How to Write a Song

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him."
-Psalm 40


I started writing songs and music when I was 14. I believe it is a gift. I started out writing goofy songs, then God moved my heart and I began to write music for Him and the things I had experienced in life. Writing music has been a theraputic thing for me in understanding heart ache. I'm glad God inspires it because other words without Him in my music it would be whiney and depressing...like a country song. Jesus is everything in my music he gives it all to me. I'm very thankful for this gift.
Many of you have probably wanted to write a song but were not sure where to begin, or what song structure looks like. Recently, in my communication class I had to give a demonstration speech, and I chose to speak about writing a song, then I figured since my website is called the music corner, and I have all this knowledge I'd let you in on it too.
There are many ways to write a song, I consider song writing an art; you find what works for you and express it in your own way. But here is how a song comes about for me, and really I hope you are not dissappointed because it's not like God raptures me to Heaven then drops me back on Earth with a song, though it does feel that way sometimes.
There have been many nights where I am so desperate to hear from Jesus because I have felt so low. Most of the time God wakes me up or sends me to bed with an idea then wakes me up. It's a testing thing I've come to learn; whether I will get up or not. I've also learned to keep paper and pens at my bedside. The longest a song has ever taken me to write has been an hour. It's hop skippady jump when God is in it. He sings over me when He gives me a song, just like the verse I have here on the main page, "By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me..." I love to sing back to Him the love He sings over me.
Every song starts with a thought. What do you want to write about? What is an emotion or thought you want to convey? What inspires you? What do you enjoy in life? What makes you feel like you could randomly bust out into song about? Things that inspire me are: Creation- the ocean, the beach, sunsets, sunrises etc.
As far as structure goes, I always start with a title then you write your first verse, then your chorus. The chorus is going to be the main idea of the entire song, this is what will be sung the most in your song, and you may consider integrading the title of your song within the lyric of the chorus. You want to stay to a minimum of 3 verses other wise your song is going to get very long and you will loose your audience unless you're awesome like Lynard Skynard or any of the greats like that and can write a song like Free Bird with awesome guitar solos and riffs. There is a part of the song called the bridge, you can normally identify the bridge by a key change, this normally ties the song up but it's not a requirement. Bridges are really huge in country songs because that's when the man or woman either get killed or come back.

Once you have your lyrics down it's time to put some music to it. Be sure that you stay in one key, it's okay to change keys but keep the chords in their families. For example: in the key of G you want to stick with these chords, G, C, D, Em. The key you write in determines a lot in how the song is perceived. Writing in a major key will depict normallacy, and happy, where as if you write in a minor key it will depict sadness...it's kinda mellow. Country songs are written in minor keys a lot of times, for example Brad Paisleys "Whisky Lullaby" if you write about people killing themselves it's not going to be in a major key, it's not a normal or happy event....just saying.
Finally comes the time to put it on the staff! Normally I sit at a piano and do this part. It's very time consuming if you're not a well developed piano player...I'm trying to be. This is where people can know the melody of your song and can figure out how it goes. You can also buy software such as Finale Notepad which I use sometimes. I prefer sitting at a piano and making music with my fingers live! I hope this has encouraged you in wanting to write your own song, or getting an idea of what the song writing process looks like. Who knows you might be the next huge song writer in Nashville!