How do I write my own pop song?
What do I need to know?
In order to write your own pop song, you first need fundamental knowledge about the theory of chord progressions and a few cadences. Simply said, a cadence is nothing more than a specific sequence of chords.
We’ll write this “song” in the key of C major. The following chords are “allowed.”
Of course, more chords are permitted than just these, but to keep it simple, let’s strictly adhere to the chords of the key at first.
The following chords are included:
Pop Cadence Analysis
To give you an idea, let’s look at a few examples.
For example, the song “Million Reasons” by Lady Gaga has the following chords: C major, A minor, F major, G major. If you look at the “steps” (in the table above), you’ll see that first the first step is played (C major), then the 6th step (A minor), followed by the 4th (F major), and finally the 5th step (G major). So the steps for this song are: 1, 6, 4, 5.
“Let her go” by Passenger has the following chords: F major, C major, G major, A minor. Steps: 4, 1, 5, 6.
The song “Shallow” from the movie “A Star is Born” includes the chords: A minor, G major, C major, F major. Steps: 6, 5, 1, 4.
“Perfect” by Ed Sheeran has: C major, A minor, F major, G major. Steps: 1, 6, 4, 5.
As you can see: Although we technically have 7 chords available, usually only 4 of them are used.
Structure of a Pop Song
Of course, the same chords are not always simply played in the same order over and over again. Often the order of the chords changes, the length of the chord changes, or even the rhythm.
Returning to the first song; “Million Reasons” by Lady Gaga, we see a clear structure. It starts with an intro which is the same as the verse (where she starts singing). The intro and verse have the same chords in the same order, but a different rhythm. Then it goes into the chorus. Here, it’s played in half-time, meaning instead of playing one chord per beat, we now play two chords per beat.
After that, the whole thing is repeated, but without the intro. So just verse and chorus. Now comes a bridge. Here, the chords are shuffled around again and put in a different order, still in half-time.
As a conclusion, the chorus is played twice more.
To summarize:
- Intro
- Verse
- Chorus
- Verse
- Chorus
- Bridge
- Chorus 2x
Now try to write your own song based on the steps, chords, and structure. I help my students with their first few songs to maintain a clear structure/form and to find rhythms and chords. Later, they don’t need my help anymore as they can do it all by themselves. But it’s definitely possible to do it all on your own! 🙂