How to Write a Hit Song

The tide of popular music ebbs and flows just like any trend-driven industry. Instead of chasing after these song writing trends only to show up a beat late and a chord short, you should stick with the basic tenets of hit song writing and let the music speak for itself. Read on to learn how to write a hit song.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Guitar
• Radio
• Journal

1. Keep a journal of all your thoughts and song ideas. Getting words and concepts out of your head and onto paper is an important first step in molding your emotions into a tangible piece of music.
2. Explore your creativity and don't censor yourself. Just let everything flow out of your mind and onto the pages of your journal.
3. Look through what you have written, and expand on the ideas and lyrics that you think can apply universally to other people. Hit songs deal with emotions and situations that encompass an extremely large demographic. Songs about love and heartache may be cliché, but these are emotions that everyone deals with sometime in life. Stay away from lyrics that will alienate a substantial number of listeners.
4. Listen to hit songs in the popular music genre in which you wish to write. Pay attention to the structure of the songs, including the chord progressions, tempo changes, lyrical style and content. Ask yourself what makes these songs hits and how you can incorporate that into your own music, without simply ripping it off.
5. Add your own flair to your music, particularly with the chord progressions. Once you start actively listening to a lot of popular music, you will notice that many songs use the same chord progressions that have been used for decades. The trick is throwing in your own flavor of unique chords to break up the monotony of recycled progressions.
6. Focus your lyrical content and sync it to the tone of your music. Lyrics and music should complement each other's emotive qualities, and combine to create a single undeniably powerful emotion.
7. Practice your song writing. Chances are the first song you write won't be the greatest song ever, but over time the more songs you write the better your instincts about popular music will get. The old cliché "practice makes perfect" is something you should always keep in mind.

Tips & Warnings

• Disassociate yourself from your song and listen to it as you would any other song you hear on the radio. How does your song hold up?
• Don't overexpose yourself to popular music. Otherwise you'll probably end up just regurgitating what's already on the radio. Make sure to take time to isolate yourself and search for your own creative voice.