Posted on by Mr. G.

Song Writing Project

Using the Song Writing Worksheet, which you can download below, use the I, IV, V, and vi chords to develop a chord progression pattern for your song.

Here are the steps:

  • Choose a key in which the I, IV, V and vi chords are comfortable for you to play on your chosen instrument.
    • Don’t be too worried about the key, since you can change it at a later time using the chart, just make sure you’re comfortable enough with it to be able to play the chords without too much effort.
  • Decide upon a main idea for your song.
    • This can be a topic for which you will write words/lyrics or a melody.
  • Once you have a main idea, start forming verses.
    • Think in terms of forming sections like verse, chorus, bridge.
  • Decide which order you want to put the chords in.
    • You can try out different patterns and combinations without even having an instrument using a website called drumbot.
    • You may have to try it several times by rearranging the chords to make sure that they sound good with the melody and words that you came up with.
    • Don’t forget that you are expressing not only an idea but a feeling, so the chords and harmony are what really get the feeling across.  Most of the time the words are getting the idea across so work on it until it sounds right.
  • Put it together!
    • Play the song and sing the words or play the melody to finalize your composition as a whole.
    • Remember that you will be composing your song finally, in GarageBand.  That means that you will be able to play more than one instrument at a time because you will be able to layer the sounds on top of each other.

Here are some materials that will be useful for you for this project.

[pdf https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17823174/Music%20Resources/Song%20Writing%20Worksheet.pdf 450 600]

[pdf https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17823174/Music%20Resources/Key%20Transposition%20Poster.pdf 450 300]