WRITE MUSIC KEYS HOW TO

Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus is another good example. It has wonderfully interesting chord changes and a great melody, and the lyric is exquisite perfection simple and to the point. One of my favorite songs, “Lush Life,” was written by Billy Strayhorn when he was sixteen years old. Examples of this are easy to find in pop music- “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” That’s The Way, Uh-huh, Uh-huh, I Like It,” anything by Britney Spears- but don’t think that these are simple only because they’re mindless. On the contrary, the very best, most sophisticated lyrics have been pared down to the absolute bare minimum. Beginning songwriters can suffer from the misconception that a sophisticated song needs more words. Just like in prose or public speaking, a powerful message is a focused message. I am of the opinion that when you say two things in a song, you cut the power of the song in half. Had I also talked about the power of God, or His great love, I would have diminished the power of the song. I wrote a worship song called “In My Life, Lord, Be Glorified.” There are only five notes to the melody of the chorus and only seven words in the lyric.

If your lyrics speak about the goodness of God, don’t speak about impending judgment. If you are writing a song about mercy, don’t introduce the subject of love save that for another song. So, I’d like to make up for my past sins and give you some serious, straightforward songwriting tips. They were actually taking this seriously. The class seemed to be paying attention, taking notes and all.

Some were really, really offended (Perhaps they were spectacularly successful at writing mediocre songs and didn’t like me giving the secrets away.) Others laughed with me, and maybe at me… I don’t know.Īt the recent Christian Musician’s Summit I taught a class on songwriting.

I received many emails with many different takes on what I’d written.

WRITE MUSIC KEYS HOW TO

Awhile ago I wrote an article titled “ How To Write A Really Mediocre Worship Song.” It was a tongue in cheek examination of good song-writing in reverse.

Write music keys