September 29, 2025 • 24 mins
So you have a notebook full of ideas, but no idea how to turn them into actual songs… I am here to tell you that songwriting is not nearly as hard as you might think - not when you have a step-by-step system that you can follow. Coach Juliana and I talked about what steps you need to take to turn your ideas into full songs.
👉 Grab the Songwriting Framework PDF here (currently on sale for just $7!): https://lessons.voxtapestudios.com/the-songwriting-framework-pdf
👉 Join our live class called How To Write Songs You’ll Actually Like happening on October 14th: https://lessons.voxtapestudios.com/how-to-write-songs-youll-actually-like-live-masterclass
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
so you wanna get started
(00:01):
with writing your very first song
or at least your first complete song
but you don't really know where to start
well welcome
you have come to the right place
we have our framework but
our framework can be molded to whatever your needs are
right like you can move some of the order around and
and what not I'm the same way
um melodies first
and I think there's two specific reasons why
(00:22):
first because lyrics never came easily to me
I was a really bad lyric writer for a really long time
and melodies would always be so easy
like I can listen to something
and just create a ton of different kinds of melodies
that makes sense somehow
anyone can do that
like you were three years old and you did it
like you don't need to have knowledge
around music or be a credible musician
(00:44):
and it wasn't until I was in the room with Pro Writers
in Nashville when I was writing my first record
where I was like oh
oh OK
like I started like
picking up all these tips and tricks from these people
and I was like OK
now this is making a lot more sense
creating my framework that we are now teaching to
to all of our students
that came when I started teaching songwriting
(01:11):
hey Vox Star
and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
at VoxTape Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the three fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry
whether you're looking to go pro
(01:32):
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources
Alrighty are you ready let's get started
with writing your very first song
or at least your first complete song
but you don't really know where to start
well welcome
you have come to the right place
and to talk about how to get started
(01:53):
with writing your very first complete song
and also the song that you actually like haha
cause that's kind of important
I have our wonderful coach
Juliana here with me virtually in the studio hello
coming to us from LA
isn't the internet a wonderful thing
that we can have conversations like this
(02:14):
it's wonderful you know
I have a little camera
propped up in front of my computer
and Lara's doing the same
so hopefully you guys see us in here is OK
Yay yay yay
we shall see but I'm sure it works just fine
thank you for joining me for this
um for this session here today
and to talk about songwriting
you are
(02:34):
besides being one of our wonderful vocal coaches
you are also our songwriting coach on staff
so I'm very excited to have this conversation with you
because you have a ton of experience with songwriting
and actually before we started rolling
I was like
earlier today I was looking at the BIOS that we have
(02:56):
of all the coaches on the website
and on there
it says that songwriting is your main passion
is that true it is
I love it's just like
I don't know I think it's what I started doing
before I even started singing
just like
telling stories
and coming up with weird things in my head
and then that transformed into song later on in life
(03:18):
so yeah
I love it it's just like
I love helping students with their songs
I love like
you know
taking a song and making it fit
and have a natural journey
and it's just lovely that is so awesome
cause I'm the opposite I started writing songs
maybe not initially but when it
(03:39):
when it was like more professionally
I started writing songs out of necessity
not really because that was my main passion
my main passion has always been singing
and if you still maybe today
if you asked me like
what is my dream and that
that was just like my dream
my entire life is like what is your dream
it would be being a singer on stage
(04:00):
and
somebody else figures out what the dancers are doing
and what songs I'm singing
maybe not what songs I'm singing
but like I'm not the one writing the songs like that
that was always my dream like
I just wanted somebody to tell me what to do
and I would just sing that's all I ever wanted to do
and quickly realize that hmm
(04:21):
like sorry
that's just not really how this works
not today like yes
there are still people out there that are songwriters
they are not performers
and they just write songs for other people
that is still a thing very much so
but as a new coming artist
like
if you wanna have a chance of getting signed by a label
or just have a career whether you have a label or not
you need to know how to write a song
(04:42):
if you don't your career is never gonna take off
and nobody's ever gonna be
interested in working with you
or signing you in the first place
so you have to know how to write songs
so I did it initially out of necessity
and I was so so bad at it
oh my god
I was so bad at it and um
then I Learned more about songwriting at Berkley
(05:05):
during college and honestly
I was still very much stuck with songwriting
I still very much felt like my songs are still not good
especially the lyrics
I was always struggling with lyrics
I could write melodies all day long
but lyrics I was still struggling with
uh but
and it wasn't until I was in the room with Pro Writers
in Nashville when I was writing my record
(05:25):
my first record where I was like
oh oh okay
like I started like
picking up all these tips and tricks from these people
and I was like okay
now this is making a lot more sense
and then you know
creating my framework that I'm
that we are now teaching to
to all of our students um
that came when I started teaching songwriting
like
I didn't necessarily understand that I had a framework
(05:46):
I would always follow it but I didn't know what it was
I would just automatically do it
yeah um
and then
when it came to teaching other people how to do it
I was like okay
how do I actually really go about songwriting
and I was like oh
this is actually a framework that I'm following
so that's been very helpful since then
honestly since teaching other people how to write songs
I've gotten a lot lot better at writing songs myself
(06:07):
it's so funny
teaching teaches you 100% Learned throughout the years
I'm like sometimes I
I'd be saying things and I'm like oh
I didn't know I knew that really
yeah where did that come from
that's funny
do you remember the first song that you wrote
I do so I used to just come up with the weirdest things
but I wrote my first official song
(06:30):
when I was about 3 years old
um
I was a very scary like
scary cat kid like
everything scared me so my way of coping was music
just coming up with things
so I wrote a song a shower bath song whatever
(06:52):
I guess I use music as a form of coping
so that I wouldn't get scared
so I wrote it I guess
my mom was my co writer we can
we can give her credit but I came up with it
and it was about like
not being scared of spiders
of hair in the shower like
I still to this day I don't like it
like if I see it
I'm like you know
touch it um
but yeah
(07:13):
like
my uncle had a funny hat that I hated for some reason
and like
the song was just like
I'm gonna translate it real quick
um it was like
spiders not scary hair is not scary
the hat is not scary and I would just like
sing it all the time so that I would be like
in a good mood so yeah
that was the first song I wrote
(07:34):
that is so cute and you kind of
this story kind of reminds me of one of our students
Ireland she
you know
she started working with us when she was five or six
like baby
super super
super young
and I remember her coming to her first lesson
and I was like what do you wanna do
cause they came for voice lessons
(07:54):
not songwriting lessons
like her and her mom came for voice lessons um
and she's like yeah
I wrote the song I wanna sing the song
I was like alright
show me what you wrote and I was like
oh my god like she wrote an actual song
sure
structure had like there
there was you know
some areas where I'm like okay
we can we can improve this
but like you are a five year old writing an actual song
(08:16):
like this is incredible so yeah
that your story very much reminded me of that
cause again like I
that's not how I started at all
like I don't think I wrote my first song until I was
13 or fourteen something there um
and I think I only did it
because my piano teacher knew that I loved pop music
and she was like well
let's learn how to play chords
(08:36):
so that you can accompany yourself right
and now go write your own song
and I was like oh
I've never written a song before
but I can do this and I think I
I don't remember anything about it
but this one phrase where it was like
you just gotta choose
to struggle with or something like that
it was all like
all relationship all relationships have issues
(09:00):
all relationships have struggles
you just have to choose who you're gonna struggle with
wow
deep deep stuff at like
13 or 14 or whatever but besides that
I don't really remember anything
and honestly
I can't tell you if that truly was my first song
but that's the first song I
at least you remember yeah
yeah yeah
well that's that's
(09:20):
it's cute I think it's important to like
understand that it doesn't have to be good
it just has to be at the beginning
like it just
you're gonna write so many bad songs
and you're gonna write a few great songs
you know yes
it's so funny like
I kept on writing whatever
silly little melodies and stories
but then I remember um
(09:42):
my first official song that I like
did like verse
chorus all that
um and I showed it to one of my best friends
she was like oh
my god she's
this is so good you should
you know put this out on YouTube
and I still remember that one
it's so funny so yeah
it's you never know where
where those songs are gonna take you
but I think just putting in the work is
is important so that you can actually get somewhere
(10:03):
no 100%
so let's say somebody has a passion for songwriting
or they're like me and I like
songwriting is a necessity for me
not anymore I'll actually really enjoy it now
but that's how it started
um it's a
you know what what can they do
what's like their first step that they should take
(10:25):
I think just give yourself the time to be like OK
I'm gonna write a song not like
oh let's see when it comes
like when the inspiration hits
cause it might never hit yes
we'll talk about that another time
but it is important for you to like
make that commitment to yourself
like if you wanna write a song
write it like
sit down make a little guide map
(10:45):
what is gonna be the song about
what is my topic what do I wanna um
say in the first half of the song
what do I wanna conclude like
give yourself a little bit of a storyline
so that then you can kind of like
write as you go and fill in the gaps as needed
but yeah I would say like
number one is just set time for yourself and your song
(11:08):
and make the choice to just do it yeah right
like just make it an active choice
to sit down and write a song
and by the way
you don't need to be able to play an instrument
to write a song you can do it without
and we can talk more about that later
but uh
just making the decision I'm here
here at my piano have my guitar with me
or I'm sitting in front of my computer
and I wanna write a song
(11:30):
you said like
pick a topic to write about
is that the first step that you usually like to take
and that you tell your students to take as well
just pick a topic yeah
especially if there's no lyrics
no melody
that are coming up first'cause a lot of people
myself included like
songs start with a melody
like I'm like
walking around or I'm like
in the shower and like
(11:50):
LA LA LA
or like ooh
I like that let me repeat that
and then I start writing based on that
or I have an idea that pops into my head uh
maybe a line of the song and I'm like
that could be a song let me write that
if none of that comes first
and you're like I wanna write a song
but I'm at zero blank page
I would start with a topic
so you could pick whatever
(12:12):
I mean most songs nowadays are either like
love or heartache like yes
one or the other or whatever
you know and then describe your topic like
what is the story is this song about you
is it about someone else is there other people involved
like LA LA LA LA
so you can kind of like
give yourself a little bit of a descriptive paragraph
and then out of there you already have a couple lines
(12:33):
okay awesome
what I usually like to do
especially what I would recommend for very
very very beginners
even if you play an instrument
don't write with an instrument
but because then you have like
another thing that you need to worry about right
um but instead
go on YouTube
and find a track that really speaks to you
(12:56):
and something where you know
you're automatically already starting
like humming melodies or or something um
something that you just like
that you're vibing along to um
and then pick a topic around that
like what's the vibe of this
and then pick a topic around that
cause I feel like if you've never written a song before
and you wanna create the music
and the melody and the lyrics and everything
(13:17):
it can get very overwhelming
very quickly so
I usually like to get people started off with
just picking a track instead um
and then pick the topic
based on what the track feels like
or you can pick the topic first
and then find a track that fits with that topic
it really is up to you which way
(13:38):
you want to go it's so easy to like
find something so specific
like the other day I was with a student
I was like okay
let's look for um
what was it like
upbeat country pop mm hmm
and obviously
if you're having an upbeat country pop song
it's not gonna be about heartache necessarily probably
it might be overcoming heartache
(13:59):
or it might be like
you know it's something different
so like
you can you know
use all the keywords that you want
and you will find the track you're looking for
I guarantee yeah
awesome okay cool
and then okay
so we have the track and we have the topic
do you write lyrics first
or do you do you write melodies first
(14:20):
I'm more of a melody writer at first
um sometimes it happens that lyrics come first
but usually my melodies come first
so then yeah
I
you know once I have a little melody
and I'm like
humming through it a little gibberish
blah blah blah
blah blah whatever
and I was like oh
these words might fit and then I try them out
(14:42):
so yeah
melody comes first for me
yeah I'm the same way
and it's also what we teach our students too
again unless they already have specific lyrics
that they came in with or whatever
um you know
we have our framework but our framework can be molded
to whatever your needs are
right like
you can move some of the order around and
(15:03):
and what not but uh
anyways I'm the same way
um melodies first
and I think there's for me
there's a specific there's two specific reasons why
first because lyrics never came easily to me
I was a really bad lyric writer for a really long time
um and melodies would always be so easy
like I can listen to something
(15:24):
and just create a ton of different kinds of melodies
that make sense somehow
yeah um
yes I know music theory
but that's not why I can create melodies
I don't think about music theory when I create melodies
I just make stuff up um
and anyone can do that
like you were three years old and you did it
like you don't need to have knowledge around music
(15:47):
or be a credible musician to do it
but um
anyway so that's one reason
and the other reason is
melody is more important than lyrics
and I think a lot of people underestimate that
or
think that lyrics are more important than the melody
but if you think about it
how many songs do you love where you may like
(16:09):
they're maybe in a different language
and you don't understand that language
you don't speak that language
but you still love the song
even though you don't really know what it's about
and let's be real you only googled the lyrics
like the translation of the lyrics
after you decided you like the song right
not before
otherwise you would be constantly googling lyrics
(16:31):
so yeah melodies
melodies is melodies are more important um
than lyrics I'm not saying lyrics are not important
of course they're important
that melody
is what gets people's attention in the first place
and what gets stuck in people's heads too earworms
yeah I think that's very true
and the more like
(16:52):
you connect with a specific melody
then your lyrics can fit that
they don't have to be you know
like one is better than the other
like it will work together as you're writing it
and of course
as you develop your craft and your voice and whatever
but yeah
for sure
and it's important that your melodies are singable
(17:13):
together with the lyrics that you're creating
right like
there's nothing worse than creating a melody
and now you can't fit any lyrics to it
it's okay to like
adjust the melody a little bit
once you have your lyrics
but you know
so melody melody is important
and then last step is is lyrics
and I just
I like to follow my four step lyric writing formula
because like I said
(17:33):
if I don't have that if I don't follow that
I literally cannot write lyrics
it just it sounds like a third grader wrote the lyrics
it it
no literally
like it's so cliche and so vague and just like not
it doesn't really tell a story or anything like that
so yes
(17:54):
sure maybe I have like a lyric idea
like an initial like couple phrases and what not
but for an entire song
I always follow my four step lyric writing formula
and it's literally foolproof
it always gets me results nice
well how do people find out about your
four step lyric formula oh my god
well thank you for asking Juliana
(18:16):
no ha ha ha ha ha
um well
the four step lyric and formula
is in our songwriting framework PDF
you can um
check that out we're currently running a sale on it
you can get it for just $7 instead of $27
cause it's our little songwriting month
so if you wanna go check that out
um click the link in the description below
and what not but it's really not that complicated
(18:39):
once you have a system that you can follow
and then it's also
it just always helps you actually finish your songs
and not get stuck after verse one or the chorus right
like you know
you're like okay
well now verse 2 what else
what else can I say I already said everything hahaha
that's why people get stuck for sure
verse 2 yes always
(18:59):
ugh
yeah and I think it's truly because they didn't
before they started writing
writing lyrics figure out what am I going to
to say in what part of the song
yeah that is step what a
what is that step three
that is step three
that is step three of the lyric writing formula
mapping out your song before you start writing lyrics
(19:20):
so important yeah
and I I don't know
do you ever feel like your students um
are kind of like
shying away from using like
frameworks or formulas because they're like no
like I just need to be creative and it'll come to me or
yeah yeah
I mean especially if it's like
a specific songwriting class
(19:40):
and they're like I'm so sorry
like I haven't written anything
I'm like okay why
like there's no judgment
like we will never be like
how dare you like no yeah
we won't fail you like
it's not like that it's more like okay why
and they're like oh
I just like
haven't been inspired I'm like ah
yeah
like you don't have to be inspired to write a song
(20:01):
I'm so sorry I'm so sorry
it of course
is so much easier if you're inspired
but that's where you're gonna get stuck
cause you're gonna wait and wait and wait
it's like
kind of like waiting for a wave if you're surfing
what if the wave never comes
you know yeah yeah
or maybe it does come yeah
like maybe it does come
but then you miss it like
(20:21):
you can't catch it because whatever circumstance right
create your own waves I love that
yeah create your own wave girl
just do it I love that
and that's why we have frameworks
or a system or whatever it is
you wanna call it um
to make that inspiration and that creative juice
to make it flow right
um create it yourself rather than waiting for it
(20:45):
I like that I like it a lot
and then you have your whole song right
like
you start out with a track or with a core progression
if you want to write your own chords
go ahead and write your own chords
I won't stop you hahaha
uh then picking a topic of the song
creating some melodies and then creating some lyrics
following the four step lyric writing formula
(21:05):
if you want to what are the four steps
just real quick the first step is
picking your overall topic of the song
the second step is topic writing
just writing what you um
feel about and what you're thinking about
if it like around that topic that you picked
then mapping out your song
what are you going to say in which part of the
like in
in all the different parts of the song
(21:27):
and then the last step is writing lyrics
so if you want to dig deeper
into what that lyric writing formula is again
it's in the PDF go check that out
but um yeah
and then you have your whole song and it's done
and then record it I I
I think that's a big mistake that people usually make
is they write the lyrics down
maybe a chord progression
if they wrote the chord progression
but then they don't like
(21:48):
record the audio for it and then it's gone
don't do it with the wind
the amount of times I've lost melodies
I'm like ugh
someone else is gonna use that melody one day
and I'm gonna eat it hahaha
there you go yep
always record your stuff
record as you're writing so that you're not forgetting
and then record the finished song too
(22:09):
so that you have it
and then save it somewhere on your computer
or your phone
or somewhere where you're not gonna lose it
um and then
you can start building up your little
songwriting repertoire I love it yes
little library of your own songs
so cool I love it
um don't overthink it
just get started right
that's what you said from the beginning
(22:31):
any other little tip before we wrap up
don't be afraid to be bad
it's gonna be bad if it's your first song
it's gonna be bad just accept
yup yup
your second song might be better
your third song will probably be better
and then your 15th song is me
so freaking good so just do it
just sit and do it yes
absolutely absolutely
(22:53):
go and do it make the choice to do it
don't be afraid to be bad
and download the formula hahaha
anyways thank you Juliana
for joining me here today
we will see you in the next episode
you'll be joining me there too
um thank you guys for tuning in
if you have any questions
let us know in the comments
(23:14):
oh and by the way
we are also hosting a live class on how to write songs
you'll actually like ha ha
whether you've written many songs or zero songs
you should totally join us in that class
because we're gonna help you actually take action
cause I think what a lot of people struggle with is
they consume content and they learn about
whatever it is they wanna learn about
(23:34):
but then they never actually do anything with it
and they're not taking action
um so we'll help you take action
come and join us in the class
it's happening on October 14th
that's a Tuesday at six PM Eastern time
the information is in the description below as well
it's free to join there's also a VIP option
if you wanna upgrade
and get access to the replay and Q&A session
that's for VIP onlys and so forth
(23:56):
you'll the information is down there
go check it out haha
anyways we'll see you in the next episode
thank you for tuning in and we'll see you there bye bye
so you wanna get started
(00:01):
with writing your very first song
or at least your first complete song
but you don't really know where to start
well welcome
you have come to the right place
we have our framework but
our framework can be molded to whatever your needs are
right like you can move some of the order around and
and what not I'm the same way
um melodies first
and I think there's two specific reasons why
(00:22):
first because lyrics never came easily to me
I was a really bad lyric writer for a really long time
and melodies would always be so easy
like I can listen to something
and just create a ton of different kinds of melodies
that makes sense somehow
anyone can do that
like you were three years old and you did it
like you don't need to have knowledge
around music or be a credible musician
(00:44):
and it wasn't until I was in the room with Pro Writers
in Nashville when I was writing my first record
where I was like oh
oh OK
like I started like
picking up all these tips and tricks from these people
and I was like OK
now this is making a lot more sense
creating my framework that we are now teaching to
to all of our students
that came when I started teaching songwriting
(01:11):
hey Vox Star
and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
at VoxTape Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the three fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry
whether you're looking to go pro
(01:32):
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources
Alrighty are you ready let's get started
with writing your very first song
or at least your first complete song
but you don't really know where to start
well welcome
you have come to the right place
and to talk about how to get started
(01:53):
with writing your very first complete song
and also the song that you actually like haha
cause that's kind of important
I have our wonderful coach
Juliana here with me virtually in the studio hello
coming to us from LA
isn't the internet a wonderful thing
that we can have conversations like this
(02:14):
it's wonderful you know
I have a little camera
propped up in front of my computer
and Lara's doing the same
so hopefully you guys see us in here is OK
Yay yay yay
we shall see but I'm sure it works just fine
thank you for joining me for this
um for this session here today
and to talk about songwriting
you are
(02:34):
besides being one of our wonderful vocal coaches
you are also our songwriting coach on staff
so I'm very excited to have this conversation with you
because you have a ton of experience with songwriting
and actually before we started rolling
I was like
earlier today I was looking at the BIOS that we have
(02:56):
of all the coaches on the website
and on there
it says that songwriting is your main passion
is that true it is
I love it's just like
I don't know I think it's what I started doing
before I even started singing
just like
telling stories
and coming up with weird things in my head
and then that transformed into song later on in life
(03:18):
so yeah
I love it it's just like
I love helping students with their songs
I love like
you know
taking a song and making it fit
and have a natural journey
and it's just lovely that is so awesome
cause I'm the opposite I started writing songs
maybe not initially but when it
(03:39):
when it was like more professionally
I started writing songs out of necessity
not really because that was my main passion
my main passion has always been singing
and if you still maybe today
if you asked me like
what is my dream and that
that was just like my dream
my entire life is like what is your dream
it would be being a singer on stage
(04:00):
and
somebody else figures out what the dancers are doing
and what songs I'm singing
maybe not what songs I'm singing
but like I'm not the one writing the songs like that
that was always my dream like
I just wanted somebody to tell me what to do
and I would just sing that's all I ever wanted to do
and quickly realize that hmm
(04:21):
like sorry
that's just not really how this works
not today like yes
there are still people out there that are songwriters
they are not performers
and they just write songs for other people
that is still a thing very much so
but as a new coming artist
like
if you wanna have a chance of getting signed by a label
or just have a career whether you have a label or not
you need to know how to write a song
(04:42):
if you don't your career is never gonna take off
and nobody's ever gonna be
interested in working with you
or signing you in the first place
so you have to know how to write songs
so I did it initially out of necessity
and I was so so bad at it
oh my god
I was so bad at it and um
then I Learned more about songwriting at Berkley
(05:05):
during college and honestly
I was still very much stuck with songwriting
I still very much felt like my songs are still not good
especially the lyrics
I was always struggling with lyrics
I could write melodies all day long
but lyrics I was still struggling with
uh but
and it wasn't until I was in the room with Pro Writers
in Nashville when I was writing my record
(05:25):
my first record where I was like
oh oh okay
like I started like
picking up all these tips and tricks from these people
and I was like okay
now this is making a lot more sense
and then you know
creating my framework that I'm
that we are now teaching to
to all of our students um
that came when I started teaching songwriting
like
I didn't necessarily understand that I had a framework
(05:46):
I would always follow it but I didn't know what it was
I would just automatically do it
yeah um
and then
when it came to teaching other people how to do it
I was like okay
how do I actually really go about songwriting
and I was like oh
this is actually a framework that I'm following
so that's been very helpful since then
honestly since teaching other people how to write songs
I've gotten a lot lot better at writing songs myself
(06:07):
it's so funny
teaching teaches you 100% Learned throughout the years
I'm like sometimes I
I'd be saying things and I'm like oh
I didn't know I knew that really
yeah where did that come from
that's funny
do you remember the first song that you wrote
I do so I used to just come up with the weirdest things
but I wrote my first official song
(06:30):
when I was about 3 years old
um
I was a very scary like
scary cat kid like
everything scared me so my way of coping was music
just coming up with things
so I wrote a song a shower bath song whatever
(06:52):
I guess I use music as a form of coping
so that I wouldn't get scared
so I wrote it I guess
my mom was my co writer we can
we can give her credit but I came up with it
and it was about like
not being scared of spiders
of hair in the shower like
I still to this day I don't like it
like if I see it
I'm like you know
touch it um
but yeah
(07:13):
like
my uncle had a funny hat that I hated for some reason
and like
the song was just like
I'm gonna translate it real quick
um it was like
spiders not scary hair is not scary
the hat is not scary and I would just like
sing it all the time so that I would be like
in a good mood so yeah
that was the first song I wrote
(07:34):
that is so cute and you kind of
this story kind of reminds me of one of our students
Ireland she
you know
she started working with us when she was five or six
like baby
super super
super young
and I remember her coming to her first lesson
and I was like what do you wanna do
cause they came for voice lessons
(07:54):
not songwriting lessons
like her and her mom came for voice lessons um
and she's like yeah
I wrote the song I wanna sing the song
I was like alright
show me what you wrote and I was like
oh my god like she wrote an actual song
sure
structure had like there
there was you know
some areas where I'm like okay
we can we can improve this
but like you are a five year old writing an actual song
(08:16):
like this is incredible so yeah
that your story very much reminded me of that
cause again like I
that's not how I started at all
like I don't think I wrote my first song until I was
13 or fourteen something there um
and I think I only did it
because my piano teacher knew that I loved pop music
and she was like well
let's learn how to play chords
(08:36):
so that you can accompany yourself right
and now go write your own song
and I was like oh
I've never written a song before
but I can do this and I think I
I don't remember anything about it
but this one phrase where it was like
you just gotta choose
to struggle with or something like that
it was all like
all relationship all relationships have issues
(09:00):
all relationships have struggles
you just have to choose who you're gonna struggle with
wow
deep deep stuff at like
13 or 14 or whatever but besides that
I don't really remember anything
and honestly
I can't tell you if that truly was my first song
but that's the first song I
at least you remember yeah
yeah yeah
well that's that's
(09:20):
it's cute I think it's important to like
understand that it doesn't have to be good
it just has to be at the beginning
like it just
you're gonna write so many bad songs
and you're gonna write a few great songs
you know yes
it's so funny like
I kept on writing whatever
silly little melodies and stories
but then I remember um
(09:42):
my first official song that I like
did like verse
chorus all that
um and I showed it to one of my best friends
she was like oh
my god she's
this is so good you should
you know put this out on YouTube
and I still remember that one
it's so funny so yeah
it's you never know where
where those songs are gonna take you
but I think just putting in the work is
is important so that you can actually get somewhere
(10:03):
no 100%
so let's say somebody has a passion for songwriting
or they're like me and I like
songwriting is a necessity for me
not anymore I'll actually really enjoy it now
but that's how it started
um it's a
you know what what can they do
what's like their first step that they should take
(10:25):
I think just give yourself the time to be like OK
I'm gonna write a song not like
oh let's see when it comes
like when the inspiration hits
cause it might never hit yes
we'll talk about that another time
but it is important for you to like
make that commitment to yourself
like if you wanna write a song
write it like
sit down make a little guide map
(10:45):
what is gonna be the song about
what is my topic what do I wanna um
say in the first half of the song
what do I wanna conclude like
give yourself a little bit of a storyline
so that then you can kind of like
write as you go and fill in the gaps as needed
but yeah I would say like
number one is just set time for yourself and your song
(11:08):
and make the choice to just do it yeah right
like just make it an active choice
to sit down and write a song
and by the way
you don't need to be able to play an instrument
to write a song you can do it without
and we can talk more about that later
but uh
just making the decision I'm here
here at my piano have my guitar with me
or I'm sitting in front of my computer
and I wanna write a song
(11:30):
you said like
pick a topic to write about
is that the first step that you usually like to take
and that you tell your students to take as well
just pick a topic yeah
especially if there's no lyrics
no melody
that are coming up first'cause a lot of people
myself included like
songs start with a melody
like I'm like
walking around or I'm like
in the shower and like
(11:50):
LA LA LA
or like ooh
I like that let me repeat that
and then I start writing based on that
or I have an idea that pops into my head uh
maybe a line of the song and I'm like
that could be a song let me write that
if none of that comes first
and you're like I wanna write a song
but I'm at zero blank page
I would start with a topic
so you could pick whatever
(12:12):
I mean most songs nowadays are either like
love or heartache like yes
one or the other or whatever
you know and then describe your topic like
what is the story is this song about you
is it about someone else is there other people involved
like LA LA LA LA
so you can kind of like
give yourself a little bit of a descriptive paragraph
and then out of there you already have a couple lines
(12:33):
okay awesome
what I usually like to do
especially what I would recommend for very
very very beginners
even if you play an instrument
don't write with an instrument
but because then you have like
another thing that you need to worry about right
um but instead
go on YouTube
and find a track that really speaks to you
(12:56):
and something where you know
you're automatically already starting
like humming melodies or or something um
something that you just like
that you're vibing along to um
and then pick a topic around that
like what's the vibe of this
and then pick a topic around that
cause I feel like if you've never written a song before
and you wanna create the music
and the melody and the lyrics and everything
(13:17):
it can get very overwhelming
very quickly so
I usually like to get people started off with
just picking a track instead um
and then pick the topic
based on what the track feels like
or you can pick the topic first
and then find a track that fits with that topic
it really is up to you which way
(13:38):
you want to go it's so easy to like
find something so specific
like the other day I was with a student
I was like okay
let's look for um
what was it like
upbeat country pop mm hmm
and obviously
if you're having an upbeat country pop song
it's not gonna be about heartache necessarily probably
it might be overcoming heartache
(13:59):
or it might be like
you know it's something different
so like
you can you know
use all the keywords that you want
and you will find the track you're looking for
I guarantee yeah
awesome okay cool
and then okay
so we have the track and we have the topic
do you write lyrics first
or do you do you write melodies first
(14:20):
I'm more of a melody writer at first
um sometimes it happens that lyrics come first
but usually my melodies come first
so then yeah
I
you know once I have a little melody
and I'm like
humming through it a little gibberish
blah blah blah
blah blah whatever
and I was like oh
these words might fit and then I try them out
(14:42):
so yeah
melody comes first for me
yeah I'm the same way
and it's also what we teach our students too
again unless they already have specific lyrics
that they came in with or whatever
um you know
we have our framework but our framework can be molded
to whatever your needs are
right like
you can move some of the order around and
(15:03):
and what not but uh
anyways I'm the same way
um melodies first
and I think there's for me
there's a specific there's two specific reasons why
first because lyrics never came easily to me
I was a really bad lyric writer for a really long time
um and melodies would always be so easy
like I can listen to something
(15:24):
and just create a ton of different kinds of melodies
that make sense somehow
yeah um
yes I know music theory
but that's not why I can create melodies
I don't think about music theory when I create melodies
I just make stuff up um
and anyone can do that
like you were three years old and you did it
like you don't need to have knowledge around music
(15:47):
or be a credible musician to do it
but um
anyway so that's one reason
and the other reason is
melody is more important than lyrics
and I think a lot of people underestimate that
or
think that lyrics are more important than the melody
but if you think about it
how many songs do you love where you may like
(16:09):
they're maybe in a different language
and you don't understand that language
you don't speak that language
but you still love the song
even though you don't really know what it's about
and let's be real you only googled the lyrics
like the translation of the lyrics
after you decided you like the song right
not before
otherwise you would be constantly googling lyrics
(16:31):
so yeah melodies
melodies is melodies are more important um
than lyrics I'm not saying lyrics are not important
of course they're important
that melody
is what gets people's attention in the first place
and what gets stuck in people's heads too earworms
yeah I think that's very true
and the more like
(16:52):
you connect with a specific melody
then your lyrics can fit that
they don't have to be you know
like one is better than the other
like it will work together as you're writing it
and of course
as you develop your craft and your voice and whatever
but yeah
for sure
and it's important that your melodies are singable
(17:13):
together with the lyrics that you're creating
right like
there's nothing worse than creating a melody
and now you can't fit any lyrics to it
it's okay to like
adjust the melody a little bit
once you have your lyrics
but you know
so melody melody is important
and then last step is is lyrics
and I just
I like to follow my four step lyric writing formula
because like I said
(17:33):
if I don't have that if I don't follow that
I literally cannot write lyrics
it just it sounds like a third grader wrote the lyrics
it it
no literally
like it's so cliche and so vague and just like not
it doesn't really tell a story or anything like that
so yes
(17:54):
sure maybe I have like a lyric idea
like an initial like couple phrases and what not
but for an entire song
I always follow my four step lyric writing formula
and it's literally foolproof
it always gets me results nice
well how do people find out about your
four step lyric formula oh my god
well thank you for asking Juliana
(18:16):
no ha ha ha ha ha
um well
the four step lyric and formula
is in our songwriting framework PDF
you can um
check that out we're currently running a sale on it
you can get it for just $7 instead of $27
cause it's our little songwriting month
so if you wanna go check that out
um click the link in the description below
and what not but it's really not that complicated
(18:39):
once you have a system that you can follow
and then it's also
it just always helps you actually finish your songs
and not get stuck after verse one or the chorus right
like you know
you're like okay
well now verse 2 what else
what else can I say I already said everything hahaha
that's why people get stuck for sure
verse 2 yes always
(18:59):
ugh
yeah and I think it's truly because they didn't
before they started writing
writing lyrics figure out what am I going to
to say in what part of the song
yeah that is step what a
what is that step three
that is step three
that is step three of the lyric writing formula
mapping out your song before you start writing lyrics
(19:20):
so important yeah
and I I don't know
do you ever feel like your students um
are kind of like
shying away from using like
frameworks or formulas because they're like no
like I just need to be creative and it'll come to me or
yeah yeah
I mean especially if it's like
a specific songwriting class
(19:40):
and they're like I'm so sorry
like I haven't written anything
I'm like okay why
like there's no judgment
like we will never be like
how dare you like no yeah
we won't fail you like
it's not like that it's more like okay why
and they're like oh
I just like
haven't been inspired I'm like ah
yeah
like you don't have to be inspired to write a song
(20:01):
I'm so sorry I'm so sorry
it of course
is so much easier if you're inspired
but that's where you're gonna get stuck
cause you're gonna wait and wait and wait
it's like
kind of like waiting for a wave if you're surfing
what if the wave never comes
you know yeah yeah
or maybe it does come yeah
like maybe it does come
but then you miss it like
(20:21):
you can't catch it because whatever circumstance right
create your own waves I love that
yeah create your own wave girl
just do it I love that
and that's why we have frameworks
or a system or whatever it is
you wanna call it um
to make that inspiration and that creative juice
to make it flow right
um create it yourself rather than waiting for it
(20:45):
I like that I like it a lot
and then you have your whole song right
like
you start out with a track or with a core progression
if you want to write your own chords
go ahead and write your own chords
I won't stop you hahaha
uh then picking a topic of the song
creating some melodies and then creating some lyrics
following the four step lyric writing formula
(21:05):
if you want to what are the four steps
just real quick the first step is
picking your overall topic of the song
the second step is topic writing
just writing what you um
feel about and what you're thinking about
if it like around that topic that you picked
then mapping out your song
what are you going to say in which part of the
like in
in all the different parts of the song
(21:27):
and then the last step is writing lyrics
so if you want to dig deeper
into what that lyric writing formula is again
it's in the PDF go check that out
but um yeah
and then you have your whole song and it's done
and then record it I I
I think that's a big mistake that people usually make
is they write the lyrics down
maybe a chord progression
if they wrote the chord progression
but then they don't like
(21:48):
record the audio for it and then it's gone
don't do it with the wind
the amount of times I've lost melodies
I'm like ugh
someone else is gonna use that melody one day
and I'm gonna eat it hahaha
there you go yep
always record your stuff
record as you're writing so that you're not forgetting
and then record the finished song too
(22:09):
so that you have it
and then save it somewhere on your computer
or your phone
or somewhere where you're not gonna lose it
um and then
you can start building up your little
songwriting repertoire I love it yes
little library of your own songs
so cool I love it
um don't overthink it
just get started right
that's what you said from the beginning
(22:31):
any other little tip before we wrap up
don't be afraid to be bad
it's gonna be bad if it's your first song
it's gonna be bad just accept
yup yup
your second song might be better
your third song will probably be better
and then your 15th song is me
so freaking good so just do it
just sit and do it yes
absolutely absolutely
(22:53):
go and do it make the choice to do it
don't be afraid to be bad
and download the formula hahaha
anyways thank you Juliana
for joining me here today
we will see you in the next episode
you'll be joining me there too
um thank you guys for tuning in
if you have any questions
let us know in the comments
(23:14):
oh and by the way
we are also hosting a live class on how to write songs
you'll actually like ha ha
whether you've written many songs or zero songs
you should totally join us in that class
because we're gonna help you actually take action
cause I think what a lot of people struggle with is
they consume content and they learn about
whatever it is they wanna learn about
(23:34):
but then they never actually do anything with it
and they're not taking action
um so we'll help you take action
come and join us in the class
it's happening on October 14th
that's a Tuesday at six PM Eastern time
the information is in the description below as well
it's free to join there's also a VIP option
if you wanna upgrade
and get access to the replay and Q&A session
that's for VIP onlys and so forth
(23:56):
you'll the information is down there
go check it out haha
anyways we'll see you in the next episode
thank you for tuning in and we'll see you there bye bye
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