A lot of people ask me "How do you write songs?"
This can be a very hard question to answer, because there are so many type of music and so many ways to write songs. With being said, I am going to give a few pointers that help me out!
Since I am a worship artist, nothing should come before studying The Word and prayer. You must prepare your heart before doing anything else.
1. To start of I like to clear my mind, get alone and just let the words come to me. My favorite place to right is while riding the long mower. It drowns out my thoughts and lets the lyrics flow. (Some people like to start with the chords, but I prefer starting with some lyrics). Make sure you have a pen and paper handy, don't want to lost those sweet words! 2. The next thing I do is sit down with your instrument and start figuring the rhythm. Don't get frustrated with this process, it can take some time! 3. TYPE up the words and chords into a word doc. This will help you see what you have written and make it a lot easiest for you to tell if it makes sense or not. 4. Play threw your newly typed piece of music and make any adjustments needed. Write the correction on the doc and then re-type when your done. 5. The next step is test it out! Find a friend or someone you trust musically and play the song for them. Ask for REAL criticism of the song. This may not make you fell good but it is very helpful! 6. Take the changes and see if YOU are comfortable with them or not. If it adds the to song keep it, if not leave it! 7. The song is only done when you , as the artist feel like it's done. In the end it's YOUR song!
So this is the process I use when writing my music. The most important part of the process is preparation! If your heart is the there, your music will lack it!Hope this is helpful and gives you some need things to try when writing new music!
Ryan Shelley - Christian Worship Artist Melbourne, Fl
