I’ll take you from from zero to a fully-written pop song in 30 days.
Being able to write your own song is a superpower. Many people dream of writing songs, but the process seems magical – something that’s not possible for most people to do.
That’s why I want to give you the tools to write your own song, even if you’ve never done it before. In 30 days and 30 lessons (5 recorded live sessions!), you’ll learn how to write a pop song complete with chords, melody and lyrics. We’ll talk about the foundations of a song, how to evoke emotion, creating verses and choruses, and study some famous pop songs as we go.
For the month of September, you’ll go through the lessons with an enthusiastic bunch of piano players, and I’ll be there along the way to help you reach something that’s seemed unreachable – becoming a songwriter.
Learn how to use chords in your songwriting and create a chord-based groove that you’re able to play alongside a drum track.
Express your feelings in your songwriting, and create an entire piano structure for your idea, start to finish.
Explore popular pop melodies and learn techniques the best songwriters use. Write a melody for your completed piano structure.
Learn about rhyming, meaning and word choices in lyrics. Write your own lyric to match the melody you’ve created.
With a near-complete song, you’ll add the finishing touches to your pop song. Your song is complete!
If you’re anything like me, you like knowing the exact details of what’s inside a course. Below is a full outline of every lesson in the challenge. (Click to expand)
Hi! I’m Allysia van Betuw, the creator and host of PianoTV. My channel has over 100k subscribers and my videos have been viewed over 7 million times.
For over 15 years, I’ve been teaching piano to people of all ages and levels, from three-year-old beginners to retired adults.
I created this course because writing music is one of my favorite things to do in the entire world. I wanted to share that joy with anyone interested in expressing themselves through music, even if you’ve never written a single song before.
Join by September 1st to receive 20% off! This way, you’ll be able to follow along with others and complete the challenge by the end of September.
Definitely! Though a group of people are going through the challenge starting September 1st, there will be latecomers to the challenge. You can still follow along the daily exercises and share your progress with the Facebook group.
Awesome! This challenge is friendly to songwriting newbies. You’ll still be able to go through the entire process of creating a song, start-to-finish, by completing the daily assignments.
I’ve been writing music since I was eight, and I’m in the post-production phase of my second studio album. Even so, I’m going to be doing this challenge alongside everyone else with the expectation that I’ll learn plenty of new things as I create the daily videos. 🙂
Nope. I’d recommend at least 1-2 years of piano experience before joining this challenge. You need to have a basic grasp of hands-together playing, chords, and rhythm to get the most out of this. In the meantime you can checkout my other courses and youtube channel with hundreds of videos 🙂
To an extent. I write alternative rock music, so I use the term “pop” very broadly. We’re not just looking at Celine Dion-style songwriting – we’ll explore a variety of genres and styles in the pop/rock category. However, if you’re interested in writing jazz, metal, or another style of music very far-removed from pop, you might want to sit this one out.
Absolutely! My recording set-up is very minimal, and I’ll give some recording and gear tips along the way. But if all you have is a smartphone, you’ll definitely be able to follow along.
Yes, though I’d still love to challenge you to try singing. 🙂 If it’s really that awful, the next best thing is to recruit a friend (or someone else in this challenge) to sing your song for you. Working with other musicians is rewarding and fun, and many singers would love the challenge!