Songwriting for Complete Beginners

So what is rhythm? I would define rhythm as: "A mix of sounds and silence in a deliberately structured way and tempo". It is very important for you to master rhythm first, since it is the very core of music. Rhythm is not only important for drums and percussion. Rhythm is present in melodies, chords and harmonies. In this video you will learn about Measures (Bars) and Time Signatures.

So now you know what a bar, or measure, of music is. It's the segments music is divided into. You also know about time signatures, which are used to indicate how you count every bar in your song. Next, you need to learn all the rhythmic note values.

To create a rhythm, you also need to set a tempo. You can think about the tempo as the pulse of your music. Almost like the pulse of your heart rate. When you are calm and relaxed you have a lower pulse. And when you exercise or dance, you have a higher pulse. It is the same with rhythm in music.

Music is basically a mix of two things. Rhythm and Pitch. All instruments and sounds in music have some kind of rhythm, and some of them also have pitch. So what is pitch? Pitch is a specific frequency of sound. In music we call these pitches "notes".

So there are 12 notes in the musical alphabet. Now it's time for you to learn about scales. We will not go through every scale in this video, because learning them all will take some time and practice. But you are going to learn the essential rules of how scales work and why you use them.

Now you are going to learn about chords, which is the harmonic structure of music. There are 3 main elements you need to learn here. Melody, Harmony and Chords. Basically, a melody consists of a series of notes played one at a time, like when you sing. Harmony is two notes played at the same time. And chords are essentially stacks of harmonies played together.

Now it is time for you to learn about chord progressions. So what is a chord progression? Well, it is simply a sequence of chords. Here's an example. Let's say you have 3 different chords in your song. C Major, F Major and G Major. One possible chord progression could be like this: C, F, G, G, F, G, C.

Melody. It is the very voice of music. The melody is what you remember, what moves you, and what leads you through a song. And just like rhythm, melody comes very easy to us. We can hum a melody, whistle it, and even sing it.

So what is song structure? Basically, a song or track is divided into different parts. What parts you choose to include is up to you, but common parts in song structure are: intro, verse, chorus, bridge, and outro section. 

In this video I will do a Live Demonstration of creating and recording a rhythm for a song using a simple drum kit.

In this video I will do a Live Demonstration of creating and recording a chord progression for a song using a virtual instrument inside the Garageband App.

In this video I will do a Live Demonstration of creating and recording a melody for a song using a virtual instrument inside the Garageband App.

In this video you will learn the basics of how you get started with music production more seriously, by building your own Home Music Studio with the 7 essentials things I recommend.