Secrets To Elevated Songwriting
Updated: Jun 4, 2022
How To Write Better Rock Songs (Some Advice)
How do you write better rock songs? Well, nearly every great rock song has a fantastic guitar riff. I think you can blame The Beatles for that. [Thanks, guys!] It can take seconds, or years to come up with a great riff for a song. But a very wise man once told me, "A riff is not a song."
Great Songs Combine Good Melody With Good Stories
What's the secret sauce? Back when Ralph Murphy was alive, he'd say pronoun choice, getting to the word, "you", and when to hit the chorus, were elements that made for great songs. Melody lines were to be strong and chord progressions interesting to the ear.
Today, hit songs can have 15-20 writers working on them. Writers crank out catchy-ness, hooks, and repetition. But are any of them memorable? If "Bohemian Rhapsody" is our standard, then, No! They aren't. Why?
Because great song writing is about great story telling. For this reason, great movies are great and bad movies about great books still score at the box office. When Freddie Mecury opens with, "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?" Our brain asks, "Great questions! Can you fill in the blanks for me"? Freddy’s question hooks you.
To the point, this is a song with no chorus. Epic songs like this are few and far between, yet, they are killers! Another example? Sure! Thunder Road, by Bruce Springsteen!
How you tell the story is very important. In our second example, Bruce doesn't get to the point of the song until the end. But he writes so he plainly captures your imagination. "The screen door slams, Mary's dress sways. Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays."
You see? Good story telling makes you want to hear more. The human brain is geared for great stories. That's because before we could read, story telling was how humans learned and passed lessons on. Great stories and myths were about universal truths based in epic stories. They were epic so you could remember them.
Don't have time to read Homer's The Illyad and the Odessy? Then use these shortcuts for some inspiration.
Tip #1: Read (even graphic novels)
From Shakespeare to Stan Lee, literature steeped in complex stories unveils human experience. Great authors create interesting twists and turns so inspiration can drip from every page. Plus, making references to great stories leads your audience to read these stories for themselves.
For example, do you know where the term "quixotic" comes from? It comes from "The Ingenious Gentleman, Don Quixote of La Mancha" by Miguel de Cervantes. Just knowing what quixotic means having read the book makes you that much smarter. Referring to that story in songwriting, then expands your audience's experience and vocabulary.
Ever use "quixotic" in a rhyme? It could be hypnotic over time.