song writing

some advice of song writing plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

ok, here goes...

1) Have an intro that pulls the listener into the song. Could be a guitar riff, or a vocal hook.

2) Reach the 1st chorus before the one minute mark (listen to your fav songs and see how many times the chorus is played before 60secs - obviously there are many exceptions to this rule), but it does help to move the song along quickly, to prevent boredom for the listener.

3) Have a reccuring theme in the song, this makes the song coherent. Without it, your listener could get bored. Its like reading a story, full of characters, but each one only appears once. Don't overuse the theme though - or the song'll get repetative.

4) Have a section in a different key, to contrast from the rest of the song. This could be a instrumental section. To change keys, you could use the relative minor/major. When going back to the original key, use a turnaround chord (V7 of the original key). You could also change the tempo and/or time signature.

5) If you have a solo, you could consider playing the solo over the verse chords, and then continue over the chorus chords. For example, "Them Bones" by Alice In Chains.

5) Consider transposing the last chorus up a tone. Personally I hate doing this, cos I think it sounds really cheesy, and Britney and Mariah, etc do it all the time. Does help to add a climax to the to song though.

6) If you want the song to sound finished, at the go from the V chord to the I chord. In Dmaj this would be Amaj --> Dmaj. If you dont want the song to sound finished, and put a lot of suspense in your song, then go from the V chord to any chord except I.

Hope this helps.

For my A Level Music Composition last year, I had an intro, verse, pre chorus, chorus, verse, pre chorus, chorus x2, bridge, solo (over verse chords), solo (over chorus chords), and then a final verse. The song clocked in at around 4 minutes long, which was good because it fitted the criteria of being a "popular song".

There's nothing to stop you doing a massive proggy composition if you wanted to though. Just think about what kinda song it's gonna be, and compare it to other songs like that.

i guess it will help a lot

i tend to think making up a new riff can just keep you going,
eric clapton of cream said that that the bassist just came up with the riff to sunshine of your life, then eric played it on his guitar, it sounded good, then they went off to make a good song............

so ya, make a good riff to encourage you to finish a song?
thats how it works for me even though im not that good.....

Are you playing in a band or just all by your onesome?

If you're playing solo, are you singing or just playing? These things are important you know :P!

Obviously if you're singing you could just have a chord progression going and then maybe a guitar solo but if you're just playing that would be way to boring.