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

[00:00] if you learn to write songs the world

[00:02] will open up to you being able to write

[00:03] a song is like having a superpower you

[00:05] can make a crowd of people Swoon over

[00:07] your every word or you can start an

[00:09] entire movement with a song or you know

[00:12] songwriting could just be this little

[00:13] thing that you actually look forward to

[00:14] at the end of every day you know after

[00:15] school or after work or after you get

[00:17] the kids to bed so whether you want to

[00:19] write for fun or actually make a career

[00:21] out of it I'm going to show you a

[00:22] step-by-step method for songwriting that

[00:24] really works and it's so simple that

[00:26] anyone can do it I'm serious whether

[00:28] you've never written a song before or

[00:29] you've written a hundred songs and

[00:31] you're looking for some fresh motivation

[00:32] and insight this method will be super

[00:34] helpful for you in your songwriting

[00:36] Journey I've personally used it to write

[00:37] over 30 songs that each have over a

[00:39] million streams but more important than

[00:41] the numbers it gives you a clear path

[00:42] from the beginning formulating an idea

[00:44] all the way to the end having a finished

[00:46] fully written song you can use almost

[00:49] any instrument with this method whether

[00:50] it's a guitar or a piano or a banjo or

[00:53] ukulele honestly just whatever you have

[00:54] access to or whatever you have lying

[00:56] around so no excuses you can follow

[00:58] along and start writing music right now

[01:00] if you want to throughout the video I'm

[01:01] going to show you each step in my

[01:03] writing process then I'm going to

[01:04] demonstrate each step in real time and

[01:06] we're going to write a song together so

[01:08] you can finish this video with a fully

[01:09] written song I mean doesn't that sound

[01:10] at least like kind of exciting I know

[01:12] that this video would have changed my

[01:13] life when I was first starting out so

[01:15] I'm super excited for you now this video

[01:17] is going to be a bit on the longer side

[01:18] but consider this a comprehensive master

[01:20] class on songwriting this is the kind of

[01:22] information that experts are charging a

[01:24] bunch of money for but good news for you

[01:26] I'm an expert and I'm giving you the

[01:28] information for free so grab some water

[01:29] and an instrument if you play one

[01:32] and take a deep breath and let's get

[01:34] started songwriting can be broken down

[01:36] into four simple steps and those are

[01:38] concept chords Melody and lyrics that's

[01:41] all you need to write a song when you

[01:43] write a song it's super helpful to begin

[01:44] with a concept in mind what is the song

[01:46] about is it about you is it about a

[01:49] friend is it a story that progresses

[01:50] over time like the song driver's license

[01:52] by Olivia Rodrigo or is it more of just

[01:54] like a singular idea like hotline Bling

[01:56] by Drake if you're thinking where do I

[01:58] even start in terms of getting ideas

[01:59] well I have just the thing for you

[02:01] here's a super helpful way to get

[02:03] unlimited ideas for Concepts I have a

[02:05] notes folder on my phone dedicated to

[02:08] song ideas often times throughout the

[02:09] day I'll write little notes down of

[02:11] things that seem interesting or

[02:12] inspiring to me and I'll be honest a

[02:14] huge amount of them are pretty laughable

[02:16] and just straight up unusable but the

[02:18] important part is that I write down

[02:19] what's inspiring me in the moment I can

[02:21] judge the idea later on when I'm working

[02:23] on the song but strike while the iron is

[02:25] hot and make sure to get your ideas on

[02:26] paper no matter how silly they seem if

[02:28] you're interested or inspired just write

[02:30] it down it's as simple as that you you

[02:32] can't depend on your memory because

[02:33] humans are flawed and we forget things

[02:35] way too easily you think oh that's

[02:37] interesting I'll remember that the next

[02:39] thing you know someone calls you or you

[02:40] get an email and a couple hours later

[02:41] the idea is just completely gone forever

[02:43] this trick may seem like a little

[02:45] inconvenience the first couple times you

[02:46] do it but it's way easier than sitting

[02:48] down to write a song with no inspiration

[02:50] and trying to figure that part of it out

[02:51] in the moment create the list of

[02:52] inspiring things throughout the day in

[02:54] advance so by the time you sit down to

[02:56] write you have a list of options the

[02:58] more you do this the easier it gets and

[02:59] the quicker you're able to recognize a

[03:01] good idea and instead of a chore this

[03:02] becomes this exciting thing that you do

[03:04] throughout the day and you go oh that

[03:06] could be a cool idea for a song and then

[03:07] you write it down very low effort for a

[03:10] huge reward when it comes to songwriting

[03:11] okay so that's the concept or what the

[03:13] song is about let's go ahead and look

[03:15] through my song ideas and find a concept

[03:16] that we want to work with Okay so here I

[03:18] have my song ideas folder on my phone

[03:20] and usually before I start I'll just

[03:22] look through and see what catches my eye

[03:24] some ideas are just one word like this

[03:25] one that says delusion I wish I gave you

[03:27] up for Lent

[03:29] I mean like I said some of them are just

[03:31] straight up unusable but this one I'm

[03:33] lonely like an astronaut let's take a

[03:35] look at that I'm lonely like an

[03:37] astronaut am I more than just an

[03:38] afterthought to me that seems like

[03:40] there's some emotion behind it and I

[03:42] remember writing this idea down because

[03:43] I was thinking I'm the third child and

[03:45] my siblings were born two years apart

[03:46] and I was born four years after them so

[03:49] I was thinking like hmm am I an

[03:50] afterthought and then thinking what

[03:51] rhymes with afterthought

[03:54] astronaut astronauts are in space

[03:56] they're lonely and so then I just kind

[03:58] of landed on this little note right here

[03:59] and for me I'm gonna go with feeling

[04:00] like an afterthought as my concept so

[04:02] now that we have our concept the second

[04:04] step is Chords chords are the foundation

[04:06] of your song as soon as you have a

[04:08] concept the next step is to figure out

[04:09] how to communicate that idea musically

[04:12] how do you tell the story of your song

[04:13] in the language of music chords are so

[04:16] powerful because they can establish a

[04:18] certain mood let me pick up the guitar

[04:19] and I can show you what I'm talking

[04:20] about so for those of you crazy music

[04:22] theory people out there I'm gonna get

[04:23] really simple right now and you're just

[04:25] gonna have to deal with it some chords

[04:26] sound happy

[04:29] and some chords are sad

[04:35] you write a song you need to use what's

[04:37] called a chord progression a chord

[04:38] progression is just a sequence of chords

[04:40] played over and over different

[04:41] progressions create different moods for

[04:43] instance if I want to write something

[04:44] really uplifting I might do something

[04:46] like this

[04:47] [Music]

[04:56] some songs that use this are Thinking

[04:58] Out Loud by Ed Sheeran Let's Get It On

[05:00] by Marvin Gaye I think there was a

[05:02] lawsuit between them as well

[05:04] and speechless by Dan and Shay uses

[05:06] those first three chords so let's say

[05:08] you want to go a little darker and more

[05:09] Melancholy I could do a chord

[05:11] progression like this

[05:14] [Music]

[05:16] a really oversimplification of chords is

[05:19] Major is happy

[05:21] and minor is sad

[05:24] you can even play chords that create

[05:26] feelings of romance

[05:28] [Music]

[05:37] if you learn a little music theory or

[05:40] even just a couple chord progressions

[05:41] either on guitar or piano it'll give you

[05:43] a ton of freedom to write a little bit

[05:45] goes a long way with this stuff and it

[05:47] doesn't take much to set the right mood

[05:48] you can even use the same four chords

[05:50] for an entire song or better yet you can

[05:52] even use two chords for an entire song

[05:54] Tennessee whiskey by Chris Stapleton is

[05:56] like one of the best songs ever written

[05:58] and it's only two chords so all that to

[06:00] say we have our concept now let's get

[06:02] some chords going I'm gonna play chords

[06:04] until I figure out something that I feel

[06:05] is communicating my concept of feeling

[06:07] like an afterthought or stuck in space

[06:09] like an astronaut so something a bit

[06:10] more Melancholy I'm going to record the

[06:12] progression into Ableton but if you

[06:14] don't have Ableton you can use

[06:15] GarageBand which is free or audacity for

[06:17] PC people which is also free there's a

[06:19] bunch of free recording software out

[06:20] there honestly or you can record the

[06:22] progression into your phone and voice

[06:23] notes just so that you don't forget it

[06:25] or you can even go the old-fashioned

[06:27] tried and true method of just writing it

[06:29] down on paper but whether you record it

[06:30] in or write it down it doesn't matter

[06:32] what matters is that you remember it

[06:34] later do not leave this up to chance or

[06:36] assume that you'll remember something

[06:37] later because you most likely won't just

[06:39] trust me on this one the reason I prefer

[06:40] recording it into Ableton is because I

[06:42] can remember the tempo of the song and

[06:43] the feeling and all that stuff instead

[06:45] of just looking at the chords written

[06:46] down okay so let me run through a few

[06:48] progressions and settle on something

[06:49] that I like alright so one thing worth

[06:51] mentioning is you want to record to a

[06:53] click if you can as far as production

[06:54] goes it's just going to make your life

[06:55] so much easier

[06:59] so if you are recording in a Daw I would

[07:02] play your chords until you feel what's

[07:03] natural and settle on a progression and

[07:05] then figure out the tempo of the click

[07:07] from there so I was fiddling around with

[07:08] some chords and I kind of like this

[07:09] progression

[07:11] [Music]

[07:20] so that Tempo is kind of like this

[07:24] so I could tap something like that into

[07:25] Ableton figure out what it is and then

[07:27] record my guitar into the click

[07:31] [Music]

[07:38] okay so it doesn't have to be perfect I

[07:39] just need to have one area that I can

[07:41] Loop over and over okay so now we have

[07:43] our little progression this is what it

[07:44] sounds like

[07:46] foreign

[07:56] progression is that you can Loop it all

[07:59] Daws have a loop function and this way

[08:01] we can hear our chords over and over

[08:02] without having to play them over and

[08:04] over it's super convenient and it frees

[08:06] up more mental real estate for you to

[08:07] write with so we've got our concept and

[08:09] now we have our chord progression before

[08:11] we continue it's important to mention

[08:13] song structure right now I'm teaching

[08:15] you how to cook foods I'm teaching you

[08:17] the recipe for efficient quality

[08:19] songwriting but there's also the

[08:20] presentation of the food there's a

[08:22] specific formula and a way to order the

[08:24] parts of a song that's designed to pull

[08:26] the listener through the song so they

[08:28] keep listening to the entire song then

[08:30] it's stuck in their head by the time

[08:31] they're done so songs are typically

[08:33] structured like this first pre-chorus

[08:36] chorus second Verse pre-chorus Chorus

[08:39] Bridge chorus this follows a certain

[08:42] story-like format that keeps people

[08:44] listening the whole way through I'm not

[08:46] going to go into the nitty-gritty

[08:47] details of every single section but I do

[08:49] want to give you an idea of the purpose

[08:51] of each of these sections so the verses

[08:53] in pre-choruses establish details and

[08:56] move the story along and then the chorus

[08:58] is kind of the main idea and the most

[08:59] important part of the song so for

[09:01] example in the song Shape Of You by Ed

[09:02] Sheeran one of the most successful songs

[09:04] of all time by the way the verses

[09:06] establish the setting and add details by

[09:08] saying the club isn't the best place to

[09:10] find a lever so the bar is where I go

[09:12] he's using the power of story to suck

[09:14] you in but all the details in the world

[09:16] are nothing without a memorable chorus

[09:18] I'm in love with the shape of you is the

[09:20] main idea of the song and it's also the

[09:21] most memorable Melody of the song it's

[09:23] the stickiest Melody meaning it gets

[09:25] stuck in your head and it stays there so

[09:27] now that you know basic song structure

[09:29] we want to write Melodies my best advice

[09:31] for Melodies is throw spaghetti at the

[09:34] wall and see what sticks or rather hear

[09:36] what sticks generally you want to sing

[09:38] whatever melodies come to mind and

[09:39] record them as you sing them so if you

[09:41] sing something that sticks or catches

[09:42] your attention you won't forget it once

[09:44] again back to this theme of not

[09:45] forgetting things this is how I write

[09:47] Melodies I'll just Loop the chord

[09:49] progression and record myself singing

[09:50] over the chords I'll sing whatever feels

[09:52] natural without worrying about words I

[09:54] focus more more on the way the melody

[09:56] makes me feel we can worry about the

[09:58] lyrics later but for now we just want to

[09:59] communicate a feeling there's a huge

[10:01] tendency for people to overthink things

[10:03] during this stage but I can guarantee

[10:04] the more you let go and sing whatever

[10:06] comes natural the closer you're gonna

[10:08] get to a memorable Melody a lot of times

[10:10] your first instinct is the best for

[10:12] Melodies and if you end up recording

[10:13] that gives you even more freedom to sing

[10:15] whatever you want and then once you feel

[10:17] like you're saying something that you

[10:18] like you can stop and listen back

[10:20] instead of thinking like what was that

[10:21] Melody that I just sang I can't tell you

[10:23] how many times I've forgotten a

[10:24] wonderful melody in the blink of an eye

[10:26] and for that reason I record everything

[10:28] so now I'm going to listen to my chords

[10:29] I'm going to sing some Melodies and I'm

[10:31] gonna stop once I feel like I've got

[10:32] something that makes my brain light up I

[10:34] don't have a great singing voice

[10:35] naturally so it's easy for me to

[10:37] overthink this step but you just have to

[10:39] sing like nobody is listening if I allow

[10:41] any space in my brain for insecurity all

[10:43] that's going to do is take away from the

[10:45] Purity and the quality of the art that

[10:46] I'm trying to create okay let's go for

[10:48] it

[10:50] check one two

[10:54] [Music]

[10:59] [Music]

[11:06] three

[11:09] you just gotta sing like nobody's

[11:11] listening even if it sounds kind of

[11:12] stupid

[11:13] [Music]

[11:20] foreign

[11:22] [Music]

[11:32] I would highly encourage you to kind of

[11:35] form makeup words as you're singing just

[11:37] gibberish there's something about the

[11:38] kind of babbling made-up speech that

[11:40] helps you come up with Melodies but I

[11:42] kind of like that Melody that I was just

[11:43] singing remember the chords like this

[11:53] tear it down

[11:56] so I like that as simple as it is it

[11:58] makes my brain light up and it's my

[12:00] favorite Melody out of everything I sing

[12:01] so I'm going to use it for the chorus

[12:03] and I know I forgot to record from the

[12:04] get-go so all of my Melodies were

[12:06] recorded but don't forget to do that

[12:07] just record everything that you sing

[12:09] trust me also really quick if you're

[12:10] finding any of this informative or even

[12:12] just entertaining I would love for you

[12:14] to subscribe and give me the chance to

[12:16] teach you more about how to make the

[12:17] best music that you're capable of and if

[12:19] you're afraid of commitment I'll settle

[12:20] for a cheeky little like until you're

[12:22] ready for something a little more

[12:23] serious okay at last we've made it to

[12:25] the fourth and final step of the

[12:27] songwriting process lyrics if you've

[12:30] done a good job establishing a strong

[12:31] concept and then written chords to

[12:33] support the mood of the concept and gone

[12:35] with the most sticky compelling Melodies

[12:37] you could come up with while singing

[12:38] those over your chords then lyrics

[12:40] should be a breeze or at least

[12:42] significantly easier that being said I

[12:44] could probably make a whole master class

[12:46] on lyrics alone there are so many

[12:48] different styles and rhyme schemes out

[12:50] there it's easy to get overwhelmed and

[12:51] lost in the sauce so my best advice for

[12:53] lyrics is to lower the stakes

[12:56] and rhyme if you can your first version

[12:58] of lyrics doesn't have to be your final

[13:00] version and you can change things at any

[13:02] point in the process sometimes it's

[13:04] helpful just to get something down on

[13:05] paper and then improve it over time but

[13:07] it's hard to get anywhere without a

[13:09] starting point so just come up with some

[13:10] lyrics that match and go along with your

[13:12] Melody and also go with the concept of

[13:14] your song don't overthink it so what I'm

[13:16] going to do is play my chords and my

[13:18] melody over and over and try to craft

[13:19] some lyrics that are in line with my

[13:21] concept of feeling like an afterthought

[13:22] Pro tip the notes app is great for

[13:25] writing lyrics down

[13:39] thank you I just don't trust it I've got

[13:42] to have a check looking and feeling good

[13:45] oh that's the other light there

[13:48] this could take a while and you don't

[13:50] need to rush it but you also don't want

[13:52] to overthink and not get anywhere

[13:53] because you're trying to write the

[13:55] perfect lyrics so now that I've got a

[13:57] working chorus I'm going to go through

[13:58] and write a verse and a pre-chorus to

[14:00] establish some details and just finish

[14:02] the rest of the song now you can go

[14:03] ahead and pause the video right now and

[14:05] finish the rest of your song too or you

[14:07] can wait and listen to mine first so I

[14:08] can give you a few more pointers before

[14:10] you go all in

[14:11] [Music]

[14:16] foreign

[14:18] [Music]

[14:20] steps concept chords Melody and lyrics

[14:24] we've written a verse A pre-chorus and A

[14:26] Chorus we can finally listen to our

[14:28] fully written song for the sake of

[14:29] keeping the video as short as possible

[14:31] I'm just going to play my verse

[14:32] pre-chorus and chorus and we could just

[14:34] pretend that the song keeps going into

[14:35] the second verse in the pre-chorus and

[14:37] so on so let me show you how the song

[14:38] goes and we could talk a bit about it

[14:40] after

[14:42] it goes sometimes

[14:53] and I'd be a fool to try

[14:58] and open up the washer spin in circles

[15:02] in my mind

[15:04] I'm just too much sometimes

[15:08] was I on purpose or a surprise

[15:15] I'm far away with just my thoughts I'm

[15:19] sitting on the rooftop of my house

[15:23] [Music]

[15:35] [Music]

[15:42] [Music]

[15:52] [Music]

[15:53] [Applause]

[15:56] right now

[15:58] [Music]

[16:00] all right that's as far as I got and I

[16:02] think I was able to capture the

[16:03] sentiment of feeling like an

[16:05] afterthought so I like a lot of that but

[16:07] there's still some parts here and there

[16:08] that I might want to change like for

[16:09] instance I use the word sometimes in the

[16:11] verse and the pre-chorus and the line

[16:13] about opening up like a washer and

[16:15] spinning circles in my mind I wasn't a

[16:17] huge fan of that but I didn't want to

[16:18] overthink it so I just kept going all

[16:20] that said the final stage of songwriting

[16:22] is refinement just listening through

[16:24] over and over and making changes as you

[16:26] hear necessary sometimes you get lucky

[16:28] and love it the first time but for me

[16:30] nine times out of ten I'll make changes

[16:31] that vastly improve the song from the

[16:33] first version so don't be afraid to

[16:35] refine your song we are rocking and

[16:37] rolling how to write a song

[16:40] okay we got the backwards hat on and

[16:43] it's time to get real I have two closing

[16:45] thoughts on songwriting that are really

[16:46] important to consider one I set the

[16:48] steps of my process in the order that I

[16:50] did because I think it's the most

[16:51] efficient but you can write a song using

[16:53] the steps in any order you can start

[16:55] with lyrics or with Melody or even jump

[16:57] around back and forth writing some

[16:58] lyrics Here tweaking a Melody there

[17:00] adjusting chords for more emotion and I

[17:02] encourage you to find what works best

[17:04] for you and embrace the idea that people

[17:06] are different songs are different and it

[17:08] might look a little different every time

[17:09] and that's part of the excitement of

[17:10] creating art my second and final thought

[17:13] is to put your reps in if you want to

[17:15] write memorable songs get millions of

[17:16] streams and be the voice of a generation

[17:18] you know whatever your goals are you

[17:20] need to write lots of songs to improve

[17:22] Ed Sheeran calls it running the faucet

[17:24] to get all the dirty water out before

[17:25] you get to the clean stuff in other

[17:27] words writing some not so good songs to

[17:29] get to the good songs they did a study

[17:31] on a college photography class and half

[17:33] of the class was graded on one single

[17:35] picture and the other half of the class

[17:37] was graded on the basis that they had to

[17:39] submit 100 pictures by the end of the

[17:41] semester and then after that they

[17:42] selected the top photos from the entire

[17:44] class and guess which group all the

[17:46] winners came from the group that had to

[17:48] take 100 photos you could spend

[17:50] countless hours spinning your wheels

[17:51] trying to write the next big song or the

[17:54] perfect song but you're way better off

[17:55] trying to write a bunch of good songs

[17:57] instead of one Perfect song every time

[17:59] you write you improve a little bit or

[18:01] sometimes a lot but one Surefire way to

[18:03] slow down your growth or stop completely

[18:05] is to get stuck on one song for too long

[18:07] so lower the stakes and write lots of

[18:09] songs remember that it's supposed to be

[18:11] fun some people do a song a day or a

[18:13] song a week and find what works for you

[18:15] depending on what your goals are if you

[18:16] want to do it for a living try to write

[18:18] a song every day if you want to do it

[18:19] for fun right when you feel inspired but

[18:21] either way if you do want to improve you

[18:23] have to get your reps in and remember

[18:24] most importantly stop making excuses and

[18:27] start making music cheers