I often listen these days some opinions about the songs in nowadays! That there is no talent anymore and the songs are eventually the same in some ways!
I have also heard that the instrumentation is responsible for the success of a song!
I would like to discuss with you today this subject and I would like to give you some tips on songwriting. How you can write better songs, no matter what genre of music you write. The music is one and through this you can express your emotions.
#1. Your verses are too long!
This is something that sometimes gets your listener tired or bored! I am sure that you have a story to tell with your song ,but you have to be specific and you don’t have to write too many lyrics in the verses. The listener is waiting for the chorus. This is where everything happens. In the chorus you have the main theme of your song. So, if you are a composer or a songwriter and you like the looooong verses ,I suggest to rethink and write shorter verses. To be more specific I suggest to get to the chorus between 1 minute and 1:30. What’s the meaning if you get to the chorus at the second minute of the song? Of course there are songs with very long verse but these are the exceptions.
One thing you can do is to listen to songs of your genres or generally and see at what time get to the chorus. This is very helpful and I think that you will get an idea on the structure of a song.
#2. Write “strong” choruses!
When I say “strong” I mean in your melodic line! Your chorus has to be different from your verse ,and you can achieve this if your chorus has more dynamic.Your chorus has to stand out of your song and this is something we can do if our melodic line is higher than the verse’s line. In the chorus we have an explosion of feelings and we have to include everything we want to say in that! Of course there are some songs where the choruses are flat,they have the same dynamic with the verse ,but still they have dynamic in the melody. These are the exceptions in the rule. So,try to build your chorus with more dynamics.
#3. Instrumentation
I want to say two words for the instrumentation ,because nowadays is misunderstood. I believe that instrumentation has nothing to do with songwriting. You can’t just rely on how good your instrumentation is going to be ,so you can have a very good song. A good song is only based on music and lyrics!Nothing more! Instrumentation is going to help the song but you can’t say that a medium song is going to be great with the instrumentation! There is no such a thing! We have so many examples that are recorded with only one instrument “ Someone like you” by Adele “ More than words” by Extreme and so many more. This is songwriting
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We are going to talk in next posts and videos about the importance of the instrumentation in the production of a song,and we are going to cover some techniques that help us to differ and to keep our listener till the end of the song!