How to Begin Writing an Alternative Pop Song

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Cody Kimmel. I am the lead singer of the band Eliot Fitzgerald. I am here with expert village to teach you how to write an alternative pop song. Okay, so you know the different tools that we need to write songs. We have our notepad, or journal (or whatever it is that we are going to write in). We have our pen. We have our instrument. We have our memories and we have a good knowledge of the type of music we are writing for. We're ready to go. So, now it's time to actually sit down and write it. So, how do we start out? The way I like to start out and one of the most important things especially as a new songwriter. If you're just starting this. First find a comfortable and quiet place. For example, my room. I'm in my room. Actually, behind me is a Texas flag that I've had since college. Things like this that are familiar to you that aren't going to distract you are things that are good to have as a songwriter, because really when you're starting to write a song you are going to get into a zone where you really can't be distracted easily. You will lose a lot of progress. So, you've got that. You are in your comfortable room. Let's say you already have an idea. You already have like a chord structure. The best thing to do is you just kind of play it through just for awhile. Let's say you don't have lyrics already. You have an idea maybe, but you don't have lyrics. You do have the chords and stuff like that. What you are going to want to do is maybe even start humming just to come up with the melody. No matter what the melody is going to be important, especially in an alternative pop song (humming and singing). Even if you don't use the melody that you are humming it's going to be good, because it's going to start your juices flowing as far as getting a good foundation. Once you've started to do that, get a good flow (get a good idea in your head). It will be time to decide on maybe a song structure."