Music theory that every songwriter should know

Hey everyone! So today, I’m going to go over some music theory that every songwriter should know. 

Before we get into it, let’s have our moment of silence. 

At this time, I would like all of us to take a moment of silence and pray to God to help us to become the person that he wants us to become. Ask God to make us the musicians that he wants us to become. Take a minimum of 5 minutes and pray for this. 

Now back to the show

Music theory that every songwriter should know

Ahh music theory, you can’t live with it, you can’t live without it.

Everyone knows that music theory is probably one of the greatest impacts on modern music.

Music theory helps to guide us to know which note to pick and how to shape our song. 

But what if we don’t know any music theory? 

Well, that’s where blog posts like this come in.

Today, Let’s go over some of the most basic music theory rules and guidelines that we need to know in order to write songs.

The rules that are not so much rules

So the first thing that you should know about music theory is that they are THEORY. So it’s not like a hard and fast rule that you have to follow in any of these things that I’m about to tell you. 

I mean right here I say that you should keep your songs within 2 to 4 chords. However, Queen consistently made songs that were way more than just 2 to 4 chords long and they were all hits. 

Michael Jackson had a chord progression that I think was 7 chords long and he was the king of pop.

Toole consistently writes songs that are in odd time signatures and it just varies from song to song on how to form it. 

But here are some of the most popular things that musicians do in order to write songs. 

1. Keep it in simple Duple or triple meter. What that means is keep it in 4/4, 2/4, ¾, or 6/8. If you don’t know too much about music theory, just imagine the most Poppy pop song in the world, and it’s almost without a doubt that you are in 4/4. 70% of all pop music is written in 4/4. Another 20%  is written in ¾ or 6/8 and the last percents are written in any other Time Signature that you could imagine. 
2. Write simple chord progressions Now here is where I say you gotta write simple 2 – 4 chord long chord progressions. The reason why is because writing between 2 to 4 chords are very fun and can create a very dynamic song. It also allows different variability for different melodies in a song. 
3. Keep the melody simple I know that some melodies have a lot of flats and sharps and naturals placed into them. However, the simple major and minor scales are just enough for you to create a great pop hit. 
4. Write simple drum patterns. So always, keep the bass on 1 and 3 and anywhere else. And the snare on 2 and 4. Trust the process when I say that it sound great! 
5. Keep the entire melody within 1 octave of each other. So if you analyze most pop music, they are actually all singable. And the reason why they are like that is because the point of the song is to get you to sing it. 
6. Keep transitions simple yet effective. Transitions and fills are meant to move a song forward with a direction. So keep the transitions simple yet effective. Unless of course if your entire schmick revolves around being complex, then go ahead and fill away. 
7. Write a whole bunch of poetry Creating poetry helps to create lyrics that are powerful enough to be in a song. So get to writing! 

Broadcast

I sure hope that I have been an inspiration and a hope to you all. Please remember to 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.

If you want to go to heaven, then believe in Jesus and you will go to heaven. (John 3:16)

Thank you all for listening in on this blog post. 

German Gonzalez, signing out!

Hey guys! Here is an article about performing at nightclubs and bars. Go Check it out here.

Hey guys! Here is how to share your music to record labels.