Songwriting Tips

They can make you smile when you're low or make you sob like a baby. They can make you laugh till your tummy hurts or make your hair stand on end. They're songs. But not every song that you hear will touch your heart. Some have amazingly soulful lyrics and some are so obnoxious that you wish you were deaf, at least temporarily. What goes into writing a good song? The perfect recipe for a good song is perfect music and perfect lyrics (like you didn't see that coming!) But not everyone has the ability to write beautiful songs. So, if you think you're one of those who can write beautifully but can't seem to be able to write a good song, just use the tips given below. They may help you to write better songs.

Tips for Songwriting

There's no such thing as songwriting for dummies. Because when it comes to songwriting techniques, everyone is a dummy at some level. Someone may be a good writer but may not be a good lyricist (yes, there's a difference). Some may be able to write good lyrics, but not be able to mesh it with the right musical composition. Such combinations can prove to be disastrous and the resulting song, if you can call it that, will be extremely mediocre. So, here are some tips for beginners.

Select a Theme
This is the first and the most basic tips that anyone will give you. It's actually just common sense. If you don't know what you're going to write about, how will you write it? And when it comes to themes, there is a wide variety of choices. Select an emotion that you identify with the most and use your creativity to convey that emotion in meaningful lyrics. Stress on meaningful. There's no use of stringing a hundred words if they are completely baseless and don't mean a thing. If you can't think of a theme, here are some: love songs are always a hit, apart from that, sad songs or songs about compassion, peace, anger, disappointment, frustration, anger and so many different themes can be written.

Use your Inspiration
Songwriting for beginners can get difficult at times. Getting inspiration to write a song is a much-needed songwriting help. Find out what inspires you. What inspires you to do something good. What inspires you to stand up and fight. What inspires you to keep on trying, no matter what. What inspires you to help someone in need. I'm sure there are different things that inspire these different actions. They could be people, incidents of the past, current life situations or anything at all. What you need to identify is what is the source of the inspiration and how to tap this inspiration into a great song that is well worded.

Know your Audience
Another very important songwriting tip is to know what kind of audience you're writing the song for. It's easier said than done. For instance, you want to write about a funny incident that happened two days ago. Once you start writing, you get into the flow and end up writing a long song. Once you're done, the final draft makes perfect sense to you because you were there when the incident happened, but it may be lost on your audience. In addition, the type of words and phrases you should be using should match the intellectual and comprehension capability of the audience. If you've to write a children's song, you most certainly won't use words that are not easily understood by them. They'll spend half the time with a dictionary and are most likely to miss the rest of the song!

Establish a Mood
A mood for a song influences its lyrics, tempo and eventually the response generated by the audience. You need to write lyrics according to a specific mood. So, pick a mood that you want to explore in the song and stick to it. If you're going with soft romantic, don't suddenly use offensive or demeaning lyrics in the middle, even just for the chorus! Just focus on one mood and write a song in it. In rare cases, a contrast may work. But even then, it's only a contrast of music and tempo that will do the trick. A glaring contradiction in the mood of the lyrics will spell nothing but disaster for the song.

Idea Book
This is probably the best of the songwriting tips ever. Ideas for songs and lyrics don't exactly inform you before their arrival. You can have a stroke of genius at any place, at any time. And it's super frustrating when you don't have something to jot the idea down. To avoid the wastage of such brilliant ideas, carry around a book in which you can write them down. If you think a book is to old fashioned (I have no idea why you would), I'm sure you carry a cell phone around. Just type out whatever idea hits you. You can improvise at your own leisure!

These were just a few basics. You may or may not agree with them, but you can definitely refer to them before writing or if you're experiencing the much dreaded writer's block. I'm not saying the block will disappear, but you never know, you may just get some other fabulous idea to write a beautiful song!