Note: There's a really important P.S. at the end of this email that I'd really appreciate your help with :)

How do you take your great idea for a song and create an awesome sounding production out of it?

I can understand how it's hard to hear a full-blown production out of a few simple chords on the guitar.

But famous songs have been inspired by less.

For example, Harry Nilsson's "One" was inspired by the busy dial tone of a telephone.

He was literally sitting there on hold on the phone listening to this beep-beep-beep tone and started humming:

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do...

Sounds crazy right?

But also inspiring and makes you comfortable knowing that songs can come from anywhere.

But if you need a little more structure to your songwriting and production I've got some thoughts for you:

Music Production from A - Z

I like to break a song down into a few chunks to analyze what makes it so good.

It's easier to think about each part individually.

It also makes my brain hurt a little less.

Song Structure

If you have a great hook, or a verse and a chorus it's time to think about what the overall song structure will be.

Let's look at it in terms of ABCs, where A is a verse, B is a chorus and C is a middle part or a bridge.

The most basic is the ABABB structure, where you have the verses broken up by a catchy chorus that doubles at the end. It's really simple, and can work well if you have great lyrics and an infectious melody.

Another classic is the ABABCBB, where you lengthen the chorus at the end by breaking it up by a bridge. The simple trick of breaking the end up with a bridge gives the song variety and lengthens the hook(chorus) of the song.

If you have a catchy chorus that sticks in people's head then you want to repeat and repeat and repeat. There's nothing wrong with it, and a catchy melody will never get old.

Unless it's over-played on the radio and you can't go anywhere without hearing the song. Then you might get tired of it.

But on the flip side, imagine how successful that songwriter must feel, when you can't go anywhere without hearing your song?

Whatever your structure is, make sure it's not an endless maze of different parts.

Unless you're Tool, then you can do whatever you want.

Arrangement

Arrangement is a little different than song structure. Although it's sometimes used to mean the same thing, I like to think of arrangement as the ingredients of the song structure.

Figuring out the arrangement is basically figuring out what kind of instrumentation you want in your song.

Different instrumentation can take a song to completely new places. A song can be a soft acoustic pop song or a heavy rock song by just changing out the instrumentation.

For example, Ingrid Michaelson's "Parachute" has two different versions: the original rock/pop version and the folky version. It's the same song, but the arrangement and instrumentation is different.

Sometimes, a sparse arrangement is the right way to go.

A Paint by Numbers Approach

Now that you've wrapped your head around the song structure and figured out the right instrumentation you can start building your song.

Start by building around the simple chords and melody. A great way to start is to record the drum beat and work from there.

Whatever your approach is, keep a few things in mind.

Contrast - Keep your production interesting with contrasting elements. The call and response approach is effective for creating a contrast between a vocal and an instrument. You can also try the time-tested approach of quiet verses contrasted by loud choruses.

Foundation - Every song needs a strong foundation. You can have the greatest guitar sounds in the world, but if your drums and bass suck then your song will suck.

Rhythm and Riffs - Working from your foundation, instrumental riffs on top create the harmonic structure for the song. Whether these are simple guitar chords, heavy rock riffs or syncopated piano stabs, a great riff section creates the structure for the most important thing of all...

Melody - A strong melody is really the key to everything. If the melody fails to impress, the song fails. Pure and simple. The first melody you come up with in a song doesn't have to be the final one. If you're confident with your song then you can work on the melody to make it more memorable, or change the chord structure underneath to make it more interesting.

A great melody can wrap everything up nicely. It makes the song memorable, you can create contrast with backing vocals and you can add rhythmical elements with it as well. Spend the most time making your melody magical and everything else will fall into place.

Act Now, Start Finishing Your Songs

I know that it's hard to let your songs out into the world.

You're really showing people a pretty vulnerable side of yourself that you might not want people to know. But for some reason, you feel compelled to write it anyway.

But once the first draft is done, what do you do then?

Do you actually follow through and finish your songs or do you just put them back in the drawer because you're too afraid to show them to the world?

Whatever the case may be I've put something cool together about self-producing and overcoming self-doubts when you're writing your songs and trying to figure out what to add to them.

It's all a part of the new Music Production Strategies that will open in a few days.

Check out the preview of what you can learn from popular productions to take your demos to the next level.

Important P.S.

Help my new podcast Songversations climb in the rankings on iTunes by rating, reviewing and subscribing to it. It'll really help me reach new and interesting songwriters to talk to.

Simply go here and select "view in iTunes" and then you can select "Ratings and Reviews" to leave your review and rating for us.

Thanks in advance!

Björgvin