A Template for Songwriting

There are endless ways to write a great song, but sometimes it’s useful to have a simple songwriting template to follow. In this post, we’ll look at one way to write a complete song from scratch.

We’re going to focus on the chord progressions and melodies in order to develop the solid backbone of a song. Once you have this down, you’ll have a strong basis for creating a finished recording, if that’s your goal.

You can use this template as a jumping off point for creating your own songwriting processes. I recommend that over time you try many different approaches.

Song structure: a bird’s eye view

The most common song form in popular music since the 60s is called verse/chorus form. Many pop songs have a larger structure that is some variation of the following:

We’ll return to this larger structure later. But when we start a new song, let’s focus on a much simpler goal:

This is the core of your song. If you can write a strong chord progression and melody for each of these parts with an effective transition between them, then the rest of the song will follow.

When writing a new song, you can start from either. Starting with the chorus gives you your central (and catchiest) idea first, allowing you to build up to and support it. Starting with the verse gives you musical context for the chorus, providing something to contrast with and build upon.

What is the song about?

Try to discover what the song is about as you go. Keep a list of words in a notebook (or app) that express the main ideas, images, and feelings that come to you as you write the music.

Be willing to revise your understanding, and don’t be afraid to rewrite! It’s often tempting to keep whatever you happen to come up with first, but you should resist this temptation.

Once you’ve finished a chord progression and/or a melody, listen to it over and over and see what images or scenes come to mind. Add these to your list.

This list can be used for lyrics, for a title, and for searching for connections that you might not have immediately noticed. Let the meaning of the song guide your decisions as you proceed.

Write a chord progression

You can begin a song from many places. For this template, we’ll be starting from chord progressions. This will give you musical structure to build on as you write your melodies.

When you first sit down to write a chord progression, you don’t need to know which part you’re writing. Just start exploring possibilities.

One of the easiest ways to come up with a chord progression that “sounds right” is to stick to the six common chords of the major keys. In the key of C major, these are:

C - Dm - Em - F - G - Am

In the key of G major, these are:

G - Am - Bm - C - D - Em

If you’re a guitarist, you can write songs in these keys (and with a capo, in any key) using guitar chords you probably already know.

If you’re a keyboardist, a trick for beginners is to write the progression in the key of C major (which is all white keys) and transpose it to another key using either a keyboard transpose function if you have one or by moving MIDI notes around in your DAW.

Structuring your chord progression

There are many ways to structure a chord progression. Let’s use X, Y, Z, and Q to represent different chords, whatever they are. Here are some common 4-bar structures for a progression (with an example of each):

2 Chords

    | X | Y | X | Y |
Ex: | C | F | C | F |

    | X | X | Y | Y |
Ex: | C | C | F | F |

3 Chords

    | X | Y  | Z | X |
Ex: | C | Am | G | C |

    | X | X | Y  | Z |
Ex: | C | C | Am | G |

    | X | Y | Z | Z |
Ex: | C | F | G | G |

4 Chords

    | X | Y | Z  | Q |
Ex: | C | F | Am | G |

Plug different chords into these structures and see what you can come up with.

These are just some of the many ways to structure a chord progression, though you can write a lot of songs sticking with just these.

You can read more about getting started writing chord progressions.

And for a deeper dive, check out these posts on writing major key chord progressions and minor key chord progressions.

Verse

The verse is where the main narrative of the song takes place. The melody of a verse is often closer to speaking, since this is where you’re telling the story.

Choose a chord progression and start singing single notes or snippets of melody over it until you find something that sounds good. Gradually build on those ideas while trying to tell a story.

You can throw away all of these lyrics, but they can help you structure your melody. Allow for breathing space in your verse, even if you’re saying a lot.

Record your ideas as you try them out. Later, you can combine the best ones together.

See if you can write your verses in such a way that the chorus takes on a new or deeper meaning each time you come back to it.

Chorus

The chorus is often where you repeat the central idea in a relatively simple form. The meaning of the chorus is framed by the verses, both musically and lyrically.

A chorus is normally higher energy than a verse. The harmonic tempo is normally different as well. For example, you might change chords twice as fast or half as fast.

For example, imagine your verse has two chords:

| Am | Am | F | F |

Then maybe your chorus will have four, changing twice as frequently:

| C | F | Dm | G |

It can go the other way as well, with four chords in the verse and two in the chorus, for example.

This kind of contrast creates interest and allows the chorus to stand out. But there are also songs that use the same chord progression for both verse and chorus.

You can find more ideas on how to write a chorus here.

Bridge

Once you have your verse and chorus written, you can start thinking about adding a bridge. Take another look at the common song structure we mentioned above:

The bridge provides a contrast section where you leave behind the normal context of the song. Lyrically, a bridge presents a different perspective (e.g. it describes how things used to be, looks at things from someone else’s point of view, etc.). It is often noticeably different musically as well to support this change in perspective.

Start the bridge with a chord that stands out. That could be one from the key you haven’t used yet. Or it could be borrowed from another key. Or the bridge could be in a different key altogether.

One thing to keep in mind: don’t write a bridge just to do it. Some songs have bridges that feel like a pointless (and boring) distraction. Only use a bridge when it elevates the song.

Intros, Outros, and Instrumentals

The intro can take many forms. The simplest form is to just play the verse chord progression without vocals and then lead straight into the first verse. The intro can also present an instrumental hook, a catchy part that repeats throughout the song. And in some songs, the chorus can serve as the intro.

The outro can also take many forms. Maybe the most recognizable outro is just a repeating chorus that either fades out or stops suddenly. But outros can also be instrumental parts or even a totally new (often very repetitive) part.

Instrumentals can show up anywhere. You might have one between the first chorus and the second verse. You could have one between the bridge and chorus (or instead of the bridge). You could have one between the chorus and outro. You could even have one between verse and chorus. Of course, be careful that an instrumental part doesn’t kill the momentum.

Another somewhat common section is the pre-chorus. This goes in between verse and chorus and is often used to build tension and add interest. If you are early in your songwriting path, I’d recommend not worrying too much about pre-choruses. You might write one without realizing it, but you don’t need to make it a goal.

Next Steps

This post has presented one template for songwriting. You can download a free PDF with a more detailed template↗(opens in a new tab), including a 10-step process, common chord progressions, some useful tables, and a lyrics questions sheet to help focus your writing.

If you want to further explore writing chord progressions, you can try out my series of Practical Chord Progression exercises that will take you chord by chord through writing progressions in a major key.

And if you want to write on a regular basis, you can read about how to more effectively practice writing songs.