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Learn the Craft of writing a good music


Learn the Craft of writing a good music

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    Stop thinking about writing songs, and start writing songs. You really want to be a famous star, don't you? You daydream about being on stage and hearing the roar of the crowd. Only trouble is, gee whiz, you're dreaming your life away.
    • If you want to write a really good song, you're going to have to work for it. Start today. Commit to writing a certain number of songs per week, the way successful authors commit to writing a thousand words a day.
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    Listen actively to different types of music. You may have your favorite and you may think the other kind of music sucks, but there's a reason people like it. Find out what that is.
    • Good writers read several genres of books. Good songwriters listen to genres of songs. As you listen, think about what you like about a song. Are the lyrics unique, do the song's chord changes perfectly capture a mood, do you like the transition from one part of the song to another?
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    Get technical. You don't have to have a degree in music theory to write a good song, but you should have an understanding of how songs are built. This includes a basic understanding of harmony, melody, and rhythm.
    • Harmony is about the chord arrangements and having harmonic qualities that blend with both the rhythmic feel and the melody of the song. A beginner would want to look into basic major and minor keys and chords which pertain to the given key they are working in.
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    Learn the chords. In the key of C, the chords going up the neck are:
    • C, Dm (minor), Em, F, G, Am, and Bdim (diminished). They are also called by their scale steps, which has the advantage of not being "key-centric." For example, the C is the I (one), the Dm is the II, the F is called the IV, and the G the V.
    • The I IV and V chords of any key can be thought of as a meat and potatoes way of writing a song, as these three chords will accompany any melody that stays within the given key. Most pop songs are built around a I-IV-V structure.
    • There are infinite ways to structure a song, but there's a common sequence found in most of them (see Tips). As you listen to songs, try to identify the different parts. Check yourself by looking at lyrics online or in a music book; the parts of songs are often labeled in these media.
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    Be ready when inspiration comes calling. Unfortunately, inspiration usually doesn't strike at the most convenient times, so it's important that you be able to remember each new song that pops into your head, no matter where you are.
    • Carry a pen and paper with you wherever you go, or better yet, carry a tape recorder or digital audio recorder—melodies can be extremely difficult to capture on paper unless you have a strong music background.
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    Learn to write lyrics. Think about something that really touched you or changed your life. That special someone? A bully? A bad breakup? Think about it and describe it. How did that feel? Did it hurt? Does (s)he make you think about him or her all the time? Just start by thinking about personal experiences!
    • It would be helpful if you have a musical instrument (e.g. piano, keyboard, guitar, etc.) so that you can explore the music. An added advantage is that you can easily write down the notes (or tabs) when you have a tune. Try recording it for feedback. Guitars plug directly into computer microphone jacks with an adapter.
    • You can always go back to your recording. It helps. If you revise it, then record it again.
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    Figure out what you've got. Once in a while, inspiration will hit you like a full force gale, and suddenly you have a full song out of nowhere. Most of the time, however, just a small piece of a potential song will come to you, leaving you to do the hard, but fun work of fleshing it out. You should have a feel for what part of the song you've come up with.
    • If it's super catchy (either a lyrical phrase or a snippet of music), and you can envision it being a repeated theme in the song, you've got the chorus or refrain — the climax or summary of your musical story — and you need to write verses to explain how you know in detail.
    • If what you've come up with, seems more narrative lyrically or subtler musically—a part of a story rather than the main idea—you've probably got a verse, and you'll need to write the rest of the story (more verses) and, usually, a chorus.
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    Set the mood. Make sure your music fits the story. If it is sad, then you may want your melody to evoke sadness (by slowing it down or adding some minor chords, for example) or you might want to add a twist and combine sad lyrics to upbeat music in order to create a sense of tension and ambiguity.
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    Say something. A song can get by with poor lyrics, and you have a better chance of writing a really good song if your lyrics are great. This does not mean they have to be serious, but they should not be clichéd or ho-hum. Write your lyrics as though you are talking to somebody who you want to impress or to someone toward whom you feel some sort of deep emotion.
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    Make your words sing. Lyrics can appeal to emotions, and they should also appeal to the ear. There are a few different ways to do this. Words should fit with a rhythm you are creating in the song, and the way these words sound play an important part as well. Some words sound smoother than others (for example, "cool breeze" sounds smoother than "frigid wind.") Use the texture and character of words to add to the feeling of a song.
    • Another useful tool for the songwriter is a rhyming dictionary. There are a variety of ways you can rhyme lines in a song to help tie the lyrics together. Learn about these and other tools of poetry, and try putting them to work for you.
    • You can rhyme at the end of every line or every other line, or your rhymes can come more sporadically. You can also rhyme within lines to good effect (think of rap lyrics).
    • There are also other poetic devices you can use, such as alliteration ("They paved paradise, put up a parking lot"). The "p" sound is repeated. And, assonance ("...honesty, promise me I'm never gonna find you faking"). The repeated "ah" sound in "honesty", "promise" and "gonna").
    • However, do not burden yourself with rhyme! You can get away with making a phrase stand out by avoiding conventional means of fitting it into a song, and many successful songs do not rhyme at all.
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    Strike a balance between repetition and variety. Repetition is what makes a song catchy; repeated choruses, for example, stick in our heads even when the rest of a song does not. It is easy to ask people to join you in a refrain, which is why it is usually called a chorus. That’s why so many people know just a few lines of so many songs.
    • While there are good songs that are so simple that they have no chorus and have the same line length, the same rhyme schemes, and the same chord progressions repeated throughout them, most people get bored with that. The most common way to add variety is to insert a bridge into your song.
    • A bridge is a section of music, sometimes instrumental, that differs in its construction from the verses and the chorus, and is usually placed near the end of the song before the final chorus, where a verse would typically be. The bridge can be in a different key—using a different set of chords—than the rest of the song, but it doesn't need to be. It can also be faster or slower, shorter or longer, or otherwise different from the other sections.
    • Sometimes a bridge is followed by a shorter chorus, depending on the length of the bridge. Be aware that bridges can also refer to the transitions between verse and chorus, as this is a common usage of bridges.
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    Look for the hook. The hook is that elusive part of a great song that captures your very soul and makes you want to listen to that song over and over. Hooks are frequently found in the chorus and often become the title of the song. Sadly, there is no recipe for hooks, but you'll know when you have one. Better yet, your friends will tell you, because it is the part of a song they can not seem to get out of their head. Here are a few examples:
    • "Here's my number, call me maybe." If you've heard Carly Rae Jepsen's hit even once, that will be burned into your synapses forever.
    • "Oppa Gangnam Style". PSY's surprise YouTube hit has a hook that, like "Call Me Maybe," has spawned millions of views and almost as many parodies—the sign of a truly infectious hook.
    • In Tommy Tutone's song "Jenny/8675309", the hook lyrics may be the numbers 8-6-7-5-3-0-9.
    • In the Beatles' song "Hey Jude" the hook may be the ending part, Naaa, naa naa, nana naa naaaaaa, nana naa naaaaaaa, hey Jude that repeats and repeats as it bores its way into your brain.
    • Good hooks let people remember your tune from your lyrics, even if they do not coincide. Many people can remember the riff from 'Smoke on the Water' from hearing the title.    
    • Great thanks to wilkihow for the photos and other writers for their words.

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