How to create a worship song?

Hey everyone! So today, I’m going to go through how to create a worship song.

Let’s get into it.

Shoutout to Caesar027

I was inspired to write this blog post in response to one of my comments right here on this blog. 

Shoutout to you Caesar027 for asking the question, “So I am writing a Christian song. I can’t play like most worship music like the guitar and piano. During some songs, there is like a background soft ambience sound, how do musicians make that? I think it’s like a piano mode or some sort midi tracks. As of right now I am trying to get some chords in the key of C for the song to work and my friend who plays guitar is helping me a lot since I don’t know much about how chords work and stuff. Is there anything else I would like technical and non technical knowledge-wise and instrument-wise I need to make a full fledged song that could work as a worship song. Like specific piano modes or like ambience software or anything like that or just random noises or something to add to the song?”

and this is actually a really great question, though I think it’s a little too advanced for you, I do think that you shouldn’t let anything get in the way of making music. 

So with that being said, I’m going to do my best to cover as much about how to create a worship song as possible.

Let’s talk

How to create worship music?

So let’s look at your question first and foremost.

So asking how to create a full fledged worship song involves many different aspects each requiring a dedicated amount of time to practice and hone in on the skills side of everything. 

So what I’m trying to say is that don’t expect to make a top ten hit, when you don’t really have that much experience. 

I mean you’re telling me that you don’t really know much about chords, and that’s almost the foundation of every song that there is. 

But it’s okay, I’ll talk about how to make a song in this blog post. 

But just know asking how to create a full fledged worship song is a lot like asking a doctor, “Teach me everything you know about how to be a doctor?” It’s very broad and very big of a subject to talk about.

anyways, let’s talk about it.

The songwriting aspect of a worship song

So there is a saying in the music industry and the saying is that if you can make a song sound good with just the chords and the voice I.E. the guitar and the voice, then you have a hit song. 

So this means that we have to practice making songs with just the guitar and the voice in order to make hit songs. 

Or if you want piano and voice, but it has to be something that has the ability for chords or a rhythm element, which is why the guitar or piano is ideal for songwriting. 

And really there are quite a few different approaches when creating a melody for a song. 

If you don’t know it already a melody are the notes that you sing in the song. 

You often times sing the melody while saying lyrics. Lyrics are the words.

you see the difference, the words are the lyrics, the actual notes is the melody. 

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. 

You need both a melody and chords to really make a song sound good. 

let’s talk about some of the different approaches in a melody. 

START LOW AND END HIGH

So that means that you start your melody at a lower pitch and you end your melody on a higher pitch.

It’s a very effective way of making a song. It’s very powerful. 

Learn how to create hooks and use them accordingly in your songs.

I’ll give you 2 big hints. 1 note, 2 note, and 3 three note hooks are super powerful with 3 notes being the most powerful. 

And you need to write every line like a hook, but save your best hooks for the chorus. 

So for you starter songwriters out there, start out by making 1 or 2 note hooks in the verses and then in the chorus make 3 note hooks in the chorus, all while starting low in the verses and ending high in the chorus. 

Now by this time you’re probably wondering to yourself, “But German, what about chords?”

This is an excellent question. 

You probably are wondering to yourself, “German, how do I pick the right chords? I mean aren’t there thousands of chords in the standard guitar tuning?”

Yes this is true, however, you should know that most songs just need simple major, minor, and the occasional seventh chords. 

That’s true for most pop songs. 

So if you just stick within the key that you’re in, you could actually make some pretty cool chord progressions. 

So say for example if you want to pick the key of C and you don’t know what are the chords in the key of C, 

There is a whole bunch of theory as to why and what chords go in different keys, however, to save you on time and a few years in music lessons. 

Just google it. 

Just put in google, “What are the chords in the key of C?” 

It works well with any key. 

What are the chords in the key of A or Am, or whatever your hearts desire is. 

Now when you google, “what are the chords in the key of C?” There might appear Roman Numerals. 

Just know that they are just numbering the chords based on their position in the key. 

So I or one would be C, ii or 2 would be Dm, iii would be Em, IV, would be F, V or five is G, vi or 6 is Am, vii is Bdim7 and I is C again. 

And those numbers are important but if you’re new to songwriting, don’t pay too much attention to them. 

Just look for some good chords that sound good together and mess around with it. 

Now there are a few different theories on how to create chords, but in all honesty, just keep it within 2 – 4 chords long and you should be good. At least for a beginner. 

Production

So production is a whole other animal that you have to tame. 

In all honesty all of these things that I’m mentioning took me a long time to really understand and to really learn. 

So yeah, let’s just jump right into it. 

Drums

In a worship song, drums have a very rhythmic side of it all. 

It’s actually very different from hip-hop and rock where the drums play like a side part that plays on repeat. 

In Worship music, the drums might be a little bit more active. 

however, the best way to create great drums, is by first replicating already existing drums in your DAW. 

So if you hear a Hillsong, song and you like their drums in one song, then just replicate it in one of your sessions.

It might be hard to do it, but hey no one said music was easy. 

And the things that you will learn how to produce are so valuable that it will change your music. 

Bass

There are a whole bunch of theories as to how to create bass lines. 

But for starters, you could just follow the root notes of the chords and play long slow notes.

Pads

So pads are actually soft and subtle synths. 

And believe it or not, it’s in most songs. 

IT’s just that the space that we create in Worship music just really highlights the pads by a lot. 

So that’s why they’re more prevalent in worship music. 

You might notice a background noise that’s being played. 

There are 2 types of ways that musicians create those pads. 

The first method is by literally just playing the same exact chords that are being played in the guitars and pianos in the pads.

Or you could literally just take the root of the song, and just have that playing on repeat, that’s more of a hip-hop method but it’s still used in worship music. 

Effects

Effects are the noises that you hear in a song. 

Those birds chirping in the background, or maybe that audience clapping, 

That’s effects. 

And you could actually use effects to make great background noise. 

But you have to learn how to chop up samples. More on that in another blog post. 

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!