How to Write Good Songs

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Desire
Persistence
Positive attitude
Pen & paper,
A recording device
Your voice
An instrument

Step 1

Step one in writing a good song is to have an idea of what to write about. It may seem hard to think of anything but its not. Everything can be made into a song. Pets, children, lovers, trees, cars, places you live, places you've been, and so on.
Step 2

What should be done next is to brainstorm, Brainstorming is a technique used by all writers be it literature or music. Write down as many things as you can think of. Use different tenses such as past tense, present tense, and future tense. For example, past tense: "Back in the day when we were young." Using events and experiences from the past is a great way to write a song. Since it has already happened, the song is mostly complete.

Another example is to write about present events like a break up, or a current love affair. You can write about politics, war, economics, natural phenomenon. You can write about yourself, people you know, people you don't know or people you want to know.

Take things a step further and write about future events. Maybe you could write about what it would be like down the road with a girl/guy you know. Write about what the world would be like if things keep going the way they are. Write about changes.
Step 3

Start writing down things like rain, thunder, love, and hate. With these four subjects, you can write a song about each one of them or you can combine them for an even better song. "It's like rain" "Thunder road" " I love to hate you" "I hate to love you" "When it rains it thunders" as you can see, its a start to a good song.
Step 4

Why would these examples be a good start? simply put, it is because these four subjects are things everybody experiences. If you want to write a good song you should write about what people can relate to.
Step 5

Positive songs tend to get more airplay than negative ones. If you want to be a negative writer you must put humor into the song. Otherwise, you will limit your listening audience.
Step 6

What you want is a song that people feel. Using idioms is a great way of doing that. What is an idiom? An idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definition, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use. In other words, people have heard it before. Like: "Apple of someone's eye" or "(to) beat around the bush." Additionally, another good one is "beggars can't be choosey." Do you see how using idioms just sound cool?
Step 7

The structure of your song is important. Without structure, your song will sound confusing. The best songs have good structure. The funny thing about songs is the simpler they are the better. Idioms are excellent for a chorus because they are catchy.
Step 8

An example of good structure is : verse, verse, chorus, verse, verse chorus. Or, chorus, verse, verse, chorus. There are many ways to structure a song and these are just some of the ways you can do it.
Step 9

Intros, turnarounds and bridges will add to the flow of your music. Oftentimes, a songwriter will use the music from the chorus for an intro. You can also use the music from the verses as well as the turnaround or even the bridge. All of these techniques will get you on your way to writing a good song that people want to hear over and over.
Step 10

Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music.
Step 11

Turnaround (music), is a series of chords that lead back to a repeated section of a song. A "bridge" can be used instead of a "turnaround." However, the turnaround usually has fewer measures than a "bridge."
Step 12

Bridge (music), is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section. Commonly the "bridge" is in a contrasting key to the original melody and can often be a perfect 4th higher. A bridge will have a different feel and sound than the rest of the song. Usually without words, the bridge gives the song a different flow.
Step 13

Using music software like Cakewalk, Pro Tools, and many others can make the song writing experience even more enjoyable by giving you the tools to incorporate music with your lyrics. Other great tools are writing software like (Master Writer.com). As far as software goes, I use it and I think its great. The best thing to do would be to have as many tools at your disposal as possible. If all that you have is a pencil and paper, it is a start so get to it.