10 New Songwriting Challenges to Try (from beginner to pro)
I love songwriting challenges. They’re like a test of skill and can often force some unique creativity out of us – especially when we’re needing a spark of motivation. Really, they’re pretty fun and more like songwriting games.
So I’ve done some digging and I put together this list of (mostly, I think) new and fresh ideas to try.
I’ve also ordered them in a sort of beginner-to-expert listicle format. But of course, it’s all pretty subjective here.
So let’s skip the small talk and just jump right in, shall we?
The Benefits of Songwriting Games + Challenges
As Fred DeVito said, “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”
So I suppose this is one of the core benefits of songwriting challenges: they’re a challenge.
It forces us to think outside the box and try new things. It tests our skills and exposes our strengths and our weaknesses.
Some other benefits include:
A boost in your confidence
Clarification about who you are as an artist
It’s focused practice
Creativity and on-the-fly thinking
Fostering a growth mindset
10 Songwriting Challenges (Ordered From Beginner to Expert)
Full disclaimer, although I’ve dabbled in most of these challenges, I haven’t tried all of them (especially number 10).
Still, I think I’ve got some pretty solid ideas here.
So let’s kick things off with a nice and chill one, something I like to call The Sequel.
1. The Sequel
What if one of your finished songs had a sequel? What would the next part be?
This is the challenge.
It can help to imagine your song as a story, or movie. What would the next part look like? It may be subtle changes to chord structures, or completely new melodies and styles (in the same scale).
The trick is to connect the two songs somehow – either musically or by story.
You could even write the sequel to someone else’s song. No rules here.
2. The Song Rewrite
Rewriting a song as if it were your own is another fun challenge.
Here, we’ll start by choosing and learning a cover song – and then simply changing it to suit our own style.
For example, you could switch up the chorus and make up your own different one, and just keep the verses the same (or vice versa).
Or you could play with the chord structure, style, melodies, instruments or words. There are seemingly endless options, but try to choose one that’s somewhat challenging (you know, because that’s our purpose here).
3. Note (or Chord) Roulette
To do this, you’ll want to first decide your scale and then have all the notes in your head (or as a list).
From here, you simply roulette the notes (or chords), and you must use whatever note you land on.
Andrew Huang does this using a random number generator to decide the sequence or order of the chords you use (see this video at 02:40). You could also have an arts and crafts day and make like a spinner with all of your notes.
Either way, the point here is to leave the chord and/or note progressions up to the proverbial flip of a coin.
You could add different variations and customization to this challenge, but the main idea is gamifying your notes and melody choices/options.
Actually, this is could be more like a songwriting hack than a challenge.
I digress…
4. The Non-Musician Collab
I think everyone has innate creative abilities. Tapping into these qualities (and having the right mindset) is another story.
Still, working with a non-musician will likely be tricky since there’s a serious skills and mindset gap. And therein lies the challenge.
For example, you could ask a non-musical friend or family member to write lyrics (or a poem) for you – then turn them into a melody and song.
Or you could have someone hum a random melody of notes into your voice recorder app – and then you have to turn it into a song.
Who knows, you may come up with some unique and cool ideas.
5. Crunched for Time
This challenge is one of my favorites. Essentially, you’re creating urgency by setting a time limit to write a finished (or at least the shell of a) song. Here’s how it works.
First, decide on a time limit for writing a song and set a timer.
Start writing – and try not to get overwhelmed by the falling numbers inching closer and closer to 0.
You can start easy by setting a timer for 30 minutes or even an hour (depending on your confidence and skill level). But you’ll want to keep closing that timeframe and find one that’s actually challenging.
I’ve come up with some pretty sweet song ideas from this challenge.
And no stress about actually finishing a full song. If you can at least come up with a banger melody or chorus idea, then that’s a win.
6. The Genre Swap
This one is relatively straightforward: write a song outside of your genre of choice. Or, for extra difficulty, move your song into a genre that you know nothing about.
See how many genres you can convert one of your songs into. While we’re at it, come up with a whole new genre!
Too much? Perhaps – perhaps not.
But that’s part of the challenge. To see how flexible we can be in our writing and also to test how knowledgeable we are in music theory and what makes genres unique from each other.
7. Write A Song With No Instruments
This challenge is pretty fun. And with all of our awesome technology, we can really take full advantage of our creativity.
There’s also some room here for how you define an instrument (like, can I use my mini MIDI keypad?).
So get creative here and come up with unique ways to create music with no instruments. For example, using your voice, the sounds around you, any non-music tools nearby and everyday items.
We definitely have a lot of options here — especially if you know your way around a DAW.
So if you’ve never done any digital music production, then that may be a good first step (in which case, this could be your songwriting challenge: make and product your first song in a DAW).
8. The One Note Song Challenge
How unique can we make one note or chord? How interesting could we make a song that only plays one note?
I would say it’s OK to layer vocal melody variation here. But finding ways to make one single note interesting and varied across the structure of your song is a fun challenge.
For example, you could:
Change the velocity between notes and sections
Play with reverbs and delays
Play with timing
Add octaves and pan your sounds
Use reverse reverbs and other effects
Play with EQ and frequencies
etc.
9. The 365 Song Challenge
Here’s the challenge: write a song everyday for a whole year.
This is actually a somewhat popular thing to do on social media (at least, it was during the pandemic). And it’s something I’m actually doing myself for all of 2023.
But yea, it’s a super interesting and fun sounding challenge to try – it just requires a bit of creative discipline and maybe creating a few new habits.
And as an added bonus (added bonus…department of redundancy department…oof), this can be a great springboard for growing a social media following.
So test your skills and strengthen your discipline with a song-every-day challenge.
10. Rescore A Film Or Play
This one is hard. It’s a serious test of your skills. So what would this even look like anyway?
Well, it’s open for interpretation, but for me, I’d say you’ll want to first choose a film or play and then rewatch it with this fresh objective and a composer mindset.
Then, go through the whole movie, and rewrite the score for each scene. It may help to watch it on silent (or at least mute the music-heavy scenes).
Alternatively, if you’re feeling super industrious, you could make your own film or play. Before you roll your eyes! I’m not saying you need to create a Sundance masterpiece.
Honestly, this could be a short and simple travel film or a quick script with some close friends.
It’s a big undertaking, and things don’t need to be perfect (of course, we’re not trying to be directors here), but it can be a really fun songwriting challenge (and an opportunity to learn some new skills to boot).
Want More? Check Out These Sweet Reads!
