As songwriters we sometimes get stuck tryint to come up with original ideas. Sometimes we have an idea for part of a song, but we don’t know what to do or what to write next. There are ways to get past this common occurence. The trick is to use your W’s and H.

When people listen to a song, parts of the song bring up questions in their mind. If the songwriter said, “I’d sad and a mess,” the natural question the listener will have is, “Why?” So in order for the song to connect with the listener and make sense, the questions need to be answered. The best way to build your song is to ask questions as you write to find out what you need to add to your song, or where you need to go next. This is where the 5 W’s and H come in.

When you are working to write a song ask these questions.

Who? When? Where? Why? What happened? How did we get here?

The answers to these questions will give you alot of information and direction for your song. And don’t just stop at one set up answers. For example if you were writing a song called, “You Left Me,”  You would answer each question, and let’s say the answer to ‘Why’ is that you met someone else. Start asking the questions again, ‘Who did you meet,’ ‘When did you meet them,” “Where did you meet them.”  You can really dive deep into a subject and have lots of material for your songs this way.

Let me know if this is helpful to you, or if you have any other topics you would like covered on this blog.  ~~ Chad