Study and imitate your favorite songwriters. Good songwriters develop their craft by first imitating their heroes. Bob Dylan, considered by many as the most significant songwriter of the 20th century, began writing songs in the style of Woodie Guthrie. Lennon and McCartney's early songwriting efforts were patterned after their rock heroes such as Little Richard, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. Studying and analyzing the song craft of great songwriters helps you to learn the tools of the trade. Avoid being satisfied with mere imitation. All the great songwriters develop their own voice.
Experiment with different songwriting approaches. A good song combines interesting lyrical content, melodies, and musical structure. Some songwriters, such as John Hiatt, write the music first and then the lyrics. Other songwriters write lyrics first and then music to match. Still others write both at the same time. Lennon and McCartney often composed the music first while singing nonsense lyrics. The lyrics were a way of creating a song melody.
Write down song ideas in a notebook. Many songwriters carry a small notebook with them because song ideas may occur to them any time of the day. Jot down interesting things and ideas that you encounter during the day such as a news story, a topic of conversation, a passage you read in a book, or even a song you hear on the radio.
Set a mood with the chords and song structure. A basic understanding of chords provides the tools for creating mood and atmosphere. Chords can be divided into three main groups, major chords, minor chords and dominant 7th chords. Major chords work well with love songs and songs that want to create an upbeat and lighthearted mood. Minor chords provoke a darker and melancholy feeling. Dominant 7th chords are somewhere between the two. Jazz and blues relies heavily on dominant 7th chords. The type of chord plays a significant role in the mood of the song, but the tempo and rhythm contribute significantly to the mood of the song as well.
Match the lyrical content to the musical mood of the song. Experiment with different lyrical ideas in order to find the best lyric. Avoid cliches. Good songs take the listener by surprise. Write out different words, images, and rhyming patterns. The lyrical approach may be logical and systematic or it may be more metaphoric and elusive.
Create a verse and chorus for the song. The chorus is the part of the song that is repeated several times during the song and its repetitive refrain is often the part of the song that sticks in a listener's memory. The verse and chorus usually have different chord and melodic structures that distinguish them from one another. Many songs also have a bridge breaking up the repetition between the verse and chorus.