Need help with writing songs

[Deanovski]

Basically i have a huge passion for music and it kills me im not naturally talented at it.

I'm into screamo/metal/posthardcore music, and for many years i have done vocals(screaming) and i am not very good at singing( but i dont really want to so thats okay.

Basically i really want to follow this passion and just be in a band, my main worry is i wouldnt be able to join a band that is already in progress because i will be behind in the experience side of things.

I havent written a song in a long long time and now when i listen to instrumental and think about writing a song it comes blank to me, and is really killing my confidence in trying.

My main problem is im not overly educated in songs structure and timing or anything of the sort and would love some pointers, i've looked online but im hoping to get more personal with some ones actual advice.

[Hamilton Saint]

Well, the classic pop song structure (familiar from all those great songs by Gershwin, Porter, Arlen, Berlin, etc.,) is the 32-bar song, written in four sections in the form of A-A-B-A. Each of those four sections is made up of 8 bars (or "measures") of music.

 

The first, second and fourth sections are the "verses"; the third section is the "bridge", or "middle 8". The verses are written in the home key ("tonic); the middle 8 modulates to a related key.

 

The majority of The Beatles songs, for example, are written in this form - especially the early stuff.

 

 

Actually, this format, as practised by some of the greats, like the Gershwins, also included an 8-bar intoduction, which was usually set in a modulated key, other than the home key ("tonic") found in the verses. In the 50s and 60s, many singers would drop these intros ang go straight into the first verse. So, when you first start listening to singers like Ella Fitzgerald, it's a big surprise to hear her always begin these classic songs with the introduction, before getting to the very familiar phrase of the opening verse.

 

Later exponents of this form (like The Beatles) dropped this 8-bar intro and stuck to the 32-bar form (A-A-B-A).