Basics of Songwriting

Name: Basics of Songwriting
Rating: 4.2 (72 reviews)

Learn to things you need to know, to write the music you need to write

Created byJohan van Rooyen

Last updated 6/2017

English

What you'll learn

Understand how lyrics work
Understand chord progressions
Create their own lyrics
Construct chord progressions
Understand basics of arranging

Course content

3 sections • 15 lectures • 1h 15m total length

Introduction2:31
This lesson gives a broad overview of how the course is put together.
Necessary tools7:32
This lesson explains some of the things that are important to our study of lyrics - syllables, rhymes, and stressed/unstressed sounds.
Case study #1 - Bieber9:38
In this video we will go through the lyrics of a well known Justin Bieber song. Using the tools from lesson 2 to describe exactly what is going on.
Case study #2 - Journey8:03
In this video you will see how the same tools that we used to examine the Bieber song can be used across time and genre by examining a class rock song by Journey.
Creating your own lyrics.6:12
Using the learnings from the previous lessons, I will set you on your way to writing a good lyric. Keep in mind that while following the rules, you'll get something that works, some of the best songs come from breaking the rules completely.

Chord and progressions2:47
This lesson looks at the idea of chords, and explains one of the foundations of a well-written song - a nice harmonic progression
Case study #3 - Cat Stevens2:54
We have a nice close look at "The first cut is the deepest" and see how Cat Stevens uses chord progressions in his classic song.
Case Study #4 - Spice Girls3:32
Moving away from Cat Stevens, we can see that even complete Pop stars use chord progressions in their music. We look at this 90s pop song.
Some theory stuff8:17
Writers don't just choose chords at random. There's some solid music theory behind choosing chords, which we get into.
Your own chord progression4:51
You'll combine the things from the previous lessons to create your own harmonic progression. I'll set you on your way to get a great chord progression.

Instruments!4:18
Right now you have some chords and a tune. In this video we'll talk about different instruments and how we can combine them to play a song together.
Structure4:50
Verse. Chorus. These words probable mean something to you. In this video we will put a meaning to these words, and see how we combine them to give a song structure.
Case Study #5 - Eminem3:08
We look at the topic of structure by looking at a song by Eminem. We see how he combines the ideas of a verse, chorus, etc. into a song.
Final thoughts3:33
We've covered all the information that you need. There isn't much to it really. This video looks at how some very simple ideas can be combined, redefined, and twisted to create any song. You'll start to realize that following the rules does not guarantee a great song.
Putting your song together3:53
Here we'll start to put your song together. I'll show how one can combine the ideas we've already learned and start pulling everything together.

Requirements

Be able to play a musical instrument
Have an urge to express yourself musically

Description

This course covers some of the basic ideas in song-writing. Ever listened to a song you love and thought, how did they do it? This course offers some interesting ways to understand how lyrics and music are put together to write songs.

Learn The Simple Things That Make A Great Song

Learn how to analyse and break down lyrics
Understand how verses and choruses are constructed
Use easy ideas to create your own songs
Examine case studies of famous songs by various artists
Understand what makes a great chord progression
Learn about the different parts of a song

Since the dawn of civilization, people have been using songs to communicate with each other, express ideas, and allow them to express their thoughts and feelings. The song is the simplest way in which ideas can be spread with music. There are no methods of creating art that are more wide-spread and accessible than the song.

In this course, we look at how songs are put together. You will understand the important things to look for when listening to a song, and you will also know how to create your own songs based on these same ideas.

You will begin by looking at lyrics. How are they put together, do they rhyme, and do the words have any implicit musical qualities? You will analyse two songs from different genres and times and see how various tricks are used to understand the song. From here, we can write a new song based on the same ideas.

Next up you will come to understand harmonic progressions. Which chords should be used underneath your words? There are a few music theory tricks to help you here, and by analyzing a couple of different songs, you will start to see how these progressions work - many of them are made up of the same chords! From this understanding, you can create a chord progression for your lyrics.

Finally, we look at how to transform your chords and lyrics into a complete song. You will understand and be able to identify the parts of a song. You will also know about different instruments and some of the basic principles of arranging and producing music. We finish up at a point where you can go ahead and start looking at putting together your song.

Who this course is for:

People that want to write songs

Basics of Songwriting

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Words5 lectures • 34min

Music5 lectures • 22min

Putting it all together5 lectures • 20min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: