When writing music be it a quartet or pop tune you’ll want to think of your composition on 3 levels.

• Melody
• Counter-Melody
• Harmonic Material

Melody is usually the lyrics or the singing part of the music. This is the part most people grab onto.

Counter-Melody is a secondary melody. Sometimes it occurs at the same time and other times we get a call and answer effect. But it’s function is to balance the melody and fill some musical space. Most of the time this is the bass line, but it doesn’t have to be.

Harmonic Material is the chords and background sounds. In pop music this is usually played by the rhythm section. This part of the music helps to drive the music along. It’s what gives us tension and release which is like jet fuel for songwriting.

I’ll post more details about each section in the next few weeks. Questions? Put ‘em in the comments section.

Just like many of the things I talk about here on the CJSmusic blog, songwriting is a learned skill that anyone can master. I want to give you a head start on how to compose music that resonates with your audience.

What is Songwriting?

Songwriting is a specific skill that a musician can attain. Many songwriters are also instrumentalists as well. Songwriting can sometimes get mixed up with jingle writing and film scoring, but I don’t want you to confuse those skills because they require a different skill set. However, many techniques that a film composer or jingle creator uses can be transferred to songwriting. So in the simplest terms, a songwriter is a composer of words or music for popular songs.

You’ll notice in that definition that a songwriter is both a composer and a wordsmith. I’m going to talk only about the music side in this article. In the future I will talk about creating words for music.

Making Music

Foundation
My first tip for you is to learn standard chord progressions. The chord progressions I’m talking about are used over and over by many artists and you should learn to employ them yourself. Have a look at the video below if you don’t believe me.

Forms
Music is not the government, thankfully! However, we musicians like to create standard music forms. These forms help structure songs as a whole. You’ll need to learn where to place the chorus, the verse, bridge and other musical sections. Song structure is important as it will help to create an arc or story, which will be important when we add words.

Tension and Release
Once you understand form and the basic chord progressions you must understand why these things work. All songs build tension and then release tension. Just like a good novel or movie. Suspense must be built before it can be released. This concept goes all the way back to the time of Bach.

If you learn anything from this article this is it – learn to use tension and release.

The Best Idea
The best idea is the one you didn’t try. Always look for ways to experiment. Push boundaries and seek new paths but do it intelligently.

Master these ideas and you’ll be on your way to songwriting stardom.