Most people think that you need to be born with tons of talent to learn how to write your own songs, but that’s a total myth!
Writing songs is a skill that can be LEARNED – just like any other musical skill (with the exception, perhaps, of perfect pitch, and even that can be learned).
A couple of things you should do right away are:
Learn as much as you can about your main compositional instrument.
If you intend to compose your songs with a guitar, learn to play it well. Knowing how to use your instrument will greatly increase your ability to express yourself.
It’s not really vital that you learn to play super technically, but at least it covers enough ground that you can draw on your musical vocabulary to “say” what’s on your mind. This includes learning as many chords as you can, improving your listening skills, working on your sense of time and rhythm, and some scales to help you improvise. It’s good to become familiar with many different styles of music, even if you only plan to write in one particular style. It’s crazy how much an unexpected chord you learned by playing jazz tunes, for example, can add to one of your compositions.
It definitely won’t kill you to sit down with some music theory and chord books, but the best thing you can do is just copy and play your favorite artist’s songs. That way you’re learning while having fun and it doesn’t seem like a lot of homework or “practice”.
Likewise, if you want to write your own songs using the piano, you need to get a little proficient with the piano or you’ll be stuck with only a few ways to express your musical thoughts. Learning at least the basics of SOME kind of chord-based instrument (piano, guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, etc.) is really important because you won’t be able to hear the harmonies if you’re just working on melody or bass. . Why is that important? Because when you choose the perfect chords for your song, the music itself WILL INSPIRE you. Trust me, great music feeds on itself and you need to see the “big picture,” so to speak, to get the most out of your songwriting efforts.
Study your favorite composers
Like I said before, you can learn a lot just by emulating your favorite singers and songwriters.
Learn to play their songs and analyze the content. What do they do with their voices when they sing? What are they doing on their instruments?
Study these nuances and apply them to your songs. It’s okay to copy them. I think it was Louis Armstrong, one of the greatest musicians of all time, who said that there is no such thing as a copy, only a loan. Or it could have been BB King. It doesn’t matter, even if all you wanted to do was sound exactly like your favorite music artist, you’d never fully achieve it because it’s YOU and the better you are at music, the more your personality will come through. whether you like it or not!
Over time, your songwriting will evolve beyond imitation and become your own sound, and instead of directly copying it, you’ll seek out snippets from various musicians to incorporate into your style in a unique way that is yours and yours alone.
Get a little help from technology
Technology and the Internet make it easy to quickly access world-class education in almost any subject, including songwriting. A good songwriting course or some well-designed software can teach you a lot of what you need to know about composing your own music without ever leaving your home.
Some things to look for in songwriting software include:
- Teaches how to sing in harmony.
- It has a recording function (SUPER important!)
- Teaches the basics of music reading and key signatures (fundamental music theory)
You see, being a songwriter means you have to have good musicianship, and your songwriting software needs to teach you at least the basics of musical language PLUS any specific songwriting techniques. The best analogy I can think of is basketball. Michael Jordan was an incredibly talented basketball player, but even before his basketball skills, he was an incredible athlete. In fact, he probably knows that he played baseball and golf very well. He had a solid foundation, which is what music theory gives a musician.
Keep practicing and being passionate, and eventually your emotions and personality will start to come out in your compositions in a way that makes other people actually FEEL something. That’s all it is!