This might be a rather big subject, we will limit it to the process of creativity and to help you get started in this wonderfull world of songwriting :-)

I will give you some examples and usefull tips

Some key elements:

• Creativity
• Idea or mood?
• Improvisation
• Remember your idea?
• Melody or not?
• Structure or not?

  
  

Creativity

Might be helpfull to you if you feel creative when you make music.

Do you know any special tricks that put you in the right mood.

• maybe you think of someone you love
• maybe you think of someone that have hurt you bad
• maybe you think of something that seems to be unfair
• maybe you have seen a movie that made you cry, why?
• maybe you just need to sit in a quiet place for a while thinking
• maybe you need to be outside, in nature, or on a café, watching people
• maybe you lsiten to some of the music you love
• maybe you don´t feel creative at all, it will work out anyway :-)

Idea or mood?

If you do find a good mood or doesn´t, is not the most important thing, but it might help you to reach the goal of making that great song.

Let´s say you are in a happy mood...., can´t wait to get started.....:-)

Everyone have different talents to use, to take this one step further.

Do you play an instrument? Might be good, but not necessary.

In fact it might be a good idea to start without an instrument.

Sometimes the technical aspects of an instrument might prevent your full potential to bloom :-)

There´s of course several ways to get started, let´s begin with something easy.

Hum a melody to yourself. Try to decide what the mood of the melody should be, and stick to it.

Improvisation

Improvise high and low notes,talk to yourself, move around if you like or whatever is working for you.

There´s always a lot of rules about phrasing, hook-lines, break, intro, etc. don´t think about thoose things now, BE CREATIVE.

To improvise freely is a highly underestimated art.

The brain and the heart have a direct link during improvisation, use that.

I hope you dare to use that. If you feel silly, just make shure you are alone and no one is watching....:-)

OK, what´s next....

Remember your idea?

You have been improvising for a while and you have some notes you would like to remember, what do you do?

You have several options:

1. digital recorder
2. computer with microphone
3. mobile phone with recorder
4. tape recorder

In other words, something to record on, so that you can record and listen to it later.

Do not trick yourself into belief, that you will remember what you have done into the next day!

This is key, record your ideas, ALWAYS, or you will loose that idea!

Melody or not?

What if my idea doesn´t consist of any notes, just rythm?

Thats fine, there´s several key elements to a good song, sometimes the melody isn´t the important thing, the rythm is.

If you have a good beat, hammering pots and pans in the kitchen, record them!

You can use that beat later, to put some lyrics to it or a complementary melody.

Structure or not?

Ok

You have some melodies, or some rythm key elements, take some time figuring out how you want thoose melodies structured.

I am not going to tell you, at this stage, to follow the most common practice, you decide what works best for you, be creative.

A lot of songs that you hear today follow this structure:

intro

verse

bridge

refrain

verse

(break or bridge)

refrain

(break)

refrain 

outro

Don´t get all wrapped up about that.

I give you two video examples:

one with a modern songstructure and one that very much is the opposite, they are both world hits.

Apologize with OneRepublic Feat Timbaland

AND

Stairway to heaven with Led Zepplin

I do not say that, "Stairway to heaven" haven´t got any structure to it.

It has, but in it´s own way, "think outside the box".

I know the expression might be a somewhat cliché, but it´s rather good anyway.

I won´t go any further with this article at the moment but stay put for more and feel free to make a comment.