How to Write a Piano Song

If you can play piano, then you can write a piano song. Most people who play piano, think it's impossible to write a piano song, unless they're professional composers. I will explain how to write a piano song in three different ways. None of them are harder or easier than the other. It's all based on preferences, so you should try all three methods to find the best one that works for you.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Piano
• Pencil
• Paper or black piano sheet music
• Basic piano playing skills

1. Start with a melody you hum in your head. Then play the notes on the piano to match the melody. Most people do not have perfect pitch, so this will take trial and error. Write down the notes. When you write a piano song, you usually want to match the melody notes in each bar to a chord or bass note to produce harmony. You do this by looking at the notes in the melody bar and matching it with a chord that includes all or some of the notes in the melody. For instance, if we had the melody notes E-D-C-D, we can play a C Major chord (C-E-G), an inversion of C Major, or the notes by themselves.

2. Play a chord progression and match it to a melody to write a piano song. You do this by picking a key (like C Major) and play chord progressions in that key. Have your first and last measure be a I chord (a I chord is the first triad of the key. So in C Major, it would be C-E-G chord, a V in C Major would be G-B-D, since G is the fifth note of the C key). Then fill the middle with these three common chord progressions: chords that rise by fourths/fall by fifths (C-D-E-F or C-B-A-G-F); chords that rise by sixths/fall by thirds(C-D-E-F-G-A or C-B-A); chords that rise by seconds/fall by sevenths(C-D or C-B-A-G-F-E-D). Then use the notes in your chords to write a melody. If your measure has a G major chord, you focus on the notes of the chord (G-B-D). So your melody for the measure could be: F-G-B-G.

3. Write lyrics to a piano song. Play a melody on the piano to match the song. Write down the notes. Refer to step 1 to find chords to write a piano song.

Tips & Warnings

• When you first write a piano song, you should keep it simple. Keep it short (around 8 measures), have it in a easy key (like C Major), have a 4/4 key signature, and avoid complicated rhythms.
• Analyze pop music. You'll be surprised by their simplicity. Most pop music use the common chord progressions I listed in step two.
• Copy the melody/chords of a song and write the melody/chords to it.
• These steps are just general guidelines. You can expierience with dissonance, play borken chords, try out wierd rhythms, and etc. The more you practise, the better you'll get at writing piano songs.

[aguy]

on 7/5/2009 Wow.

[waters]

on 7/3/2009 Great article on how to write a piano song. 5* and recommended