---
title: 'This Simple Songwriting Formula Will Make You Write Better Songs In 20 Minutes'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=elxtctZlgBM'
video_id: 'elxtctZlgBM'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 1115
---

# This Simple Songwriting Formula Will Make You Write Better Songs In 20 Minutes

> Source: [This Simple Songwriting Formula Will Make You Write Better Songs In 20 Minutes](https://youtube.com/watch?v=elxtctZlgBM)

## Summary



## Transcript

if you learn to write songs the world
will open up to you being able to write
a song is like having a superpower you
can make a crowd of people Swoon over
your every word or you can start an
entire movement with a song or you know
songwriting could just be this little
thing that you actually look forward to
at the end of every day you know after
school or after work or after you get
the kids to bed so whether you want to
write for fun or actually make a career
out of it I'm going to show you a
step-by-step method for songwriting that
really works and it's so simple that
anyone can do it I'm serious whether
you've never written a song before or
you've written a hundred songs and
you're looking for some fresh motivation
and insight this method will be super
helpful for you in your songwriting
Journey I've personally used it to write
over 30 songs that each have over a
million streams but more important than
the numbers it gives you a clear path
from the beginning formulating an idea
all the way to the end having a finished
fully written song you can use almost
any instrument with this method whether
it's a guitar or a piano or a banjo or
ukulele honestly just whatever you have
access to or whatever you have lying
around so no excuses you can follow
along and start writing music right now
if you want to throughout the video I'm
going to show you each step in my
writing process then I'm going to
demonstrate each step in real time and
we're going to write a song together so
you can finish this video with a fully
written song I mean doesn't that sound
at least like kind of exciting I know
that this video would have changed my
life when I was first starting out so
I'm super excited for you now this video
is going to be a bit on the longer side
but consider this a comprehensive master
class on songwriting this is the kind of
information that experts are charging a
bunch of money for but good news for you
I'm an expert and I'm giving you the
information for free so grab some water
and an instrument if you play one
and take a deep breath and let's get
started songwriting can be broken down
into four simple steps and those are
concept chords Melody and lyrics that's
all you need to write a song when you
write a song it's super helpful to begin
with a concept in mind what is the song
about is it about you is it about a
friend is it a story that progresses
over time like the song driver's license
by Olivia Rodrigo or is it more of just
like a singular idea like hotline Bling
by Drake if you're thinking where do I
even start in terms of getting ideas
well I have just the thing for you
here's a super helpful way to get
unlimited ideas for Concepts I have a
notes folder on my phone dedicated to
song ideas often times throughout the
day I'll write little notes down of
things that seem interesting or
inspiring to me and I'll be honest a
huge amount of them are pretty laughable
and just straight up unusable but the
important part is that I write down
what's inspiring me in the moment I can
judge the idea later on when I'm working
on the song but strike while the iron is
hot and make sure to get your ideas on
paper no matter how silly they seem if
you're interested or inspired just write
it down it's as simple as that you you
can't depend on your memory because
humans are flawed and we forget things
way too easily you think oh that's
interesting I'll remember that the next
thing you know someone calls you or you
get an email and a couple hours later
the idea is just completely gone forever
this trick may seem like a little
inconvenience the first couple times you
do it but it's way easier than sitting
down to write a song with no inspiration
and trying to figure that part of it out
in the moment create the list of
inspiring things throughout the day in
advance so by the time you sit down to
write you have a list of options the
more you do this the easier it gets and
the quicker you're able to recognize a
good idea and instead of a chore this
becomes this exciting thing that you do
throughout the day and you go oh that
could be a cool idea for a song and then
you write it down very low effort for a
huge reward when it comes to songwriting
okay so that's the concept or what the
song is about let's go ahead and look
through my song ideas and find a concept
that we want to work with Okay so here I
have my song ideas folder on my phone
and usually before I start I'll just
look through and see what catches my eye
some ideas are just one word like this
one that says delusion I wish I gave you
up for Lent
I mean like I said some of them are just
straight up unusable but this one I'm
lonely like an astronaut let's take a
look at that I'm lonely like an
astronaut am I more than just an
afterthought to me that seems like
there's some emotion behind it and I
remember writing this idea down because
I was thinking I'm the third child and
my siblings were born two years apart
and I was born four years after them so
I was thinking like hmm am I an
afterthought and then thinking what
rhymes with afterthought
astronaut astronauts are in space
they're lonely and so then I just kind
of landed on this little note right here
and for me I'm gonna go with feeling
like an afterthought as my concept so
now that we have our concept the second
step is Chords chords are the foundation
of your song as soon as you have a
concept the next step is to figure out
how to communicate that idea musically
how do you tell the story of your song
in the language of music chords are so
powerful because they can establish a
certain mood let me pick up the guitar
and I can show you what I'm talking
about so for those of you crazy music
theory people out there I'm gonna get
really simple right now and you're just
gonna have to deal with it some chords
sound happy
and some chords are sad
you write a song you need to use what's
called a chord progression a chord
progression is just a sequence of chords
played over and over different
progressions create different moods for
instance if I want to write something
really uplifting I might do something
like this
[Music]
some songs that use this are Thinking
Out Loud by Ed Sheeran Let's Get It On
by Marvin Gaye I think there was a
lawsuit between them as well
and speechless by Dan and Shay uses
those first three chords so let's say
you want to go a little darker and more
Melancholy I could do a chord
progression like this
[Music]
a really oversimplification of chords is
Major is happy
and minor is sad
you can even play chords that create
feelings of romance
[Music]
if you learn a little music theory or
even just a couple chord progressions
either on guitar or piano it'll give you
a ton of freedom to write a little bit
goes a long way with this stuff and it
doesn't take much to set the right mood
you can even use the same four chords
for an entire song or better yet you can
even use two chords for an entire song
Tennessee whiskey by Chris Stapleton is
like one of the best songs ever written
and it's only two chords so all that to
say we have our concept now let's get
some chords going I'm gonna play chords
until I figure out something that I feel
is communicating my concept of feeling
like an afterthought or stuck in space
like an astronaut so something a bit
more Melancholy I'm going to record the
progression into Ableton but if you
don't have Ableton you can use
GarageBand which is free or audacity for
PC people which is also free there's a
bunch of free recording software out
there honestly or you can record the
progression into your phone and voice
notes just so that you don't forget it
or you can even go the old-fashioned
tried and true method of just writing it
down on paper but whether you record it
in or write it down it doesn't matter
what matters is that you remember it
later do not leave this up to chance or
assume that you'll remember something
later because you most likely won't just
trust me on this one the reason I prefer
recording it into Ableton is because I
can remember the tempo of the song and
the feeling and all that stuff instead
of just looking at the chords written
down okay so let me run through a few
progressions and settle on something
that I like alright so one thing worth
mentioning is you want to record to a
click if you can as far as production
goes it's just going to make your life
so much easier
so if you are recording in a Daw I would
play your chords until you feel what's
natural and settle on a progression and
then figure out the tempo of the click
from there so I was fiddling around with
some chords and I kind of like this
progression
[Music]
so that Tempo is kind of like this
so I could tap something like that into
Ableton figure out what it is and then
record my guitar into the click
[Music]
okay so it doesn't have to be perfect I
just need to have one area that I can
Loop over and over okay so now we have
our little progression this is what it
sounds like
foreign
progression is that you can Loop it all
Daws have a loop function and this way
we can hear our chords over and over
without having to play them over and
over it's super convenient and it frees
up more mental real estate for you to
write with so we've got our concept and
now we have our chord progression before
we continue it's important to mention
song structure right now I'm teaching
you how to cook foods I'm teaching you
the recipe for efficient quality
songwriting but there's also the
presentation of the food there's a
specific formula and a way to order the
parts of a song that's designed to pull
the listener through the song so they
keep listening to the entire song then
it's stuck in their head by the time
they're done so songs are typically
structured like this first pre-chorus
chorus second Verse pre-chorus Chorus
Bridge chorus this follows a certain
story-like format that keeps people
listening the whole way through I'm not
going to go into the nitty-gritty
details of every single section but I do
want to give you an idea of the purpose
of each of these sections so the verses
in pre-choruses establish details and
move the story along and then the chorus
is kind of the main idea and the most
important part of the song so for
example in the song Shape Of You by Ed
Sheeran one of the most successful songs
of all time by the way the verses
establish the setting and add details by
saying the club isn't the best place to
find a lever so the bar is where I go
he's using the power of story to suck
you in but all the details in the world
are nothing without a memorable chorus
I'm in love with the shape of you is the
main idea of the song and it's also the
most memorable Melody of the song it's
the stickiest Melody meaning it gets
stuck in your head and it stays there so
now that you know basic song structure
we want to write Melodies my best advice
for Melodies is throw spaghetti at the
wall and see what sticks or rather hear
what sticks generally you want to sing
whatever melodies come to mind and
record them as you sing them so if you
sing something that sticks or catches
your attention you won't forget it once
again back to this theme of not
forgetting things this is how I write
Melodies I'll just Loop the chord
progression and record myself singing
over the chords I'll sing whatever feels
natural without worrying about words I
focus more more on the way the melody
makes me feel we can worry about the
lyrics later but for now we just want to
communicate a feeling there's a huge
tendency for people to overthink things
during this stage but I can guarantee
the more you let go and sing whatever
comes natural the closer you're gonna
get to a memorable Melody a lot of times
your first instinct is the best for
Melodies and if you end up recording
that gives you even more freedom to sing
whatever you want and then once you feel
like you're saying something that you
like you can stop and listen back
instead of thinking like what was that
Melody that I just sang I can't tell you
how many times I've forgotten a
wonderful melody in the blink of an eye
and for that reason I record everything
so now I'm going to listen to my chords
I'm going to sing some Melodies and I'm
gonna stop once I feel like I've got
something that makes my brain light up I
don't have a great singing voice
naturally so it's easy for me to
overthink this step but you just have to
sing like nobody is listening if I allow
any space in my brain for insecurity all
that's going to do is take away from the
Purity and the quality of the art that
I'm trying to create okay let's go for
it
check one two
[Music]
[Music]
three
you just gotta sing like nobody's
listening even if it sounds kind of
stupid
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
I would highly encourage you to kind of
form makeup words as you're singing just
gibberish there's something about the
kind of babbling made-up speech that
helps you come up with Melodies but I
kind of like that Melody that I was just
singing remember the chords like this
tear it down
so I like that as simple as it is it
makes my brain light up and it's my
favorite Melody out of everything I sing
so I'm going to use it for the chorus
and I know I forgot to record from the
get-go so all of my Melodies were
recorded but don't forget to do that
just record everything that you sing
trust me also really quick if you're
finding any of this informative or even
just entertaining I would love for you
to subscribe and give me the chance to
teach you more about how to make the
best music that you're capable of and if
you're afraid of commitment I'll settle
for a cheeky little like until you're
ready for something a little more
serious okay at last we've made it to
the fourth and final step of the
songwriting process lyrics if you've
done a good job establishing a strong
concept and then written chords to
support the mood of the concept and gone
with the most sticky compelling Melodies
you could come up with while singing
those over your chords then lyrics
should be a breeze or at least
significantly easier that being said I
could probably make a whole master class
on lyrics alone there are so many
different styles and rhyme schemes out
there it's easy to get overwhelmed and
lost in the sauce so my best advice for
lyrics is to lower the stakes
and rhyme if you can your first version
of lyrics doesn't have to be your final
version and you can change things at any
point in the process sometimes it's
helpful just to get something down on
paper and then improve it over time but
it's hard to get anywhere without a
starting point so just come up with some
lyrics that match and go along with your
Melody and also go with the concept of
your song don't overthink it so what I'm
going to do is play my chords and my
melody over and over and try to craft
some lyrics that are in line with my
concept of feeling like an afterthought
Pro tip the notes app is great for
writing lyrics down
thank you I just don't trust it I've got
to have a check looking and feeling good
oh that's the other light there
this could take a while and you don't
need to rush it but you also don't want
to overthink and not get anywhere
because you're trying to write the
perfect lyrics so now that I've got a
working chorus I'm going to go through
and write a verse and a pre-chorus to
establish some details and just finish
the rest of the song now you can go
ahead and pause the video right now and
finish the rest of your song too or you
can wait and listen to mine first so I
can give you a few more pointers before
you go all in
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
steps concept chords Melody and lyrics
we've written a verse A pre-chorus and A
Chorus we can finally listen to our
fully written song for the sake of
keeping the video as short as possible
I'm just going to play my verse
pre-chorus and chorus and we could just
pretend that the song keeps going into
the second verse in the pre-chorus and
so on so let me show you how the song
goes and we could talk a bit about it
after
it goes sometimes
and I'd be a fool to try
and open up the washer spin in circles
in my mind
I'm just too much sometimes
was I on purpose or a surprise
I'm far away with just my thoughts I'm
sitting on the rooftop of my house
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
right now
[Music]
all right that's as far as I got and I
think I was able to capture the
sentiment of feeling like an
afterthought so I like a lot of that but
there's still some parts here and there
that I might want to change like for
instance I use the word sometimes in the
verse and the pre-chorus and the line
about opening up like a washer and
spinning circles in my mind I wasn't a
huge fan of that but I didn't want to
overthink it so I just kept going all
that said the final stage of songwriting
is refinement just listening through
over and over and making changes as you
hear necessary sometimes you get lucky
and love it the first time but for me
nine times out of ten I'll make changes
that vastly improve the song from the
first version so don't be afraid to
refine your song we are rocking and
rolling how to write a song
okay we got the backwards hat on and
it's time to get real I have two closing
thoughts on songwriting that are really
important to consider one I set the
steps of my process in the order that I
did because I think it's the most
efficient but you can write a song using
the steps in any order you can start
with lyrics or with Melody or even jump
around back and forth writing some
lyrics Here tweaking a Melody there
adjusting chords for more emotion and I
encourage you to find what works best
for you and embrace the idea that people
are different songs are different and it
might look a little different every time
and that's part of the excitement of
creating art my second and final thought
is to put your reps in if you want to
write memorable songs get millions of
streams and be the voice of a generation
you know whatever your goals are you
need to write lots of songs to improve
Ed Sheeran calls it running the faucet
to get all the dirty water out before
you get to the clean stuff in other
words writing some not so good songs to
get to the good songs they did a study
on a college photography class and half
of the class was graded on one single
picture and the other half of the class
was graded on the basis that they had to
submit 100 pictures by the end of the
semester and then after that they
selected the top photos from the entire
class and guess which group all the
winners came from the group that had to
take 100 photos you could spend
countless hours spinning your wheels
trying to write the next big song or the
perfect song but you're way better off
trying to write a bunch of good songs
instead of one Perfect song every time
you write you improve a little bit or
sometimes a lot but one Surefire way to
slow down your growth or stop completely
is to get stuck on one song for too long
so lower the stakes and write lots of
songs remember that it's supposed to be
fun some people do a song a day or a
song a week and find what works for you
depending on what your goals are if you
want to do it for a living try to write
a song every day if you want to do it
for fun right when you feel inspired but
either way if you do want to improve you
have to get your reps in and remember
most importantly stop making excuses and
start making music cheers