Some Tips for Writing your Own Songs
If you have aspirations of writing your own music but don’t quite know how to get started, then the following tips should help. Writing a song can seem easy listening to some of the songs that are played on the radio, however, it can prove to be otherwise. Song writing can be especially daunting if you have never tried it before.
When composing a song, it’s usually best to work from the ground up. For your first song, begin with something simple. Try composing in an easy key like C or G major. Next, take part of that scale and transform it into a lick. This will form the foundation for your music. There should be a formula to the lick that will work as a blueprint to help you map out the rest of your music.
The foundation of your song is made up of your chosen key, the scale in that key, the time signature, the analysis of the tools available to you in the key, and an idea of the sound that you are going for. Your blueprint will include the following: a riff, the feel/sound you want, and the most popular techniques that you will be aiming for.
From your blueprint, you will then take existing riffs that you may have in your back pocket and transpose them into the key that you are working in. Even though you can do key changes in songs, it is much easier to stay in the same key for your first try. You will add connecting notes in between your riffs to connect them together. In order to put it all together you will need to separate your song into parts. The parts are composed of an intro, verse, chorus, bridge, and verse.
If you need further resources, there are many guitar articles written on this subject. As well, you can go to forums for guitarists to discuss song writing with other guitarists. You can share ideas, learn new techniques or tricks, or get some of your most pressing questions answered.