Top 10 songwriting tips

Written by a songwriter, not collected off a list. None of it is a rule — songs break all of these and still work — but when a song won't sit right, one of these is usually the reason.

1. 1Write the line you'd actually say

   If you wouldn't say it out loud to somebody at a kitchen table, it will sound stiff when you sing it. Plain words carry further than clever ones.

2. 2Start with one true detail

   A painted doll on a window sill beats "my broken heart" every time. One specific thing lets a listener picture the rest, and the rest is where your song lives.

3. 3Finish something badly rather than nothing beautifully

   A finished average song teaches you more than a perfect half-verse. You can always rewrite a whole song; you can't rewrite an idea you abandoned.

4. 4Find the key your voice lives in

   Most writers pick the key their hands like and then fight it for a year. Sing the chorus, move the whole song up or down until it feels easy, and write from there — the chords can follow you.

5. 5Say the title once and mean it

   Put the title where the melody peaks, usually the start or end of the chorus, and resist saying it everywhere else. A repeated line earns its weight by being rare.

6. 6Give the chorus somewhere to arrive

   If the verse already sits at the top of your range and the biggest chord, the chorus has nowhere to go. Keep something in reserve — a higher note, a fuller chord, a held word.

7. 7Three chords and the truth, then a fourth

   Most of a key's work is done by four chords. The surprise is usually one borrowed chord, placed once — not a progression nobody can follow.

8. 8Rhyme loosely on purpose

   Perfect rhymes can drag a line somewhere it didn't want to go. Near rhymes — home and alone, river and remember — keep the sentence honest and still land.

9. 9Leave space for the instrument

   A line that fills every beat gives a listener nothing to breathe in. Silence between phrases is part of the writing, not a gap in it.

10. 10Sing it to one person before you call it done

    You'll hear every weak line the moment somebody else is in the room. Print it, sing it once, mark the lines you stumbled on — those are your edits.

The elements of a song

Not every song needs all of these. Plenty of good ones are two verses and a chorus.

Verse

The story moving forward. Same tune each time, new words each time.

Chorus

The point of the song. Same words, same tune, every time — that's what makes it a chorus.

Pre-chorus

A short lift that tells the listener the chorus is coming. Two lines is usually plenty.

Bridge

The one place a song says something it hasn't said yet. New chords, often a new angle on the same story.

Hook

The bit somebody hums in the car. It can be a line, a title, or just a melodic shape.

Intro and outro

How the song arrives and how it leaves. Often the same few bars, and often written last.

Melody

The tune of the words. If you can sing it unaccompanied and it still works, it's strong.

Groove

The feel underneath — what makes a ballad a ballad and a romp a romp, before a single word lands.

Ready to write one? Make a free account and your words, chords and printed songbook live in one place. Or read other writers' stories first.