How to write a song for someone you love
Plain-language, songwriter-tested guides — no music theory needed. Learn to write it yourself, or let our songwriters do it for you.
Getting started
How to Write a Song for Someone (Step-by-Step Guide)
The six steps our songwriters actually use, in plain language — including the route for people who already play, the revision pass most first drafts need, and how to get a sung version if you would rather not do it alone.
How to Make a Song: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners
How to make a whole song from nothing — words, melody and a recording you can actually hand to someone — in six steps, no instruments required.
For someone
How to Write a Song for Your Girlfriend (Step by Step)
What to actually put in it, how to structure it, and the lines that make her replay it — plus four easy chords, a funny version, and the option of having it sung for you.
How to Write a Song for Your Boyfriend (Step by Step)
The details to build it from, a six-step shape that works, and what changes for his birthday, an anniversary or a thousand miles of distance — plus the shortcut if you want it sung.
How to Write a Song for Your Wife (Step by Step)
For the husband with twenty years of material and no idea how to use it — choosing the one sentence, finding a tune you can carry, and deciding whether to sing it yourself.
How to Write a Song for Your Mom (Step by Step)
For the son or daughter with a lifetime of material and one spare evening: what to put in, what to leave out, and what changes when the relationship is not simple.
How to Write a Song for Your Dad (Step by Step)
The six steps that actually work on an undemonstrative father — what to put in, what to cut, and what changes if he is gone or if he is the man who chose you.
How to Write a Song for Your Daughter (Step by Step)
The details to build it from, the one sentence that becomes the chorus, and what changes when the song has to be danced to — plus the shortcut if you would rather it were sung for you.
How to Write a Song for Your Son (Step by Step)
How to tell your son what you struggle to say out loud — the specific memories to build it from, and the shortcut if you want it sung for him.
How to Write a Song for Your Husband (Step by Step)
For the wife with twelve years of material and a man who insists he does not want anything — what to put in, how to stop him joking his way out of it, and what his reaction will really look like.
How to Write a Song for Your Best Friend: 6 Steps
How to turn years of inside jokes and 3 a.m. rescues into a song they'll actually keep — the memories to build it from, the toast version, and the shortcut if you want it sung for you.
How to Write a Song for Your Sister (Step by Step)
How to turn a lifetime of shared history into a song she will actually cry over — the memories to build it from, and the shortcut if you want it sung for you.
How to Write a Song for Your Brother (Step by Step)
How to say the thing brothers never say out loud — the shared childhood and inside jokes to build it from, and the shortcut if you want it professionally sung.
How to Write a Song for Your Grandma (Step by Step)
How to turn her recipes-with-no-measurements, her sayings and her spoiling into a song that undoes her — plus the shortcut if you want it sung for you.
How to Write a Song for Your Grandpa (Step by Step)
How to write for the man who kept every family story and asked for nothing back — the details that actually land, plus what to do if you would rather have it sung for you.
For an occasion
How to Write a Wedding Song (Step by Step)
The step-by-step process for writing an original wedding song — whether it is for your own first dance or for someone else's wedding day, plus the shortcut if you would rather it were sung for you.
How to Write an Anniversary Song: 6 Steps From Memory to Chorus
How to turn your years together, or your parents', into a song that isn't a greeting card: one message, two real scenes, and a chorus with the number in it.
How to Write a Love Song, Step by Step (No Instrument Needed)
The six steps to a love song that sounds like your actual relationship and not a card — what to put in it, how to make the chorus land, and how to find a melody when you do not play a thing.
How to Write a Birthday Song (Step by Step)
A step-by-step method for a birthday song with their name in it: the memories that carry it, what changes at a 1st, an 18th, a 50th or a 90th, and how to put new words to a tune the room already knows.
How to Write an Apology Song (Step by Step)
A gentle, songwriter-tested guide to writing an apology song — how to own what happened, what to leave out, and how to give it to them without asking for anything back.
How to Write a Graduation Song (Step by Step)
How to write a graduation song that names this graduate instead of the whole class: which years belong in it, how to shape it, and how to finish before the ceremony.
How to Write a Memorial Song (A Gentle Step-by-Step Guide)
A quiet, unhurried method for writing a song about someone you have lost — what to gather, what to leave out, and how to get through playing it.
How to Write a Mother's Day Song (Step by Step)
The card-and-brunch default is easy to beat. How to build a Mother's Day song out of the things she never took credit for — and how to have it ready before Sunday.
How to Write a Father's Day Song (Step by Step)
For the son or daughter with a June Sunday coming and a dad who laughs off every compliment: what goes in, how short to keep it, and how to get it recorded before the cookout.
How to Write a Thank You Song Someone Will Keep (Step by Step)
For anyone who owes a teacher, a nurse, a coach or a friend more than a card can hold: how to find the moment the help happened and turn it into a short song they will replay.
How to Write a Retirement Song for a Coworker, Teacher or Dad (Step by Step)
For the coworker, teacher, boss or parent finally clocking out: how to turn a whole career into a short send-off song, whether it's a parody for the office party or an original the family will keep.
Their song is waiting to be written.
Share your story in 5 minutes. Unlimited revisions, money-back guarantee.
Create your song →