Song writing tips: Writing a good Chorus

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A lot of songwriters argue that the chorus is the most important part of a song, well they are right in one side which is that the chorus is a very important and fundamental part in your song, but as i told you before you should take care of all of your song parts equally and use the right songwriting techniques to produce a hit song!!!

As we cleared in the "song components" lesson, the chorus is the part that comes directly after the verse, it's the part where you are going to be using a higher energy level. The energy level is built gradually until it reaches the end of the chorus. With the chorus i advice you to use as many songwriting ideas as you can, because it's a very recognizable part even by non songwriters.

Let's analyze the chorus to see how we can construct it:

- The first part of the chorus should be an extension of the verse in an energy perspective.

- When you reach the half of your chorus, you should put an intense increase in energy and musical loudness if you can, and that will continue to the very end of the chorus.

- The end of the chorus represents a decrease in energy level to be able to connect to the 2nd verse.

Like the verse, the chorus could be 4, 6, 8, 12, 16 bars long according to your song theme and composition.

Song writing tips: Writing a good verse

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As we mentioned in the lesson "song components", the verse is the part of the song that comes after the intro and before the 1st chorus. This part is where the vocals start, that's why it's a very important part, today we're going to learn the right songwriting techniques to write a wonderful Verse.

We've said in the "take care of your intro" lesson that the intro mint to grab listeners attention and sets the mood for them, so by the end of the intro you should already have your listener's attention.

The verse works the same way, you have to keep your audience's expectations on, so they always expect more and better. If you can do that, your verse will be great as well as your song.

The other aspect, is that the verse has an increased energy level comparing to the intro, so you have to build your verse along with your energy increase, until it reaches the chorus. The beginning of the verse represents it's lowest energy level, and the end of it represents the highest. So try to begin with low energy and by the middle of the verse you should increase loudness in your instruments as well as your vocals until the end of it.

The length of the verse usually is 8 bars, but you could find some that are 4, 12 or even 16 bars. You should choose a verse length according to your lyrics and song theme.

Usually most songs have 2 verses, whether there are ones that have 3 and require a bridge to connect the 2nd chorus and the 3rd verse. You can choose between maintaining the same energy level between verses or an increased one gradually from the 1st verse to the last.

Take care of your Intro

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As part of the songwriting techniques used in songwriting, the INTRO has a special place because it's the one that introduces the song, so if you can't have your audience's attention by the end of the intro, you'll never have it.

The intro is the first part of any song, it is so important because it sets the mood for the listener. When you hear an intro you'll make expectations, after that, everything will be based on those expectations. The intro gives us a clear picture about the song theme and composition, it also introduces all the other parts of the song, so it's good to have a good rhythm and harmony in it.

Intro used to be very long, but in modern music it's very short, because of this, you have to make it unique, catchy and has a very good melody, so try to come up with many songwriting ideas to form a good intro.

Usually the vocals start by the end of the intro and the beginning of the 1st verse, so try to make a good impression about your song.

From an energy perspective, the intro whether will have a constant energy or a built energy (increase in energy to connect to the verse). Sometimes the intro is used as a connection between the 1st chorus and the 2nd verse, that gives a special feeling and a well balanced energy.

The general rule suggests that an intro represents half as long as the verse, so if you have a verse of 4 bars the intro will be 2 bars...etc.

How to use the right songwriting techniques effectively

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Imagine that you spend a lot of time searching for effective songwriting techniques and you end up finding meaningless content online, this way you will lose so much time and effort and you'll end up giving up. The general rule suggests that you have to apply everything you've learned before ending up fueling the tank "memory" with everything you get your hands on.

The most important thing in songwriting is to be able to use the right songwriting techniques effectively, that will save you a lot of time and effort. In order to do this you have to follow these easy song writing tips:

1- Application is the key: try to apply the songwriting ideas you've thought of before they go away, this means that you have to test them and what they can offer you as well as your songs.

2- Learn the basic techniques first: This is very important!!! try to learn the fundamentals first, so you could have results very easily and with no time, if you start with complicated stuff, they will ruin you life and you will find yourself in a place where you can't apply anything you've learned.

3- Be yourself: Try to come up with your own songwriting ideas, your musical style as well as your purpose behind your songs, and don't just copy other's ideas.

4- Tie it to a goal: You should have goals in your songwriting career, so make a goal and tie it to a deadline, but in the same time don't push yourself too hard.

Keep expanding your chord vocabulary: Added Chords

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The only reason behind learning more chords or at least how to construct them, is not exhausting your brain or something, the only reason behind this it to give your songs many beautiful colors and provide you with more choices and songwriting ideas, so it's like painting, the more colors the more attraction, but be careful, as not all the colors could be put together, the same thing applies to notes, so make sure to follow the right songwriting techniques when using them!!!

The chords that we'll be learning today are called "add chords", these chords are used a lot in songs, because they provide a more colorful sound. From their name, we can see that these chords have one more note than the normal chord (major or minor).

Most people get confused of the difference between "sus" and "add" chords, so follow with me carefully. A sus chord requires the removal of the 3rd note of the chord and replace it with other note, in the case sus2, it's the 2nd note of the scale. Add chords keep the chord the same with the 1st, 3rd, the 5th and adds an additional note to it, in the case of add2, it's the 2nd note or interval of the scale.

Csus2: 1st, 2nd, 5th ===> C - D - G
Cadd2: 1st, 2nd, major 3rd, 5th ===> C - D - E - G.

While you can add more notes to your triad, the most common add chords are the ones with one added note.

Mistakes you should avoid when writing songs

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An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field. Niels Bohr (1885 - 1962). While this is absolutely true, mistakes are the only way of making progress, but i'm going to show you how to avoid things that will slow down your progress, but it's OK if you make mistakes, because if i have not committed a lot of mistakes, i could have never done anything, and i'm sure it's the right case for you.

Here are the most common mistakes people do when songwriting:

1- Lack of organization: organization is the key to every success including songwriting. It's true that songwriting ideas come and go accidentally and instantly but you have to organize your learning and practicing time.

2- Lack of methodology: this is may be the most crucial element of songwriting, if you don't follow a songwriting method, you'll end up swimming in a sea of ideas without even having a song, so make sure you follow my songwriting methodology or try to figure out what works for you.

3- Pushing too hard: some times people push themselves too hard until exploding. From my experience i noticed that the time i'm exhausted my productivity goes down, so give your self a break when you run out of songwriting ideas and return other time to finish your task.

4- Learning too much and applying nothing: This is very important, because you need to apply the songwriting techniques you've learned and not just keep learning because it will handicap you from producing amazing songs with the knowledge and ideas you've acquired.

These are the most common mistakes people fall into, just make sure you follow my song writing tips and i assure you that you'll end up writing great songs in a very short period.

Do you really need to know how to play an instrument?

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This question is very controversial, some people emphasize that you need to know how to play an instrument in order to compose music or write songs, others think that you don't need that, the only thing you need is some songwriting techniques and ideas + a good music writing software that you can mix all together to produce a song.

Well, the 2 sides have a point, but let me explain to you a little. It's true that you don't need to know how to play guitar or keyboard to compose music, because these instruments are just an application of the music theory you've learned, you can use a songwriting software to compose you music, but...!

While this is true, i totally encourage you to learn at least one musical instrument, because this is what music is all about, music is meant to be heard and played, the other thing is that it will take you forever to learn music theory without an instrument. The instrument will give you lot of shortcuts and make your learning very fast.

So take my advice and start learning a musical instrument, but it's OK if you don't have one, because you just need a songwriting software or even a paper sheet to write down your songwriting ideas.