better
• People should not have to think too hard to figure out what the song means. Forget clichés.
• Let the song be roughly three to four minutes in length.
• As far as possible avoid songs that depict pathetic males or females. Songs that keep imploring or begging are also preferably avoided.
• Focus on a specific idea. You can make the bridge unique, but otherwise stick to one idea
• Let the title of the song be obvious in the beginning and repeated so that people can recall it easily.

• Great lyrics help the listener visualize the song
• Let the song and melody be easy to recall after it is heard once.
• Songs with a bit of mystery are also good sellers.

One of the best ways to get truthful feedback about your song is to play it to strangers and see how they feel.