Writing a song is epic! It gives you instant cred with the ladies/gentlemen, is the best fun you’ll have with your clothes on, and you get to share the music you’ve created!
So how do you write a song? Here are three ways you can get making sweet, sweet music.
1. Write about a breakup
Yep, it’s annoying, but heartbreak is great for a song because it brings out the best and worst feelings in us. Being dumped redefines bittersweet: as your misty eyes envisage the fun you had together, you start to relive the romance, and then you feel a dagger rip your heart as you remember they aren’t around anymore.
Intense feelings make for great lyrics so channel that soul-destroying hurt and write a song. Adele did. So did Miley. And you can too.
2. Write a poem first
Remember high school English lessons where you read poetry aloud? I tapped my foot to make a rhythm for the best listener experience, and that Four Four beat on a four line poem naturally translates itself to a song.
Set yourself to a clock for 60 beats per minute, and once you’ve written roughly the same number of syllables in each line, and you have the second and fourth lines rhyming, you’re sweet.
For example:
To write a song
You make a rhyme
And you can bust it
Any time
It’s not so hard at all. Practice it and get that Four Four beat rocking the way Michael Jackson did. He set the stage with this beat. You can too.
3. Add a tune to your rocking poem
If you ever find a tune looping in your head, record it IMMEDIATELY.
Sorry to sound bossy, but if you think, “Oh, I’m on the train/in the cinema/at work/in a meeting, and I’ll get it down later,” I promise you, you WON’T.
How do I know? Because it’s happened to me. And I’ve been a slow learner with this.
So to break the unproductive pattern, my phone has become my recording friend, and hence I’ve been known to excuse myself from meetings or extricate myself from a lover’s embrace to Whisper Hum a tune into my phone.
If your boss sacks you, give them the rock star salute. If your lover scolds you, tell them they’ve inspired you.
Whatever you do and wherever you are and whenever it happens, please, PLEASE, RECORD THE DAMN TUNE. And if people stare at you, tell ‘em, “Jones and Ross made me do it!”
A Real Life Example
Song inspiration comes from living. And if you are a solo singer songwriter, nurture your genius by letting yourself create, and get it written down.
And if you find a partner in music crime, embrace the magic you make.
Because this is how Blindsided happened.
Trevor sent me a ditty.
I wrote some lyrics and sang them into my phone.
We got in the studio and tweaked it. And this is Blindsided
Listen to Blindsided on Spotify
If you need some song inspo, we’d love to help! Listen to some of the different genres Trevor and I have written on Jones and Ross Or drop us a line at hello@jonesandross.com
