How to Write a Really Good Song

(how to write a really good song - image)How to write a really good song REQUIRES indulging in a very PRECISE combination of ecstatic leg-squirming dances in EXACT combination with psychedelic drugs until your clay-like body falls to the ground, cracking angry blades of razor sharp grass into pieces with sorrowful sweat soaked hands as your hungry ears hear their feuding echoes between sky and earth like a quickening bass drum that releases mini volcanoes of secret cocktail scents which torture your quivering nostrils like tiny pitch-forks until you are driven by madness to write down their blood boiling wisdom for listeners to swim in.

And that’s all there is to it.

Just kidding!

But hopefully the above paragraph provided an example (although overly dense) of how to write using metaphors and the senses, which can greatly enhance your lyric writing. Dylan Thomas is a wonderful poet and author to check out to help incorporate this type of writing into your lyrics.

So now, how to write a really good song, for real. This ONLY requires two things:

Inspirations and Craft.

Click here to download your FREE songwriting e-book: “21 Ways to Write Better Songs”

1) Inspiration: We all know that inspiration is the starting point of how to write a really good song. But here is a great tip for so many of us who suffer from “not being inspired every second of the day.” Inspiration will come to those who are writing, 10x more frequently than to those who are not!

So, the cure for lack of inspiration for how to write a really good song is to write; write as an exercise, write in a journal, write on napkins in restaurants when the music in the overhead speakers start spinning words and phrases through your mind that are not even in the song, write and record melodies into a voice recorder that pop in your head that pop in your head throughout the day, or force new melodies into existence on the piano or guitar as an exercise. You will get more flashes of inspiration while you are working on music and lyrics than while you are waiting.

2) Craft: how to write a really good song needs to go beyond inspiration into actual craft and technique. Songwriting, for most of us, is not just channeling ideas from GOD, although that can be a significant part of it, but that is channelling; songwriting is what you do with those magical gifts afterwords.

It is the work of weaving together the inspired ideas of melody, lyrics, chords, songs structure, and arrangement, into a final product that holds together with the beauty and symmetry of a Michelangelo sculpture or painting. Where the rubber meets the road with how to write a really good song will always be how well crafted the  inspired idea is. How beautifully patterned is the rhyme scheme, metaphors, story development, melodic development, chord progressions, how does the song structure enhance the emotional impact of the hook, and paying close attention to many more specifics is what the craft is all about.

How to write a really good song requires skills that can be learned, just like someone who is naturally gifted at cooking and creating new recipes will become 10x better after nine months of chef school in Paris, you too will become 10x better as a songwriter the more you learn the tools of the trade.

Songwriting Sparks is a great way to get started in that direction,

Click Here Now: https://songwritingplanet.com/sparks
 

Add Below Any Cool Experiences You Have Had While Songwriting

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Click here to download your FREE songwriting e-book: “21 Ways to Write Better Songs”

 

To Your Awesome Songs, Kevin

  • Gillian

    Why is it I only seem to write about pain?

    I am a happy person but it seems the only time I can write a good song is when It’s a painful memory or experience.

    I wish I could write about being happy as well as I can about pain

    Reply
    • Kevin

      Gillian, I ran into that same exact issue years ago. I wanted to write more positive music and couldn’t get myself to stop writing about suffering. One of the things I did to break out of it was I searched for a list of positive quotes online and I tried to use them as either titles, or inspiration for lyrics. It felt very unnatural at first, but over time the exercise gradually helped me break away from my old habits of always thinking about the dark side rather than trying to create something brighter with my lyrics.

      Reply
  • Mireille Glaves

    Loved this blog post! I am wanting to learn songwriting. I signed up to get your free E-book, but have not recieved it yet…. wondering if you can help with that? Thank you so much!

    Reply
    • Kevin

      Mireille, I’m e-mailing you another copy, please check your spam folder if you don’t see it. Thanks, Kevin

      Reply
  • Chris Conner

    I have probably written about 150 songs. Mostly I have the lyrics but each one is from 2:20-6:40 in length…I have this weird curse/gift where I will be going through my day and all of a sudden without any warning…Lyrics will pop in my head along with timing and melody…So I break out a recording device and record them…This has been going on since I was 16 it has gotten stronger the older I get I’m 33 now…Needless to say I have a wealth of material…I am currently looking into getting the better material out to inspire the world…Also it would be nice to make some money…Endless amounts of great song lyrics, I have found don’t pay the bills. I was wondering if anyone on here just has lyrics hit them out of no where…I don’t mean I have to try to think of lyrics…I mean it is almost like all of a sudden I have a whole songs worth of lyrics at once in my head that I have to record…It is very strange I havent ever told anyone about this other than my wife..She probabaly thinks I am crazy…Although she didn’t say that…Laugh out loud…

    Reply
    • Kevin

      Chris, what you described is a common experience among poets, lyricists, and composers, especially those who read and practice writing regularly. And I have found that the less a writer reads and writes, the less this phenomenon occurs. However, what you described as very long chucks of songs appearing all at once is not so common, more often writers get flashes of short lines or half complete sections. I would definitely view this as a gift.

      But consider what one of my songwriting mentors told me once: “After the inspiration comes and goes, that is not the finished product, that is when the songwriting starts.” Using the tools and techniques of songwriting to edit, revise, develop and transform your inspired ideas is how you go from channeling to songwriting, and from average song to masterpiece.

      Reply
  • Dominik

    I used to be that person who rarely experiences inspiration. As trained in classical music composition I was stuck with the idea of writing melody first. In a greatest despair I just opened my computer and put some chords into my DAW using string samples. I started creating the melody fitting to those chords.
    That is how one of the best songs for that moment was written. 🙂

    The other thing that inspired me to write a really good song was… A picture found on the Internet. I made up a story of the person presented on the pic.

    Reply
  • Real J.O.B

    One of the weirdest experiences I’ve had was “accidentally” writing a song that has about 17 chords…. (Most of my songs have just 3-5 chords). One day I was doing a guitar chord pattern and trying to do a song sequence without repeating a chord…. that somehow led to a song with a large number of chords. It’s called “Home” on my latest album Exposure.

    Reply
    • Kevin Thomas

      That’s really interesting, it must have been challenging to write a melody to that.

      Reply
  • Kevin Thomas

    Hey, if you have ever had any really weird experiences while writing songs, like that first paragraph above alluded to, definitely share them here. I’ve got a few psychedelic ones to share myself! Kevin

    Reply

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