How to Write a Song (Step-by-Step Tutorial)

Are you interested in learning how to write a song? You’re in the right place! In this series, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of writing a song and demonstrate every step in Hookpad so you can write your own music, too.

Hookpad is a great tool to help you write a song. Our songwriting sketchpad makes it easy to try new sounds, experiment with chords and melodies, and get help from built-in music theory tools. With Hookpad, you don’t need to play an instrument or have any experience with songwriting to begin. You can start creating great music with just a few clicks!

In Part 1, our focus is on songwriting techniques to lay a solid foundation for your song, including:

• Finding inspiration to write your song
• Crafting unique rhythmic and melodic patterns that capture your song’s mood
• Creating catchy bass lines that form the rhythmic backbone of your track

Let’s explore Hookpad and begin the process of writing a song! We hope you’ll learn some tips on songwriting along the way.

Find Inspiration to Write a Song

How do you start writing a song?

All successful songwriters have their own unique processes, so there is no “one size fits all” approach to getting started. However, for many songwriters and composers, finding musical inspiration is the first step to writing a song. In this case, I’ve chosen a word for inspiration: Cyberpunk.

The picture that comes to mind is a scene from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner or Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. Think dark concrete megacities at night lit by blue and pink neon light, a world filled with humans connected to digital devices. Separated from this society is a group of lonely hackers fighting against oppression by corrupt governments owned by powerful companies.

My goal is to harness these feelings in my songwriting.

Here is a quick preview of the song we’ll write in Hookpad. Notice how contrasting musical elements will come together when we’re done:

Select the Right Key for Your Song

First, we have to choose the right key for our song. In this case, a minor key is a good choice to harness some of the mysterious darkness that “Cyberpunk” evokes. Now, which minor key should we choose?

The specific key — like C Minor and D Minor — is often chosen to accommodate a singer’s vocal range. Because our composition will be instrumental, we have to look elsewhere.

Metal guitarists often play in E (which corresponds to the lowest string on the guitar), but for a darker and heavier sound, they sometimes tune their guitars down to C. For that reason, let’s go with C Minor.

In Hookpad, changing the key is simple. By default, all projects are in the Key of C Major. To change the key, click on the key menu and choose your preferred tonic or scale.

Build a Track’s Foundation With Melodic Patterns

It’s time to move on to one of the integral parts of making a track: writing melodies.

In our case, we’ll create two patterns:

1. A recurring melodic pattern to provide rhythm and repetition
2. A bass pattern (a series of low-pitched notes) to add depth and complement the main melody

These patterns will form the foundation of our song and help us make decisions about melodies and chord progressions for the rest of the song.

Establish a Recurring Melodic Pattern in Hookpad

We’ll start by adding 16th notes in Hookpad. This may seem a little boring at first, but it is often a good place to start.

Next, we’ll use a cool trick inspired by Classical Indian music that will help us create simple but effective melodic patterns.

In this method, we divide the 16th notes in each measure into groups and accent the first note of each group. There is no limit to the number of groups you can use as long as the math adds up to 16.

We’ll mark the start of each of these groups in the examples below by transposing the first note up an octave, so you can clearly see and hear the groups. Using only groups of even numbers (2, 4, 6) will put all accents onto positions of eighth notes.

The result is the following pattern:

6+6+4=16

Create Lively Rhythms With Syncopation in Songwriting

We can also try out syncopated rhythms.

Here, we add some groups of odd numbers (1, 3, 5, etc.) so that some of the accents lie on the offbeats. This creates a lively feel.

5+5+3+3=16

2+3+2+3+2+4=16

Not bad! This simple technique is a great way for you to develop interesting rhythmic ideas in your own songwriting.

Each of these patterns seems to fit well into this “digital” feel that we’re looking to create, but let’s run with the simpler first one.

Since we plan on contrasting this pattern later with a second rhythmic pattern, we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves.

To preserve some of the “odd” group feel, we can spice it up a bit by dividing the two groups of 6 into 5 + 1:

5+1+5+1+4

Now, we need to introduce more pitches. We can start at the root note and follow up (or down) until the group ends. Then, we start at the root note again. This creates a simple connected line.

I’ve included some chords with a simple arrangement to give an idea of where this could go.

Enhance Your Melody With Arpeggios and Chord Tones

Another approach is to “arpeggiate” and choose notes that follow the chord tones of the underlying harmony.

The C Minor chord consists of the notes C, E♭, and G, so we could focus on those notes in the melody.

For the first three notes of our 5-group, we’ll start at C and go down to G and then to E♭. We can go up again to G and C for the remaining two notes.

4+1+1+4+1+1+4

Harmonize Rhythmic Patterns for a Dark and Connected Feel

The three consecutive Cs sound a little odd.

A simple fix is changing the fifth note from C to B♭. The resulting Cm7 chord (C-E♭-G-B♭) creates a slightly darker feel, and the step from B♭ to C also adds a nice melodic touch.

And there we have it, our fully harmonized “5+1+5+1+4” pattern.

Write a Bass Pattern in Hookpad

Next, let’s create a bass pattern that follows the same 16th-note method.

This time, we’ll aim to create a contrast between the two patterns. This contrast will give each pattern its own space and will ultimately make our track sound more musical.

Let’s look at some ways to achieve this.

Craft Varied Bass Patterns With Octave Variations

This first contrast we get for free. By definition, our bass pattern will naturally be lower than our original pattern. Just like before, we’ll build up our bass pattern step by step, starting with notes on C.

For context, we’ll also include the first pattern, but we’ll only show accents at the beginning of each of its groups for clarity (red outlined notes).

Contrast Bass Patterns With Even or Uneven Numbers

With its big groups of even numbers, our first pattern has a somewhat simple rhythmic feel.

For the bass, let’s experiment with smaller groups of uneven numbers and create a livelier pattern.

One example could be 1+1+3+3+2+2+1+3.

Play With Accent Timing in Bass Patterns

An effective way to create timing contrast is to put accents in our second pattern at positions that are not already used by our first pattern.

One easy way to change an existing pattern is to shift the whole pattern to the right (or left).

Now, we’ve eliminated two shared accents, and we have only one overlap left.

Emphasize Backbeat and Dynamism in Bass Patterns

The most important position in rock and pop music is the “backbeat” (beats 2 and 4).

Let’s extend all notes on those positions to eighth notes. This will accentuate the backbeat and make the pattern more dynamic.

Create Dynamics with Rests in Bass Patterns

In our first pattern, every 16th note is played. For this second pattern, let’s remove all notes except the last in our groups of three 16ths.

Now, there are only 16th notes, 8th notes, and rests left, so the pattern feels more lively.

Craft a Melodic Bass Line With Scale Movements

We arpeggiated the first pattern using notes from the underlying chord, so for this pattern, let’s try making a more connected line by going up and down the scale. This is a common technique for bass lines.

Here, I’ve changed our non-accented notes from C down one scale degree to B♭.

Add Tension With Non-diatonic Tones

Finally, let’s experiment with adding a non-diatonic note (a note not in the scale) to our bass pattern.

Non-diatonic notes create a tension that is released when it is followed by a diatonic note (a note in the scale). This tension and release, when done properly, can create an edginess to the bass line that helps it groove.

The second to last note is a great place for a non-diatonic tone in our bass line. Let’s raise it by a half step to D♭ so that its tension releases on the final C.

Now, let’s add back all of the notes in our first pattern so we can hear everything together to see how it all sounds.

I also wrote the bass pattern in its correct range, one octave below.

Summary

So far, we’ve selected a key and used a simple approach to experiment with different rhythmic patterns to create contrasting melodic patterns. We’ll use the first pattern in the background of the song to give some color, while the second, more melodic one will later be played by our synth bass.

We put a lot of effort into creating a nice contrast between the themes, and now they complement each other nicely. We are well on our way to writing a great song!

Have a look at this short video to see the whole process in time-lapse form.

This is just the beginning of our songwriting tutorial series. In the next part, we’ll discuss picking the right chord progression and adjusting our patterns accordingly. We hope you’ve found these songwriting basics helpful. Use these tips on how to write a song to start writing music yourself!