I’ve had quite a few questions recently from people wanting to know how to go about creating a song, from writing the lyrics to producing the music. It seems that many people feel they are being led to worship in a much more personal, and meaningful way. However, some people have little, or no experience and don’t know where, or how, to start.
With this in mind, I’ve decided to put down some guidance here, starting with the very basics, and moving on from there to cover more detailed information to enable and encourage readers. As producing a song is quite wide ranging, and covers more than one discipline, I will make it a series.
Where to Start
Writing Lyrics
For someone with no experience, it’s certainly easier to start with lyrics. Everyone can write, right? But not everyone can play. Plus, writing the music first, can sometimes restrict what you can do lyrically, later on.
So, the first step is choosing something to write about. The best songs are the ones that are heartfelt, so choose a subject that is close to your own heart, then write down what you feel about the subject. At this point, don’t worry about rhyming, rhythms and structure, that all comes later. Just simply write normally, how you feel and what you think about it, in ordinary phrases, sentences and paragraphs. And don’t worry about grammar! This is not an essay, and it doesn’t matter if it makes no sense as a whole, or if you just write small 3 word nuggets. It’s almost a stream of consciousness thing, (in fact it probably is exactly that) – you are putting your thoughts and feelings into words. Write at least 8 lines/phrases/nuggets, more if you want to.
Now, before we do anything further, we’ll look a bit more at rhyming, rhythms and structure, as that’s going to start to come into play now.
If you listen to any pop/folk music, or hymns from the last 300 years, you may have noticed that generally they all have a similar structure. At the very least, they will have verses, and a chorus. The most common pattern would go: intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, sometimes a bridge, another verse, chorus and maybe an ending. The verses will often be 4 or more lines, where every second line rhymes, and the chorus will rhyme too, so that needs to be at least 2 lines long. In fact, each chorus is usually identical. Have a listen to some of your favourite songs and see how they are structured. Notice that the chorus normally outlines the main theme of the song, and each verse carries a related thought or idea that then leads into the theme/chorus.
Further to that, each section (verse/chorus/bridge), often has more sub-structures within it, which are dictated by the rhythm and rhyming.
Now the chorus, being the main theme, is usually the easiest place to start.
Now back to YOUR words.
Look at them again, and see which phrases work out nicely as summaries of the theme of your subject. Do any of them rhyme? Can you make them rhyme? If not, can you come up with a matching line or phrase to go with it, that sounds similar? If not, you can always repeat the phrase and then it will definitely rhyme! For more ideas, listen to your favourite songs and artists, and hear how those choruses are put together.
Once you have your chorus, it’s time to start on your verses. The vast majority of songs have 3 verses, occasionally 2, sometimes more. They are usually the same number of lines long, and have the same cadence/rhythms as one another, and the lines rhyme. Look back at the phrases you wrote earlier. Could any of these work in a verse? Try writing down more about what you have to say, and using the same technique described for writing the chorus, to find new lines for your verses.
Regarding rhythm, a handy way to make words fit into place better, is to count syllables. If line 1 has 8 syllables, and line 2 has 7, you could look at swapping a word here or there, so both lines had 7 syllables, or both had 8. If that feels too rigid, leave them and write line 3 with 8 syllables, and line 4 with 7. That will work just as well. Read it through a few times and listen to how the words flow.
Rhyming in a verse can be done in a number of ways. You can make the first 2 lines rhyme with each other, and then the next 2. Or you can make alternate lines rhyme, such as line 1 with 3, and line 2 with 4. If finding rhymes is difficult, try using a rhyming dictionary for help.
RULES: There aren’t any really – just guide lines.
Words don’t have to rhyme, and often, similar sounding words can work just fine. The word “orange” is famous in the English language for having no rhyme, but I think it would work quite well with “hinge”, for example. Or take the word “for”, with “fall”, where the vowel sounds are very close, they would work as a rhyme at a pinch.
Syllable counting, while useful, is (again) just a guide line. Some syllables will sound perfectly fine sung over more than one beat, or the reverse, where some words will naturally flow more quickly. Take this example:
All things bright and beautiful, (7 syllables)
All creatures great and small_____, (6 syllables)
… (beats are in red)
Here the word “beautiful”, has 3 syllables, but is sung over 2 beats – “beau” being one, and “ti” quickly running straight into “ful”, the following beat. The phrasing is “beau” + “ti-ful”, (like tum-te-tum). Also, “small” is sung, and held, over for a longer amount of time, so it covers more than 1 beat.
Something else you may notice when you sing it, (I’m talking about the most common tune, as below), is that the music doesn’t emphasise the first word of the 2nd line. The beat falls on the red words/syllables. You can often get away with conjunctions (small words like and/or etc.), at the start of lines like this, or even miss them out all together, for example, the first line naturally includes all creatures.
All these are examples of little twists and tricks that lyricists use, to manipulate the words of a song, so that they will fit nicely over a musical rhythm, and sound good.
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