Any musician has tried to write a song. Even non musicians. And sometimes just getting started with a song is quite possibly the hardest part yet. As a musician myself and someone who's written over 40 songs in a span of 10 years, I can tell you songwriting is a skill that develops over time. But to quicken that development I've come up with a little step by step guide to get you through the worst parts.

This step is by far the most simplest, yet it's also overlooked by a lot of singer-songwriters. People think they can just pull a topic out of thin air and expect a hit single to come out of it. Take a look at Taylor Swift! She's one of the most iconic songwriters in the industry. Why? Because she writes about real things that happen in her life. Many people loathe that specific quality about her but they don't realize that that is what makes her money. Her easy to relate to songs about her love and family life is what makes her songs so beautiful and sometimes spiteful. But hey, they're just jealous because they can't channel their inner crazy girl into a pop single.

Things to write about:

- Your ex
- Your boyfriend/girlfriend
- Your best friend
- Your ex best friend
- Your parents
- Your pet
- How beautiful the sunset was on your drive home the other day
- Issues with the world/society
- Yourself!

Your song should always be about you and how you feel, even if it doesn't mention either of those things. As long as it's written by you it has you in it.

Step 2: Just write!

Go crazy! Write down your inner thoughts. Don't worry about structure or rhyming. If something just so happens to rhyme, awesome! Keep it! If it doesn't, cool! Keep it! Everything that comes from your heart to your brain to the pen in your hand is worth having in the song. If you don't like that one sentence, scrap it! Or just rephrase it. Never throw away an entire phrase or verse just because you don't like it. It could be useful in another way in a different part of the song. Or for another song!

Step 2: How will you structure it?

A standard song is structured this way:

Verse 1 --> Pre-Chorus (optional)--> Chorus --> Verse 2 --> Pre-chorus --> Chorus --> Bridge --> Chorus (sometimes repeated)

Your chorus needs to be the catchiest and most influential. It needs to have a melody that you'd never get sick of, especially if you'll be repeating it 900 times.

Your verses, in most cases you'll have more than one, need to mirror each other in terms of melody and rhythm. That's also optional, but most standard songs the verses will rhythmically and melodically sound the same. They contain lyrics that progress the story or the emotions that you're writing.

Your pre-chorus, which is optional, is kind of like a filler between the verse and the chorus. It builds up to the chorus and creates a seamless transition so it's not sudden. A perfect example of a small yet effective pre chorus is in Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood".

Here I have two verses. Both of which take place right before the chorus but they have a small break from the verses' melody, and the bolded parts are what we call pre choruses:

Did you have to do this
I was thinking that you could be trusted
Did you have to ruin what was shining now it's all rusted
Did you have to hit me where I'm weak baby I couldn't breathe
I rubbed it in so deep
Salt in the wound like you're laughing right at me
Oh, it's so sad to think about the good times
You and I

Did you think we'd be fine
Still got scars on my back from your knife
So don't think it's in the past
These kind of wounds they last and they last
Now did you think it all through
All these things will catch up to you
And time can heal but this won't
So if you come in my way, just don't
Oh, it's so sad to think about the good times
You and I

Your pre-chorus doesn't always have to be the same words, but if it doesn't it's usually just a part of the verse. It kind of gets complicated. Basically if the melody is contrasting to the verse, it's a pre-chorus.

Your bridge has to be kind of like your final thoughts or a concluding statement. It has to be a contrasting mood or melody to the rest of the song. It can be incredibly intense or a complete drawback and become soft and reserved. We'll use Taylor's "Bad Blood" as an example again:

Band-aids don't fix bullet holes
You say sorry just for show
You live like that, you live with ghosts
Band-aids don't fix bullet holes
You say sorry just for show
You live like that, you live with ghosts
If you love like that blood runs cold

If you've listened to the song it's much softer, she drops the beat and just uses a simple chord progression. This is a standard Taylor Swift song structure.

Here are some other structures that I've used before.

Verse 1 --> Verse 2 --> Chorus --> Bridge --> Chorus

Chorus --> Verse 1 --> Verse 2 --> Chorus --> Bridge --> Chorus

Verse 1 --> Chorus --> Bridge --> Verse 2

It's all on how it flows. It needs to tell a story and it's all about how you want it to sound. So....

Step 3: What is it going to sound like?

This is mainly to the musicians out there. If you play guitar or piano or something, you need to have some catchy chord progression. Sometimes you can start off with something simple like C Am F G, but that's boring. It's your song, though. You can make it anything you want.

If you can't play an instrument try to start with creating a catchy melody for the chorus etc and get a musically inclined friend to help you with the rest. I have a good friend who can only sing and has very minimal knowledge on instrumentation so usually she'll send me the lyrics and a melody and I'll fix it up so it has some sort of chordal foundation.

That's usually what most artists do today. They co-write their songs with other musicians. Try that!

Step 4: Put it all together!

You have your verses, your chorus, your bridge etc. Now it's time to really put it together. Keep singing it and restructuring it until it sounds right to you. And then you have a song!

Now you have a song. Or not... Honestly, the hardest part is always the words; at least for me.

A simple trick that I recommend to you is going out and to buy yourself a nice journal or notebook and write all your thoughts in there. Most of the time catchy lines and lyrics come to me in the middle of the day when I'm either in class or at work and 99% of the time I can't pull my phone out to write a song. But you can pull a notebook out and scribble in it. But that's up to you!

There you have it. How to write a song! If you ever need any help my email is always open:

mck.gallinari@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!