Productive Song Writing

We've all been there, wanting to write a song but not knowing where to start or what to do or what direction to take next? A good song starts with a strong idea... knowing what you're trying to achieve; what kind of ambience you're after? What general feel you want? Whether you're going to alter that feel in anyone point of the song? What inspires you to write the music you're writing?

Many people have developed their own way of going about song writing, but for those who are struggling having structured song writing sessions here is a good logical way to go about it.

1) Start with a good base point; a riff, a lyric or a groove etc.

2) Think about what emotions that particular “fragment” of music invokes within yourself. Remember that music is very powerful, a good song that people will remember is something that invokes a strong emotion or sensation within ones self.

3) Start creating other fragments of music which also invoke similar or linking emotions to the base piece of music.

4) Make notes of all the “fragments” created; this could be done with a portable cassette recorder or something to that effect... remember that you're not after amazing sound quality, just a brief recording to remember the riff or groove you've come up with.

5) Get a piece of paper or better still a whiteboard which the whole band can see. Now start structuring the best of the fragments into a logical pattern. i.e. If you had named the fragments as letters the structure could look something like this:

A-B-A-C-C2-A-B-C-B

6) Start working on putting all the pieces together in the particular structure chosen. You should have good bridges in-between the various sections as so that there aren't any “sudden” changes from section to section and that they rather merge together like water flowing through a river.

7) Work with your fellow band members to refine what you have written; the best songs have not been written but are often the songs that have been re-written... refined to sound the best they possibly can!

8) Reflect on what you have achieved as a band, be proud! Make sure that you keep a record of what you have done, keep any documentation made and make a quick recording of the song... again sound quality isn't a key factor!