Introduction to Songwriting

1. Welcome!: Hi everybody. Welcome to my songwriting course. My name is Mia Stegner and I'm going to walk you through some tips and tricks for getting started writing your own songs. So we're going to talk about the steps of writing a song. Number 1, come up with an idea. Remember to create a song. Outline number 3, create the lyrics. Number 4, write a chord progression. Number five, right? The melody, some people's get the outline altogether. That's totally valid. It's helpful when you're first starting out, but you don't need to create an outline. Writing lyrics, coming up with chords and writing a melody are all very interchangeable in terms of the order in which you do them. They also don't necessarily happen one at a time or separate from each other. For example, you might write a verse and then write a melody for it, and then come up with the chords for the chorus, and then go back and add the melody and then add the lyrics like it can happen in any order. If you're also interested in music production or playing instruments, you might create the entire backing track first and then go back and write the song on top of it. Basically, there's no right way to do this. But if every song is a recipe, those are the five items that are generally the ingredients. And together we are going to journey through that recipe and dive deeper into each of those ingredients. I will see you there. 2. Setting the Stage for Inspiration: The first thing I want to talk about is how to come up with an idea. You can't write a song if you don't have anything to write a song about. So that's the first sort of hurdle that you might run into. We can't always force inspiration to strike, but there are some things we can do to sort of set the stage for that to happen. The first thing that I would recommend is keeping a writer's journal or a document on your computer and notepad on your phone. Something where you can jot down ideas as soon as they come to you. Anytime you have an idea or anytime you see something that is particularly interesting or inspiring, you should immediately write it down. Otherwise, you might think you're going to remember it, but sometimes it will just does appear. The second thing that I would like to suggest is listening to music and not just while you're doing other stuff, try to carve out some time where all you're doing is listening to music. Even if it's just one song per day, close your eyes and listen to the music, or pull up the lyrics and follow along. And just really allow yourself to consume the song rather than just passively listening, you've gotta find your ideal balance of consumption and creation because you need both. And this is true for any craft. If you want to be a good cook, It's a good idea to eat food. If you want to make movies, it's good idea to watch movies. If you want to write novels, that good idea to pick up a book once in a while. So you get the idea. Not only is this a great way to study your craft, but it can also really help inspire you and help you figure out your style, what you want your songs to be like, that sort of thing. The next thing I will recommend is trying some creative writing exercises. Songwriting is storytelling, and a lot of the exercises that help novelists and poets and creative writers grow as writers can also help songwriters. So practice free writing where you just open up a document or open up a notebook and just write exactly what comes to your head. Unlock your ability to just get words out. You can also try other forms of writing like poetry or creative writing. He just really got to, to exercise the writing muscle. You can also look for writing prompts online. You can try out object writing. Objects writing.com is a great resource. It'll just tell you a word and then it'll recommend that you set a timer and you write about that word. The next strategy I'll share is looking at images. Obviously, songwriting is a very auditory craft, but sometimes there can be imagery that goes into it. And pictures and images and artwork can really sort of spark our imaginations in that way and get our wheels turning again. Search random words on Google. You can search like art or a fantasy. You can follow some photography accounts on Instagram or some art accounts. You can go for a walk, go exploring somewhere, and just sort of get Your Senses woken up, I guess really to sort of get your, your brain headed in new directions if you already have a bazillion, so on ideas. And I apologize if this has not been the most helpful piece of this course. But to keep in mind these tips for anytime that you face writer's block. 3. The Parts of a Song: Hello everybody. So we are going to talk about the parts of a song. Songs are like puzzles and they have different pieces. And the pieces can be put in a lot of different orders. And there's really no wrong or right answers. At the end of the day, you can really just do whatever you want. But it's important to kind of understand what pieces we have to work with. So we're going to talk through them. So the first thing we can keep in mind is our intros and outros. A lot of times these are just instrumental and sometimes they don't exist at all. Sometimes the outro will do things like ITIL. We'll have like a slow fade or will repeat a section, or will have some sort of hook as just sort of the, the way that we end the song and the way that we began this on a hook is a short phrase or a short melody that is catchy and repeats. It usually occurs in the intro or in between sections or in the chorus. Verses are the main story of the song. It's usually the section that happens the most throughout a song. Typically each first we'll use an identical or similar melody, but have different words. It's usually the first substantial section of a song rather than the intro. Although sometimes people choose to start with the chorus, which is also totally valid. A chorus is the section of a song that gets repeated, and it usually comes after each verse. It's usually the sketchiest part of the song. If the song's title is in the song, which is usually a good idea. It usually happens in the chorus. It's usually the section of the song that the song is or would be known for. It can be exactly identical each time it repeats, or it can be a little bit different each time. Sometimes it sort of starts more scaled back and then it kind of explodes. There's more layers, there's more, more oomph to it the more it gets repeated. But generally it'll be, it'll be the same, the same thing. If you want to think about songwriting like storytelling, you can think of the Vs as the main exposition and the choruses as the message or the moral of the story. Again, there are no right or wrong answers here, but usually the Vs will contain sort of the more specific and the courses will be the more sort of universally applicable general idea is that you want people to sing along with the pre-chorus comes before the chorus is. It's usually sort of a gateway from the verse to the course. Not every song has a pre-chorus. Then there can be post courses. So the way that you can identify a post-course is that it usually feels like an extension of the chorus if there's a repeated section throughout the song, but it has like two distinct sections each time. But the section that comes first is very clear. The main chorus. Then the second section that gets repeated is the post scores. So sometime that's a little hard to tell whether we have a pre-chorus and a chorus or a chorus and a post chorus. Most commonly it'll be a pre-chorus and then Aquarius, it just depends on whether it's like something that leads into the chorus or something that sort of leads us out of the chorus. The pre-chorus is the warm up. The chorus is the R1, and the post-course is the cool down. I also want to mention something called a refrain. It's sometimes used interchangeably with a chorus, but it's a different thing and it varies in a few ways. Number 1, it's usually shorter. Number 2, it usually doesn't contrast quite as much with the Vs. So sometimes a refrain is just one or two lines that gets repeated at the end of each verse. It can feel like sort of an ending to the verse, but sort of like a, a distinct ending rather than something that's entirely new. It's very popular in folk music. One of the most popular examples of this is blown in the wind by Bob Dylan. There's sort of the, the Vs. And then at the end of each verse there's just that one line. The answer, my friend is blown in the wind. The answer is blown in the wind. The bridge of the song is something totally new, is sort of a curve ball. It usually happens toward the end of the song. It usually happens in-between courses. And we can use it to add a little intrigue, throw something new at our listeners, build anticipation for the last chorus. It's also a way to introduce entirely new musical or lyrical ideas. You can basically do whatever you want. It's sort of serves as an interruption and it also makes us a little bit uncomfortable because it's so new. So that sets the stage for a feeling of relief when we get back to the chorus, which is very familiar. So sometimes it's a way to just sort of lake add to the emotional journey of listening to a song. It makes that last chorus even more rewarding to get back to. So those are the pieces that we have to work with. They can be put in any order. Some of the most common song structures are verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, verse, pre-chorus chorus, verse, pre-chorus chorus, bridge, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, refrain, verse, refrain, verse, refrain, verse, verse, bridge, verse, verse, verse, verse. Yeah, usually we start with vs. usually The course is repeat. One way that you can become more familiar with the parts of the song is with practicing active listening, which we talked about in the video about coming up with an idea and where you just really listen to a song and that's all you do. And you just pay attention to it, which sounds silly. But like when we listen to music, we're often not really paying attention. We're not thinking about how it was created or what sections it uses, or just sort of vibing, which is great. But sometimes when you want to be a songwriter, it's good to sort of pay attention sometimes. So one thing you can do and one thing that I have my students do when I'm working one on one with people, is pick a few songs, listen through them, and just make a list or an outline of the different song parts that it uses. Honestly, even if you're wrong, even if you get a post-course and a pre-chorus or a refrain and of course mixed up. It's still really helps to just think about like the transitions of a song and like what sections are the air even if you don't have to label them. And in the next video, we'll talk a little bit more about how we can put those pieces together. 4. Creating a Song Outline: Okay, so now we're really getting into the songwriting process. We've talked about coming up with an idea and sort of understanding the structure of songs. And now we're going to transition into the creation process. So once you have an idea, it can be really helpful to create a song outline. Not everybody does this. Honestly, this isn't an integral part of my, my own songwriting process, but it's a super, super helpful thing when you're starting out. So basically it involves deciding on your structure and what parts of a song you're going to use. It's a way to sort of make a roadmap of your song, then be able to launch into writing or lyrics. So you're going to decide how many parts your song has, types of parts it has, and what order you're going to put them in. And once you do that, you're going to also include next to it a summary of what happens in that section. Each section should have a purpose or a focus, and each section should carry the song forward. So I have a few questions that I'm going to pose. And you can use these questions to sort of navigate the process of creating your outline. Number 1, how much of the story should take place before the first chorus? How much of the story needs to happen before the chorus is gonna make sense? That question is going to help determine how many versus you need before the first course, usually one or two. But again, you can do whatever you want. The next question, what is a message or a theme That's going to make sense and become more meaningful each time it's repeated, you gotta write a query that makes sense coming after each verse. So if you're writing a song about romantic relationship and your chorus is about how you're going to seek revenge. Then if you want to start with how that relationship first came to be and you're like, I love this person and then you're like, I'm going to seek revenge and people are like, what happened, then it might be a good idea to write a couple of Vs. So he established more of the story before we do a course about revenge. Or we need to make our chorus a little more general so that it works throughout the story. Third question, will you change anything each time the course is repeated? Sometimes courses have a verse line, which is one line of the cortex that changes each time that repeats. And that can help make sure that our course still make sense. And if we have to tweak it in between Vs, depending on the story of the song, then that's what we'll do. Number four, would a bridge be helpful? Is there a twist or a curve ball or something that you want to stand out? Maybe in our song about this relationship, you decide at the end that you actually don't want revenge because revenge isn't going to be healthy for anybody. Maybe that's in the bridge and that's, you know, that that's the shift of the curve ball. So at this point, if you want some homework, I would recommend picking a song and creating an outline of that song which already exists. So you'll say like verse 1, this happens, chorus, this happens. V2, this happens. And that'll be a great way to both review are parts of a song and also start thinking about how they can interact with each other to create meaning. So that's what I'm going to leave you with. And when you come back, we are going to dive into chord progressions. I will see you then. 5. Finding a Chord Progression: All right, Welcome back. We're going to talk about chords. If you play an instrument, you're probably familiar with chords. The simplest way that I think about quartz is just a collection of notes that are played at the same time. So super quick review. That's a C major chord. It's an E minor, F. Those are some chords. There's major chords which generally sound happy. And there's minor chords which generally sound. And there's other types of chords to what we're going to keep it simple for now, if you do want to dive deeper, music theory academy.com is a wonderful free resource and you can check out their chord progressions page. It can get somewhat complicated from a music theory lens. But the good news about songwriting is that it's something that we can very much Dubai, ER, a lot of songs use the same four chords repeated throughout the entire song. Sometimes they mix it up a little bit for the course. Usually the chords that are used in the verse or the same each time there's a verse and the courts in the course are the same each time. This depends mostly on genre and just on personal preference of the artist. And there are 0 rules. Also, if you don't play an instrument, there are some, some workarounds. If you have software, even if it's just like GarageBand or something simple, you can definitely utilize that. You can utilize like software instruments online, even if it's like a free piano app or something. But it's very, very helpful in my experience to have something like tactile that you can use and play around with while you're writing. Ukulele is what I learned some writing on it. A wonderful option because it's small and it's portable. It's one of the easier instruments to learn. So again, it's not required, but it can definitely be an extremely helpful tool for both writing and performing your songs, right? So let's dive into finding a chord progression. You can use your instrument, you can use a digital audio workstation. You can use an online core generator. Chord chord.com is a good one. You can also look up the chords of existing songs to get a sense for what they're doing and how they're making you feel. You can even borrow a chord progression directly from a song you like. The same chord progressions are used time and time again. So it's very difficult to like copy someone else's work when it comes to chord progressions, as long as your lyrics and melody are unique and as long as the cords aren't like extremely specific and weird, you're not going to run into an issue of it even like sounding like another song. I'll mention you don't actually have to choose your chords before you start writing. You can also think of a melody first and then go back and figure out what chords work with that and what coordinates you like the sound of width with your melody. There's no specific order that these steps have to be done in. And a lot of it just comes down to like playing and trying things and then making adjustments as you go. So that is where I will leave you. 6. Lyric Writing: Rhymes: Hi and welcome back. We're going to talk about lyric writing. There's a lot that goes into a clear grading. There's a lot we could talk about. So we're gonna go through those elements and we're going to talk a little bit about them. The first thing we're going to talk about is rhyming. There are some different types of rain, so I'm going to speed through those. You certainly not to memorize these, but it's helpful to sort of have an understanding of your options. So perfect rhymes are sort of what we generally think of when we think about rhymes. And that is when the syllables in a pair of words or phrases have identical vowel sounds and end with the same consonants. Nights, flights, day, pay. Pretty, pretty straightforward. Slant rhymes or near rhymes are when the syllables in a pair of words or phrases have similar but not identical vowels and consonants. So worm, Swarm, you can email me, you can kinda make it work. Family rhymes are when the syllables in a pair of words or phrases have identical vowel sounds and end with consonants that belong to the same phonetic family. So like honey, gummy. Assonance is when phrases or words have syllables that have the exact same vowels, but different consonants that aren't even in the same phonetic family. So like lack half masculine rhymes are when one syllable rhymes and it's the last syllable of a word when the final stressed syllable of a rhyme, rhymes. So like depress, repress, a feminine rhyme or a double rhyme is when we have multiple syllables that rhyme. And when they end on unstressed syllables to like crazy, lazy, both pairs of syllables rhyme, Cray, Ray, ZZ, and because it's crazy, lazy, we don't end on a stressed syllable. Similarly, a masculine versus feminine ending. Masculine is when a line ends on a stressed syllable. Feminine is when it ends on unstressed syllable. A couple more types of rhymes and additive rhyme is when the second word or phrase ends with extra consonants. So like try cried. Subtractive rhyme is the same thing but flipped. So it's the first word or phrase of the rhyme that has extra constants in a second one, they go away. So fast. Pass. So those That's a pretty substantial overview of types of Ryan's. I am personally partial to perfect rhymes, but you can get away with quite a bit. It's a good idea to prioritize the content or the vibe, the heart of your lyrics. Because for the listener, dots what will ultimately resonate the most, but runs also appeal to us naturally. We can also talk about rhyme schemes. You might have heard of this and English classes or that sort of thing where it's like AABB, ABAB. So each letter will indicate a pair or a group of lines that rhyme. So if we have a AA, BB, then this means that these two lines are going to rhyme. And these two lines are in a rhyme. If we add a, B, a B. Means that these two lines are going to rhyme. In these two lines are going to rhyme. So it's just a way to kind of set up our structure. A lot of times sections we'll have four lines. Sometimes we have six, sometimes eight. Sometimes we have an odd number of lines and we're going to talk about even versus odd sections. We'll also talk about rhyme dictionaries. So sometimes people condemn rhyming dictionaries as like a lazy thing and it's really not. And I'm going to fight against that assumption. I think rhyme dictionaries or websites like Amazon.com can actually be our very best friend as songwriters, I would warn you not to lean on them too heavily, but rather to, and use them for inspiration. Don't just search for a rhyme and then pick the first word or phrase that you can make work the creative with your lyrics and be willing to rearrange things as needed. One thing that can be helpful is making a run chart or a Ryan list, where basically once you have your idea for a song, you think of some keywords and then you make lists of rhymes for them. That way we can also see visually like which words are going to have the most rhymes that we're going to be able to work into our song if we're writing a song about the beach and we jot down the word sand, but then we have trouble coming up with words that rhyme with sand and nothing really strikes inspiration. Then that'll help you to know maybe I shouldn't and align with sand because that's going to, that's going to lead me to trouble. Whereas if you write the word sky and then you have like high fly by et cetera, like maybe that word and all of its rhymes bring so much inspiration to you, then you're going to lean in that direction. Also by doing this, they can kind of help you develop your SON idea. Like if you know you want to write something about bunnies, but you don't really know what you want to write about then starting with brainstorming those rhymes can kind of help get you on a track that not only will, will help inspire you naturally, but will also be very convenient because you'll be able to use those rhymes once you start writing. So let's say I want to write a song about a bunny, but I have no idea what I want to write about what the story is or what the, the bigger purposes. I can write down rhymes and I can say, Bunny, honey, money. Oh, maybe it's a beanie who's trying to make money. And now we've got our song idea. And not only do we have our cyanide, D and L, but also we're going to be alleles that rhyme it, going to be super convenient once we start writing our lyrics. So that's also like a good thing for writer's block in that sense as well. The rhymes in a song are important not just because they appeal to us naturally, but also because they often, at the end of lines, the words at the end of lines are often what gets the most attention from the listener. And this is particularly true for rhyming lines, even if it's just subconsciously while we're listening to a song, there's a piece of us. It's like waiting for the end of the rhyme, waiting for the resolution. And so we're going to hear that word and it's going to stick with us. So it's important that those words at the end of the lines mean something. Those rhyming words at the end of lines are really going to contribute to, to the vibe of the song we're writing. Because sadly, when people doesn't do a song, they're not going to be studying the lyrics or appreciating them to the degree that I think most songwriters deserve. So another way to think about it is if you take a song and he take all of the words at the end of each line that rhyme, those words are going to form sort of a theme. Is this something that you want to be hyper-aware of while you're writing a song, probably not, but it is good to sort of in the back of your mind, be paying attention to the end of your lines. And if there are key words or key messages that you really want to stand out, it's a good idea to put those at the end of lines and at the end of sections where they're going to stand out. 7. Lyric Writing: Even/Odd Sections: So let's talk a little bit more about how we can take advantage of those, those positions and are ideal to put the most important messages of our song. And we're also going to talk about like an even number of lines versus an odd number of lines. Because the number of lines in a section can really impact how it feels and what it does. An even number of lines can create a really strong sense of balance and stability. That's what's the most common, that's what we're familiar with. An odd number of lines can kinda shake things up a little bit and thinking about whether a sections have odd number, even number of lines can help us figure out what positions are going to naturally have the most emphasis. So generally the first line of any section is an important one that's going to get attention because it's the first thing that listener hears. The last line of a section is also going to naturally get some attention because it's the thing that you sort of leave the listener with. And that is very true for sections with an even number of lines. However, in sections I have an odd number of lines. It's a little less obvious whether the last line acts as a spot that has a lot of emphasis. If it feels like an extra line or an add on to a section that previously felt resolved or complete than that line. That extra line is going to stand out because you're not expecting it. And so it's going to kinda jump you into, into awareness. If the last line feels anticipatory or you're expecting a line that you then don't get, then you might not really hear that line because you're too busy waiting for what you think is going to be the last line of a section. So it's an odd section, has five lines. That last line is going to stand out. It has three lines. That last line may not stand out because people are waiting for a fourth line, because sections usually have four lines and that's sort of the typical like stanza. You can think about what came before it, like what the section before it looked like. And if it's going to contrast with your new section, and you can also look at what the rhyme scheme is doing. Genre also plays a role in how many lines you want your sections to have. If you're writing a lullaby which are designed to be comforting and predictable, you'd generally only use four lines or like very balanced, very stable sections with an even number of lines. Also keep in mind that this is just a very general rule and just sort of one framework to understand what lines are going to get the most emphasis. Just because a lyric is in the perfect line to get paid attention to. It doesn't mean that there aren't going to be some people that overlook it. And on the other side of the coin, just because a line is sort of in the middle of a section doesn't mean that it's not going to completely pop. It depends on all sorts of factors like the vocal performance and how closely the listener is paying attention. And sections with three lines, even though it doesn't create like a spotlighted line, are not necessarily a bad thing. It can be a very effective way to sort of leave the listener hanging or build some, some intrigue or anticipation or uncertainty, depending on what type of song you're wanting to write, that can be a good, a good thing and a powerful tool. So I'm not trying to, to condemn the three lines. So the biggest thing to remember while you're deciding how many lines you're sections have, is to keep in mind that they have the potential to reinforce emotions and meanings in your lyrics. And they also have a potential to get in the way you can use them to your advantage. For example, if your song is telling a story where there's a shift from like conflict resolution, loss to found confusion to certainty than starting with sections that have an odd number of lines and then moving to a section that has an even number of lines, then that can be an awesome way to have your lyrics and your rhythm and your melody really support the, the meaning of your song and add that extra emotional icing on top of the cake. 8. Lyric Writing: Rhythms & Stresses: So another thing to think about is within each section, we generally want to have the lines be similar lengths. They don't have to match exactly. They can if we want, when it comes to understanding stresses, the easiest way that I've found to understand it is just where are the emphasized syllables are and also where they land on the beats when it comes to your rhythm and your melody, you can usually tell where the stresses would, would go or could go just based on what syllables would be more emphasized if you are saying the lyrics out loud, like you wouldn't say, you walk with him anywhere he goes. You'd say like, you walk with him anywhere he goes. Some people might put stresses in different places. There's not always a right answer with where to put the emphasis. You know, when you're speaking on autos and have to match the way that you'd sing it. But it's a helpful framework. We're not going to dive super deep in a music theory. But like when we're thinking of the time signature of a song like 44 time 1, 2, 3 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 34 time 123123. So if you write a lyric and you immediately know what you want the rhythm to sound like, then at least personally, there's two ways that I choose to sort of document that or save that idea. One of them is to just immediately recorded on a voice memo or a video on my phone. The other way is to underline or bold or italicize. The first beat would land of each measure. So if I'm going to write a waltz and I'm going to use the line. I picked up a pen and I put it on my head. And I really want it to be like I picked up the pen and I put it on my head. Then I can bold. I picked up a pen and I put it on my head. If we bolt that in our document or we undermine it. If we're writing on paper, then it'll be a little easier to jog our memory when we go back, we want to figure out exactly how we were imagining the, the rhythm there. Again, lines don't have to match exactly. If they do, it can be beneficial because that's sometimes a piece of what makes a song really memorable are really catchy, but they don't have to go and buy match. I mean, like having the same number of syllables, having the same stresses in the same places on the same beats. If you're feeling a bit lost after all of this, don't stress, take comfort in the fact that while these ideas can be a helpful way to understand why lyrics feel a certain way or work a certain way. Songwriting depends more on feeling feelings than on understanding how feelings work. Like a lot of these concepts will kind of happen naturally. So they can be super helpful for sure. But you don't have to necessarily memorize all those things and like be aggressively intentional about the way you write your lyrics. You can really also just kind of wing it. So as a review, you want to think about what each section is doing, how many lines it's going to have, what the rhyme schemes are going to be diving deeper into rhymes. Don't be afraid of RAM dictionaries. Picking keywords and brainstorming list of rhymes can be a really helpful way to get started. Keep in mind that those words that rhyme and those words that end each line are going to really contribute to the vibe of your song. We also want to think about the meter or the stresses of the syllables in each line, whether they match, whether we want them to match, just wing it. You're gonna do great. Now we're gonna move on to writing a melody. 9. Writing a Melody: Okay, so we have arrived at writing and melody. How are we going to do that? The first step is really to just come up with something. I know that doesn't sound like very good advice, but I have yet to discover or hear about a different approach. You really just have to pull something out of thin air to start with. And then once it exists, you can use everything you've learned to craft it into what you want it to be. But it involves a lot of just playing around. One thing you can do if you've already written your lyrics at this point is to read them out loud. And that is a helpful way to start thinking about them rhythmically. It will help you become more cognizant of the, the phrasing and the natural stresses of lines. And that can help guide your melody and it can help guide your rhythms. Typically, it's good to start out knowing what key you're going to write in or knowing having a general sense of your chord progression, even if you know that you're in a change them later, that can really help provide a foundation for reading reality. And so one way to go about it is to play your chord progression while saying your lyrics out loud. And then you can sort of slowly start experimenting with singing the lines. So start with just one section and you can kind of improvise and tell something feels right. So we are going to, to see what this looks like. In action. We're going to use the phrase I just said, slowly try experimenting with singing the lines. We're going to just do a very simple chord progression. And then we're gonna just say it out loud so slowly try experimenting with singing the lines. Slowly. Try experimenting with singing the lines. Slowly try experimenting with singing. That's not bad. I don't really love the experimenting, slowly try experimenting with singing the lines. And other option we can play with it more and we can mess with it. If you have trouble writing a melody by ear, you can allow the individual notes of the chords that you're playing to kind of guide you. So for example, if a line occurs over a C chord, you can try using the notes C, E, and G. You can stick to only those notes to write your melody. Or you can at least start with those notes. So if I'm going to write a song and the lyric is allow the individual notes of the chords you're using to guide you. Allow the individual notes of the core is you're using of the chords you're using to guide you. And I just, I'm playing my chord progression and I have no idea where to start. You can just play the individual notes and pick one. So I'll sort their individual notes of the corners you're using to guide you. Really, not the, not my best work, but you get the idea also, once you do come up with an idea that you like, do not take for granted, that you'll remember it. So record it immediately. Make a quick little video on your phone. Record a voice memo. You will thank yourself later if you get stuck and you very well may. Another thing you can try is again, listening to music. We're going to keep going back to that and ideally sing along. This can kinda help you get an, a, a musical headspace. My biggest advice really is just be willing to play. Don't get set on the first thing you come up with, experiment. Play. Pull things out of thin air. You're gonna do great. 10. Farewell!: So we've reached the end of our class together, which is so sad. I hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that you got something out of it. Well, I'm going to ask you to do now is write a song. Who could have seen this coming? So follow the steps that we went through. Do the best you can and when you're finished, please share your song. I would love to hear it. Your fellow students will love to hear it. Don't be shy. Share your art with the world. You can be shy if you want, but don't let your anxiety stop you from sharing your art, okay? Carrie Fisher said be afraid but do it anyway. Every day. I think that to myself, don't put too much pressure on yourself, especially if this is literally the first song you ever written. It does not have to be good. That's the same with anything. The more you do it, the better you get. Getting started is the hardest part, but it's also a very critical step. So go write a song, share it if you can. I believe in you. Thank you for taking this class. I hope you enjoyed it and I can't wait to see what you come up with.