Songwriting 101:

Building Blocks!

In this lesson, we will start by having a look at the basic elements of a song,
and then use these concepts to create your own song!

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1. Rhythm / Tempo

2. Chord Progression

3. Song Structure

4. Melody

1. Rhythm/Tempo

Guide Track
Whilst there are countless ways to start writing a song, one of the best methods is to start with a guide track.

Today, we are going to use a drumbeat as the guide track and build your song ontop of that. 

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Choose your favorite drumbeat and tempo from the examples below.

2. Chord Progression

Next, we need to decide on a chord progression. Feel free to get creative here, but for our example, we are going to keep it simple.

If you need help coming up with a nice sounding progression, here is the list of common progressions from last week's lesson.

Chords in C Major

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C    Dm   Em    F    G   Am   Bdim   C

     1     2     3    4    5    6      7     8   

 I     ii    iii   IV   V    vi     vii    I

1.    I    V     vi    IV   

2.   I    IV    vi    V    

3.   I    IV    V  

4.   ii   V      I  

5.   I    vi    IV    V

6.   I    IV    ii     V

7.   I    iii    IV    V

8.   I    IV    I      V

3. Song Structure

Now that you have your chord progression down. Let's make another one for the chorus and then write out a simple song chart.

Example Song Chart

Verse

| I             | V           | vi            | IV           |  x4

Chorus

| V            | V           | vi            | IV           |  x4

4. Melody

Last but not least is the song melody! To make this we are going to use notes from the C Major scale. This is where we get really creative and almost anything goes. But if you want to hook someone with your songs melody, then keeping it repetitive and simple is your best bet.

Tip: Try a higher starting note for your chorus melody so it sounds BIG!

Good luck mate, hope it goes well on Friday!