Dan Banks answered
How do you make up a song?
The great thing about songwriting is it's an entirely creative process! Simply pick up your instrument of choice and play the first thing that comes into your head. Eventually you'll play something that you like, and then you can start moulding that riff, lick, or melody into a real song.
Inspiration
The hardest part in this whole process is having the initial inspiration for the track. This can't be forced, instead you'll usually have to endure hours of writer's block before you get any decent ideas - something which can be very frustrating.
Once you have the starting point - whether it's some catchy lyrics to a sing-a-long chorus or a high energy guitar riff - you can start to build the song around it. Most typical western popular songs have at least three different parts to them.
A basic song structure could look like the following:
Verse
Chorus
2nd Verse
Chorus
Bridge/breakdown
Chorus
Chorus
Music theory
Your going to need a decent level of musical theory if you want to write a hit single. Make sure you write the music in key and then explore the scales in that key in order to write an extra melodic and catchy track. Just applying a little bit of theory can make the transitions between the parts sound so much smoother - so I would advise you to read up on this.
The most important thing to remember is practice - the more songs you write the better you should become at songwriting. It will also mean that you will carve out your own unique and creative process for writing music.
The great thing about songwriting is it's an entirely creative process! Simply pick up your instrument of choice and play the first thing that comes into your head. Eventually you'll play something that you like, and then you can start moulding that riff, lick, or melody into a real song.
Inspiration
The hardest part in this whole process is having the initial inspiration for the track. This can't be forced, instead you'll usually have to endure hours of writer's block before you get any decent ideas - something which can be very frustrating.
Once you have the starting point - whether it's some catchy lyrics to a sing-a-long chorus or a high energy guitar riff - you can start to build the song around it. Most typical western popular songs have at least three different parts to them.
A basic song structure could look like the following:
Verse
Chorus
2nd Verse
Chorus
Bridge/breakdown
Chorus
Chorus
Music theory
Your going to need a decent level of musical theory if you want to write a hit single. Make sure you write the music in key and then explore the scales in that key in order to write an extra melodic and catchy track. Just applying a little bit of theory can make the transitions between the parts sound so much smoother - so I would advise you to read up on this.
The most important thing to remember is practice - the more songs you write the better you should become at songwriting. It will also mean that you will carve out your own unique and creative process for writing music.
