How to write a Christian pop song

Hey guys! So today I had an excellent Idea. I had the idea of sharing my music knowledge with the world. I was planning on answering any questions that musicians may have towards their musicianship, music career, or just music in general. 

I was going to live stream the whole thing and just say, ask away to a music guru. 

However, I chickened out and I just made a video about me writing Christian hits on the internet. 

Literally all I did was write Christian music on Facebook. 

Hit a like if you want to see that on this blog. 

But anyways, I decided to write a blog post about how to write a Christian pop song.

I know I’ve done this in the past, but I haven’t done it as extensively as I’m about to do it right now.

But before we get into any of that, let’s pray for all of the things in our lives. 

At this time, I would like all of us to pray for all of the things in our lives. Pray to God to help you to become the best possible person that you are supposed to be. Take a minimum of 5 minutes and pray for all of the things in your lives. 

Now back to the show

How to write a Christian pop song

Keep in mind I’m telling you how to write a Christian pop song, however, there are a few elements in this blog post that can relate to any kind of music too. So if you’re a musician out there, look out cause this might apply to you. 

Music Theory.

So If you’ve gotten this far, I’m going to assume that you know a LITTLE music theory. 

And it’s fine because a little music theory goes a long way. 

But let’s get right into it. 

When you’re making pop songs in general, you want to keep it simple. I know, I know that sounds like all of the other music gurus that are out there but hear me out. 

The reason why we say keep it simple is because it’s very difficult for our ears to really appreciate a diminished 9th chord. Alright haha, it’s hard to digest it. 

And even though you can use it, in pop music, it’s seldom that you’ll ever NEED to use it. There’s a chord progression that I use that’s a little complex for beginner musicians, but nothing compared to what some of you musicians are trying to do. 

Like the chord progression is this: Iadd9, V, vimin7, and IVmaj7. If you’re at a guitar just play a random rhythm with the chord progression Cadd9, G, Am7, Fmaj7. I absolutely love the way that, that chord progression sounds like. 

It’s nothing new and nothing revolutionary. But it’s got taste and feel. 

And I can already hear the crowd of NON-MUSICIANS or maybe BEGINNER SONGWRITERS saying, “But German, I want to make something artistic and revolutionary, something with color, and texture, I want to use these ADVANCED chords because they express how I feel.”

Well that’s dandy and all but if you ever listen to the pop hits that WERE REVOLUTIONARY, you’ll notice something, a pattern. 

3 chords, 4 chords. Key of E major, E minor, G major, A major, A minor. Chord progression: C, F, G, F; C, Am, G, F; G, Em, C, D, and heaven forbid if they decide to go buck wild and do: E and F#m repeated over and over again. 

So like with a lot of the music theory that you’ll encounter with pop books (by the way pop in this instance means anything mainstream so it could mean hip-hop, pop, country, rock, etc. etc.) You’ll find that they’ll keep things very simple but know how to get complex when it’s needed. 

Here is another music theory lesson, I know that this sounds a little “hipster” but pop songs are very repetitive. 

I know, I know, how much easier could it get to write a pop song? But wait there’s more! 

You repeat A LOT OF THE ELEMENTS, except for the lyrics. 

You repeat the same instrumentals, the same melody, the same background vocals, the same A LOT. 

And even still, I know that you don’t repeat the lyrics a lot, but that’s not true to an extent either. You can repeat a lot of the same lyrics and in pop songs, you are NEEDED to write the same lyrics for the chorus and strong hooks. 

If you ever notice a pop song, you will see that they repeat the same chords over and over again, and if it’s not the chords, its the chord progression. 

I’ll give you  a few examples that repeat the same things over and over again, specifically the chord progression: Dr. Dre’s Still Dre, Eminem’s Till I Collapse, Taylor swift’s Love Story, Journey’s Don’t stop believing, Jonas brother’s Love bug, Ed Sheeran’s Thinking out loud, Sam Smith’s I’m not the only one, and the list goes on and on. 

Now that’s the verses and maybe choruses of the song. Some of the choruses use different chords, but that’s the thing, when they get into the chorus, they repeat the chorus until the chorus is over. Look at all those songs and find their chord progressions and see if I’m lying!! And not just that, but look at your own playlists and see if I’m lying!! 

Melody: when writing melodies it’s a little bit tricky, but not too hard! Remember repetition and simplicity is KING. so keep it that way. 

The main formula for making a melody is that you keep the same melody for the verses and keep the melody low and quiet, and when you get to the chorus, you get loud and high. 

Remember repetition and simplicity is king, so you have to repeat the Choruses one way or another. Either through rhythm, lyrics, melody or a combination of all three. 

However, there are instances in melodies for verses and choruses where getting higher in the verse and lower in the chorus is BENEFICIAL. 

It really just takes a whole lot of practice to hear what you really want the music to sound like. However, remember that repetition and simplicity is king, so don’t make it too complex. 

And there’s a few more formulas for making great melodies.

1. A 1 note melody is ok to have but you have to be very rhythmically diverse in the delivery of the melody in order for it to sound interesting. 
2. A 2 note melody is almost the same as a 1 note melody except it’s a little more diverse and can have less of a rhythmic movement.
3. A three note melody is the sweet spot. The three note melody has been dubbed the king of motif’s by some songwriters. Why? Because in almost any instance, a three note melody will sound good in almost any chord progression. And it almost doesn’t matter which notes you choose, within reason of course. I mean of course you still have to be in key and most likely playing notes that are within the chord that you’re playing, but it doesn’t have to be. 
4. A four note melody or above can be used, however, they are meant more for runs to show off the voice of the singer. A four note melody specifically can be used as a strong hook, however, in my experience they have to be really slow melodies. Not slow as in tempo type slow where the bpm is like 80, but slow as in like whole notes and half notes type slow. 
5. A five note melody: i just described it above for anything more than four but I’ll go more in depth here. When playing larger melodies, it’s easy to get lost and not feel the emotion of the song. What happens is that our minds need time to digest the melody and we need a little bit more time than what big melodies might give us. That’s why 1,2, or 3 note melodies are the best because oftentimes you’ll play them slower than bigger melodies. 

*** now time for some rules that can be broken.***-So keep in mind that these rules help A LOT but they don’t have to be followed all the time. 

1. Write melodies in stepwise motion
2. Save leaps for big parts of the song like the chorus
3. Start low, “faster compared to the rest of the song”, and quiet, and end up in the chorus, Loud, high, and slow
4. If you want to make a different melody, use a melody that changes all throughout the song but connects to each chord. Say for example if I’m writing in the key of C and my first chords are C and G the notes in the chord C are C, E, and G, and the notes in the Chord G are G, B, and D, it makes sense that you would start on the note C and end by switching chords on the note G. Keep in mind that repetition is still a key factor here, so you’ll have to repeat the rhythm of the melody in order for it to sound catchy. This is how some people tell stories with melodies. 
5. If you want a happy song, write in a major key, if you want a sad song, write in a minor key. If you want happy chords, use major chords, sad chords= minor chords. 
6. If you want to sound bluesy, this is my opinion and I think it sounds SO GOOD, then just take whatever chords you want to use within the key of the song that you’re trying to make and add a 7 to it. Literally, if you have the chord progression C, F, and G, use C7, F7, and G7. that’s a trick that I heard from a professional blues guitarist. 
7. You can use chords that are different from the key but you have to know how to use it. Or just mess around a whole bunch listening to what you like and use it when you like it. The proper term for that is called modal interchange. That’s when you use different modes to your advantage and it can be used in pop music. There’s a popular chord progression that uses that: C, G, F, Fm. some of you guys heard that modal interchange in that song creep by radio head. The chords to that song by Radiohead is B, F#, G#, and G#m. That G#m is modal interchange. It’s using a mode that is outside of the key that you’re playing in. 
8. Fast melodies and songs are meant to hype the crowd up. Slow melodies and songs are meant to be emotional. 
9. Fast means happy, Slow means sad. 
10. You can interchange emotions with different speeds of melodies, chords, keys, etc. etc. and you can also do the same with the lyrics
11. If you want to get better at writing lyrics, you have to practice writing poetry. 
12. Use imagery when writing lyrics, it paints a picture. 
13. Use allegory, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, metaphors and simlies when writing lyrics.

******* those last 3 tips are absolutely essential for lyrics.******

Lastly, it takes time and practice in order to make great songs. You’re not going to get it over night. But! You if you practice it like there’s not tomorrow, anything is possible. 

Broadcast

I sure hope that I have been an inspiration and a hope to you all. Please pray, read your bible, go to church, and love God above all else. Like, comment, share, subscribe, and I will see you all next time. 

Remember if you want to go to heaven, then believe in Jesus and you will go to heaven.

German Gonzalez, signing out!