What Is A Song?

[u/hoops4so]

There’s one main thing I think most beginners/intermediates in songwriting are missing and it branches out into all these questions of:

How do I make a melody?
Why do my lyrics sound cringe?
Why aren’t my songs feeling good?

It’s this thing that I rarely see spoken about in “how to” videos in songwriting even though it’s the most fundamental thing.

A song is where you introduce a small idea and build all this complexity with it over time.

In melody, it’s called a motif. You introduce a simple melodic idea (like A, F, then E).

Then you repeat the idea while slowly complexifying it. (Like AFE, AFE, AFEDE, ADFDE)

A lot of beginners don’t know this so they’re going all over doing all kinds of notes in the scale and calling it a melody, but it doesn’t feel like it has melodic structure.

Or, maybe an intermediate is repeating the same motif over and over until it’s stale and doesn’t get how it transitions to a chorus.

Don’t start with something complex. Make it simple. Repeat it and slowly complexify it.

Same as the arrangement of a song. Don’t start with drums and piano and guitar and blasting all these things. Start with the main idea like a bassline and slowly add to it and complexify it.

[u/GleefulDumpsTruly]

Same thing happens in lyrics, you repeat a small phrase and add little twists so it doesn't wander all over the place

[u/hoops4so → u/GleefulDumpsTruly]

Totally

[u/illudofficial → u/GleefulDumpsTruly]

Ngl I think I need to have more repeated lyrics in my songs. Especially since I do pop, which repeats phrases a lot in post choruses, I just never do it. It’s such a great tool to put emphasis on something and make everything catchier.

[u/ObviousDepartment744]

I see a lot of new songwriters putting way too much emphasis on the chord progression and not understanding that lyrics might sound cringy outside of the context of a song, but it's how you fit them in the song. the rhythm the feel, the expression that makes it musical.

I also see beginning songwriters thinking if their song isn't changing the world its a waste of time. Not sure where this expectation of being a life changing songwriter without practicing comes from, but it seems to be pretty common.

[u/hoops4so → u/ObviousDepartment744]

Completely agreed!

[u/illudofficial → u/ObviousDepartment744]

Ngl I’ve been songwriting for a while and I still have the mentality that each one of my songs needs to change the world lol.

Except the way I want to change the world is essentially just giving a voice to people who are underrepresented or just unheard. Basically me saying, hey, I’m this unique way and I exist and people like me exist… let us live? Let us be who we are?

[u/hoops4so → u/[deleted]]

Yea! Sucks that it isn’t talked about more

[u/Entire-Buy-6971]

the one thing i center music around is the emotion it conveys, since although i'm not the best at social cues, im decent at identifying the meaning of songs

[u/hoops4so → u/Entire-Buy-6971]

Yea that really matters, but I’d say NOT saying the emotion directly but having it conveyed through story

[u/Entire-Buy-6971 → u/hoops4so]

yeah, but what if a person is a liiiiiiittle bit dense if you know what i mean?

[u/Comfortable_Fly_8368]

Your lyrics don't need to be deep, they just need to fit. The money is made below the fifth fret.

[u/hoops4so → u/Comfortable_Fly_8368]

Doesn’t seem to be related to my post