Q&A for How to Write a Song for Piano

The I chord is the tonic chord, or the chord of the key in which the piece is based.

This would require knowledge of basic music theory concepts. wikiHow has a plethora of articles on how to do this.

I would recommend reading other wikiHow articles on how to compose and record before writing your own song. If you're able to pick out tunes on an instrument such as the guitar or piano, then you can easily record these on a device such as your smartphone without having knowledge of how to write music.

Start pressing keys and see what sounds good to you. Also, listen to a few songs played on piano to see what they did.

One point of writing a good song is not making it seem common, while still being a little catchy. Find what suits you and make it work.

It depends on how long or elaborate you want your piece to be (since longer and more complicated pieces usually take longer to write). It also depends on how much of a perfectionist you are. The time varies for everyone.

Don't feel like you should limit yourself to what you play and write. If you just want to experiment, compose a long song with a bunch of different parts in different genres and types of music.

If your chord is made up of chords only, then it's necessary to integrate a melody into your song. However, if your song already has a melody, then you are done!

Different keys have different feelings. Major chords have an upbeat, pleasant feeling, whereas minor chords are the ones that invoke sadness. Experiment with different minor keys to see which one you want to write your song in.

Writing music is a very fun and enjoyable activity! You don't need to share your music with anybody. Think of it as your own special song. Lots of famous composers and artists went outside the box with ideas for music. Even if you don't like your song because you don't think it sounds "right," it could be revolutionary. If you would like to share your work, but don't want people to know it's you, keep it anonymous or use a pen name.

It really depends on the song. Base your song on a key, and then think of scales that are mostly part of the tonic of the key, and maybe subdominant and dominant. For example, if you chose C, is it major or minor? If you chose minor for example, you could maybe use C melodic minor. What kind of mood do you want to set? There are lots of different scales and modes you could choose from, and each one has a different mood. You should definitely choose a genre. I suggest contemporary. There are lots of great contemporary songs that are simple but sound advanced that you could look at for inspiration.

Take a walk, relax, and unwind. You shouldn't force the lyrics or the melody, to magically appear. They should come to you when the time is right.

You don't always have to have lyrics, it could be an instrumental, if you don't know what this is, it is a piece of music without any lyrics or words, just notes.