How To Write A Worship Song – Part 1

Beginning writing a song can be the most daunting part. Where do you start? What do you write about? What strumming patterns will drive the song forward and keep it both interesting and dynamic? How do you pick melodies that are catchy and memorable?

So, I’d like to break down how to write a song by answering these four questions.

1. Where do you start?

Most songs I’ve written, whether worship guitar songs or secular, have started by stumbling onto a riff or chord progression while sitting and playing my guitar. As I’m playing different things, something will jump out and catch my interest. At that point I’ll play it several times and sing different melodies over the top of it, using any lyrics that come to mind.

2. What do you write about?

Well, what would you like to write about? What is pressing on your mind right now? What has affected you on an emotional level recently? What do you wish your favorite artists would right about? What themes in Christian guitar songs have inspired you recently? Write about that! That’s the great thing; you have the freedom to write about whatever YOU want to write about.

Some songwriters will write out lyrics, like a poem, before even considering what music will accompany it. I am rarely able to do that myself, though. I always write the music first, see how the music makes me feel and then I write lyrics that match that feeling. Have you chosen minor chords that are making you feel melancholic or sad? Then write lyrics that tell a story that will match the feeling you listener has when experiencing your music. Sometimes your strum pattern will direct you to what your lyrical content should be.

Most importantly, I think, with lyric writing is honesty. Write what is true and authentic. Don’t write what you think others want to hear; write what is true about what you thing or what you feel.

Also, the more specific you write, the more universally others will identify with the content. A common mistake inexperienced writers make is writing broadly and non-particularly hoping to capture a wide variety of people. This kind of writing doesn’t tap into the emotions of most people, whereas pinpointing a distinct experience or scenario has a way of gripping the listener.

3. What chord progression or riff should be the basis of the song?

In the question, “Where do you start?” I talked about jamming until you found a riff or Christian guitar chord progression that struck you as interesting. Sometimes this will be the driving force of the song. Sometimes you will continue to improve it until it sounds nothing like it did to begin with. One way or another, that’s only one section of the song. Generally a song will need at least two main sections (verse and chorus), and many songs will have a third (bridge) as well as an intro. It will be up to you how many sections your song has, but it is safe to stick with a song structure that listeners are familiar with hearing.

While developing multiple sections for a given song, it’s important that they are different enough but have similar enough qualities that allow them to seamlessly flow together. There may be times where you purposefully don’t want the sections to flow together for effect. Unless that’s the case, it’s wise to give them a cohesive feel.

One way to give the sections a cohesive feel is to use the same, or many of the same, chords but in a different order. Or you could even use the same chords in the same order but switch up the strumming pattern of riff.

I hope that is helpful so far. I’ll send you the responses to the other to questions in part two which will be published soon. You can learn more about how to write a worship song here >>

Tags: christian guitar, worship guitar, worship guitar songs, worship songs