When it comes to writing worship songs, nobody has it all figured out.
If you stop developing, you stop being effective.
And we all know there is no shortage of worship songs out there. In order for your song to stand out and be memorable, it’s going to take work.
That’s why I’ve compiled a list. A list you can choose to obey or ignore, depending on what your songwriting goals are.
Enjoy:
21 Tips For Writing Forgettable Worship Songs
1. Settle on your original idea
2. Say nothing that needs to be said
3. Use cliches
4. Don’t ask for help or input
5. Ignore theology
6. Sing about yourself constantly
7. Edit forever
8. Never share the song with others
9. Ignore collaboration
10. Avoid and reject criticism
11. Don’t work hard…just pray
12. Don’t pray…just work hard
13. Use the same chord progressions
14. Stop pursuing God
15. Don’t save your ideas
16. Avoid worshiping…just write
17. Ignore your pastor’s sermons
18. Never tweak your melody
19. Don’t write from experience
20. Pretend you know it all
21. Never study the styles of great songwriters
There you have it. Either obey this list or do the opposite. It’s your call 🙂
Let’s try and expand this list to 101. Just because we can…and you’re awesome. What would you add? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
22. Start singing without thinking.
23. Forget to hit “record.”
24. Sing off key.
25. Use so many chord changes you can’t remember which ones you used and where.
26. Don’t worship while recording.
Love these! Especially the chord changes. I tend to use too many 🙂
If song writing were a garden:
27.Try to make a song plant with out seeds from the garden of life.
28.When a song seed begins to sprout, don’t slow down enough to get that captured in quick original writings or recordings. Better yet, stomp it out carelessly in your haste to not notice the emergence of something new and promising worth nurturing and protecting.
29. Avoid the long term commitment, if even for a season, which the sprout requires to develop into stock seeds for future growth and for support of fruition and harvesting. Rush it or sell it for instant profit and attention.
30. Let it die before it matures. Fail to weed and feed.
31. Leave out essential elements (nutrients) your song plant needs to grow into strong harvest. Things like working out melodies and phrases and use for intended diners or market buyers. And fail to determine what kind of kitchen or table you are growing food for. Make too much of one thing you can’t even give it away, or grow stuff that cannot be consumed or that cross pollinates badly, and don’t discover any happy exceptions to these general rules.
32. Be very careful to hide your song plant and do not share with others who would enjoy it or take it to market. And don’t even eat from it your self. Hoard the excess for tomorrows comforts. Go buy someone else’s food at the market on super sale and complain about how bad it tastes.
Below are some “seeds” from my today. I may not develop these into melody and notes on paper and in musical expression, but I am enjoying living them out and learning the rhythm & beat in living as I go. He is good to hold us close in times of trouble and plenty. He speaks His truth over and over until we know it.
“many things to be concerned about and only One to be attended to.” “today has enough trouble of it’s own, why add tomorrow’s?” “Throw what cares you have before Him, because He is the One who cares for you” “So what is to be tended to,(or tackled) next and now? and where (in whom) do you find your resting place?”
Great perspective, Rhonda!
33. Don’t trust in God’s voice, nor his providence in your songwriting.
Perfect.