Make Your Own Songwriting Templates In GarageBand

Mary Shaw is a freelance web designer, copywriter and music producer. An award-winning songwriter, Mary performed as a solo artist at over 150 college campuses early in her 20-year career. These days she works on the web for major brands/ad agencies and writes songs in her spare time. Follow Mary on Twitter @maryshaw

I bought my first Mac five years ago because of GarageBand, and it’s the best thing I ever did for my music. This amazing tool allows singer-songwriters from Ari Hest to Fallout Boy use it for everything from song sketches to full-blown final recordings.

In this post I’m going to show you how to setup your own songwriting templates in GarageBand so you can be ready to rock whenever the muse hits you. Pre-made templates will help you overcome writer’s block and are much more efficient than starting every song completely from scratch.

Musical Building Blocks

Whenever I sit down for a songwriting session I use one of my songwriting templates. Most songwriters agree that writing on a regular basis is the best way to improve and generate consistent creative material. That said, if you have an easy to use process you’ll probably write more music. Using templates allows you to quickly capture your ideas and give your muse a home.

I usually compose first on the guitar or sing right into my laptop. As soon as I come up with a rough melody, I record it directly using my laptop’s built-in mic and a click track. I have a very modest setup in a spare bedroom, so it doesn’t make sense to break out the condenser mic and baffles when I’m just sketching ideas.

If an idea sounds like it has legs, I’ll build a rhythm section around it. Once that’s fleshed out I’ll go back in later and record separate guitar and/or vocal tracks using my best recording gear.  Read more about recording with scratch tracks.

Why Songs Need Structure

According to Robin Frederick, author of Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting, most hit songs follow one of the following three structures:

• Verse Verse Bridge Verse (AABA)
• Verse Chorus Bridge (ABABCB)
• Verse Pre-Chorus Chorus Bridge (AbBAbBCB)

While you can create endless variations on them, these three basic forms provide the overall building blocks of popular music. They help carry the listener from the beginning to the end of your song. Even better, they are time tested and proven in the marketplace.

Creating templates that follow one or all three of these forms is a snap in GarageBand. The latest version, part of iLife ‘09, has a built-in songwriting template, but it doesn’t follow any standard songwriting forms. Here’s how you can build your own custom templates no matter which version of GarageBand you currently own.

Open A New Song

The first template we’ll make is in the Verse/Verse/Bridge/Verse form, or AABA. If you have the latest version of GarageBand, click on “Songwriting” to open the default songwriting template. If you have an older version, simply open a new song file and use the default key and tempo. You can change these later if you need to.

The default songwriting template opens with several pre-defined tracks. You get a place to record vocals, guitar, piano, bass and drums. I further customize it for female vocals, change the guitar track to a new basic track for my own guitar, change the piano track to rock organ, and add my own click track loop. If you have an older version of GarageBand you’ll need to insert these tracks as appropriate. When you’re done, save the new file as “verse_verse”, or “AABA”.

Set Up Your Structure

Next we’ll set up the structure of the song using the “Arrange Track” feature available in GarageBand ’08 and beyond. If you have an older version of the software, you can do this by splitting and naming your click track into each section as described below.

First create a 2-bar count-in by clicking on “Arrange Track” and pulling it out two measures. Then add a 4-bar intro. Now you’re ready to follow the AABA form. Simply click “Arrange Track” again until you’ve added two 8-bar verses, one 8-bar bridge, and one final 8-bar final verse. Make sure you name each section. Save the file and bam – you’ve made your first template.

Now let’s create the Verse/Chorus/Bridge form. Re-save your AABA file as “verse_chorus” or something similar. In the “Arrange Track” mode, rename verse 2 of the original file to “chorus”. Then add another verse and chorus before the bridge. Save this file and you’ve made your second template.

Finally, to create the Verse/Pre-Chorus/Chorus form, re-save the second template to a new file. Add a 4-bar pre-chorus section in between the first and second 8-bar choruses. Save the file again and you now have three custom templates ready to go.

Tune Up and Have Fun

One last tip - always make sure your guitars and other instruments are properly tuned up before you hit that red button. I’ve made that mistake before and it’s a pain to re-do stuff that may have had a certain magic on that first of second take. Make your life easier by making getting in tune the first time around.

GarageBand will open up all sorts of opportunities for your music. Try it out yourself. Download the sample templates below or create your own. Most importantly, remember to have fun. Happy Songwriting!

Download GarageBand Templates

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