How many ways can you make a song?

Song making is a skill that musicians must have to call themselves musicians. A song may contain your feelings, ideals, principles on life or you just wanna say something. A song is an instrument for manipulating emotions of people. The power and grace that comes with a song can move a whole nation or just cheer a lonely soul. Music can uplift a weary spirit. Soft music played in the corridors, like painting walls pink, has been shown to mellow even hardened criminals in prison, but after some duration the incarcerated can become more aggressive than before. Music can strengthen faith or destroy it.

So how many ways can you make a song?

1.    You start with the melody first. Like I do, I start with a melody for the song. It’s either with a guitar, keys or just plain whistling it. With this, you plot the empty and vacant syllables for your kick ass lyrics to occupy. If you like your song to be uplifting and charged up, make it fast paced. If you like it to be subtle, romantic or just plain sad, slow down cowboy. After blueprinting a bullet proof melody for your song, then you start making the lyrics. This is the part where you convey your emotions and lay them out to your melody. You may encounter difficulty in placing those words on the melody because of the timing and number of syllables. Don’t fret. Just try to find cool synonyms for words that are too long or too short.

2.    You start with the lyrics. In vice verse from the first one, you start making your song by starting on the lyrics first. You tend to focus on meaning and the story behind the song you are going to make. You think of the possible things to make the lyrics interesting first and spun a web of cool looking lines to let the audience be hooked on your song. You may go with narration or storytelling. It is like telling the audience in sequence what happened to you or what you are trying to emphasize. You can also result to references to some cool songs you know or even things you encounter in everyday life. After putting down those really pretty lyrics, now you make your melody. Now, you may encounter problems with the measurement of the lines to fit your melody like the first one. Grammar and knowledge in speech comes in handy here.

3.   Make other songs as a reference. Don’t get me wrong but this isn’t copying the whole song. It’s just making a song a reference to make your own song. For example, you may find a certain parts of a song cool or you can’t get enough of it. You may make this as a reference. You can give it a spin or reconstruct it in a different way. You may look at the lyrics of the song and be fascinated by how the composer played with his lyrics. You could do that sort of thing also in your song. Remember: Referencing, not copying. Either way the thing that you will make will sometimes be a lot different from what you had referenced.

4.    Write little parts of the song. I usually do this to some extent. Sometimes you have something in mind for a song. Maybe a melody or the essence of it. If it is a lyric, it is best to write it down as soon as possible. If it is a melody or a riff, you might want to record it ASAP. Music is sometimes like the wind. If it passes you, you might not remember it. Be mindful of this. The next thing that may come to your mind might be the next big thing hit! Also, look at your past music or lyrics that you haven’t used. Maybe you can fit them together and make a new song altogether. So don’t throw those gems of yours.

5.    Write everything without minding what it means. Sometimes musicians do this. They just write a bunch of stuff and they don’t even know what it means. Maybe it may seem to have certain feel or meaning once it’s finished. It’s like painting abstract. You just write what you feel. People may have their own opinions about your song after its finished. But you know better.  Even the melody may not be like the conventional format for songs. It’s really up to you.

I know there are more ways to do this. Just keep in mind music moves people so be cautious in what you make! Please keep on reading the Indie Band News Web Magazine and support our cause to spread indie music. Please also check out my band With Empty Eyes! We are doing something big this June.