Songwriting Techniques | Melody, Hit Songs

Here are a few songwriting techniques that can help you avoid the chorus and verse from sounding too similar.

Different Chord Progression

One way to give a sense of distinction between your verse and chorus is to use different chord progressions for each. For example, you can use a I – IV – V chord progression for your verse and a I – V – vi – IV. So if we were playing in the key of D Major the verse would be D – G – A and the chorus would use the chords D – A – Bm – G.

Another way of making a bigger distinction is to start one of the sections with a chord that isn’t the tonic chord. The tonic chord is the chord that uses the letter of the specific key being used. For example, we were using D Major in the example above, so the tonic chord for D Major would be ‘D’. Notice how the chord progressions I used for the verse and chorus was ‘D’. So if I wanted to make a bigger distinction, I would change the first chord of either the verse or chorus. I’m going to change the chorus from D – A – Bm – G to G – D – A. So I changed the starting chord from ‘D’ to ‘G’.

Key Change

Another technique to giving your verse and chorus a sense of uniqueness is to have a key change. One example of key change is ‘Play That Funky Music’ by Wild Cherry. The song starts off in the key of E, then changes to the key of G in the chorus. Another example of a popular song currently playing on the radio is ‘Paparazzi’ by Lady Gaga. This song starts in the key of C minor which is the relative key of Eb Major (Relative keys are like fraternal twins). The chorus jumps the key to Ab Major. Listen to these examples and listen to how it allows the chorus to pop out.

How do you make key changes work? For a smoother transition, you want to use two different keys that share similar chords. For example, the song ‘Paparazzi’ changed from C minor the Ab Major. Do these two keys share similar chords? Yes! They share Ab, Eb, Cm, and Fm.

Then how does ‘Play That Funky Music’ work since they don’t share similar chords. In order for key changes to work, you don’t have to have sharing chords, but the song ‘Play That Funky Music’ isn’t playing in the traditional major or minor, but they are playing on a blues scale. So on the blues scale, the key of E actually plays the ‘G’ note which is the root note of the key that they change into. So they share that commonality.

Different Living Space on the Musical Scale

If your song generally stays in the same general area of the scale, the song can start to sound the same throughout. But if your chorus uses notes outside of the notes used in the verse, it can breathe life into your song. An example is Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Since You Been Gone’. The verses stay in a lower register, then the chorus blows listeners’ ears off by have a melody in a higher register.

No matter if you are a singer songwriter, or a composer, or simply a writer, the songwriting process can cause a problem, no matter how many music lessons you took and if you have a perfect grasp of instrument techniques. This article will give you an insight into the secrets of songwriting techniques that will help you write hit song after hit song.

There are many great songs out there, and most likely you have a favorite song. When you write your own songs, you don’t usually do it to win a songwriting competition, you write it because it touches you, and as many artists you want to share your feelings with the world. Now here are some tips and tricks that will give you some ideas on writing songs.

The song writing process is easy. You need a verse or two, a chorus, a bridge and a nice melody. However, no matter if you write country, rock or pop music, you want to deliver your audience a good song. Each new song itself is a quest, and while there are many melodies out there, not all of them are honored with music awards.

So, how can you write a hit song? There are many songwriting tips, but we’ll stick to the basics.

First things first, the title of the song! This should be included into the main lyric of the chorus also – it will give it that catchy feel to it. Think of something that moves you or something that you want to express. You can draw inspiration from everything, from day to day situations, to pieces of art, to chemical elements. Once you have those words in your head, play with them until you come up with some good lyrics. Once you have those, it’s time to work on the melody itself.

Don’t use a complex chord pattern – you can repeat the same simple one all throughout your song with variations on the chorus, verses and bridge. Listen to some new rock songs played on guitar. For example the acoustic version of Chris Cornell’s Scream. You have the same progression all throughout the song – he uses different strumming patterns for the chorus and palm mutes a bit the bridge, and that’s the whole song! You don’t need to learn a lot of songwriting methods and know all the possible chord variations. His whole album is like this: same chords all throughout the song for each song!

The music business is looking for simplicity today – a clear message that let people know what the song is all about. Today’s songwriting techniques are much simpler than the ones used a couple of years back – with three cords and some cool beats you have a great song!

Today’s singer songwriters with a successful career only need a guitar, a recording studio, some songwriting software and they deliver the ultimate record in no time. You don’t need a lot of tools to be a hit songwriter. You just need to tell a story trough your lyrics – and lyric writing is easy once you get the hang of it, as is song writing.

As a beginning songwriter, you have an almost limitless set of creative choices before you. However, you may find yourself facing “writer’s block” for the exact same reason: too many options.

In order to overcome this, what you actually need to do is impose some limits. You need to set a very clear goal about the type of song you want write and commit to learning and following the basic rules of songwriting.

In other words, you’ll want to choose a “form” or structure for your first song, and stick within the rules implied by that form. A good way to practice is by choosing a song you already love and seeing if you can rewrite the lyrics to express the same ideas in the same format.

For example, maybe you’ve always liked the U2 song “With or Without You”? Let’s look at the first few lines:

See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I wait…for you.

It would be pretty easy for you to re-write this, while still keeping most of the original meaning. For example, you could rephrase it like so:

There is nothing in your eyes
Just the pain that waits beside
You know…it’s true

Even if your re-written version is nowhere near as good as the original, that is not the point. The point of the exercise is to get used to expressing your thoughts and feelings within the confines of a set rhyme scheme and verse length.

If you find it too challenging at first to do this with “meaningful-sounding” subject matter, that’s ok. Instead, try re-writing the song from a comical perspective:

See the hunger in my eyes
See me try to steal some pies
I need…some food.

You can amuse yourself for hours doing this, and you will begin to pick up on the “feel” and “flow” of the lyrical form much more quickly because you are having fun. Give this simple exercise a try right now, and see where it takes you. I believe you’ll find yourself writing up a storm before you know it, and your lyrics will improve by leaps and bounds!

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