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First, learn three chords on the guitar. I suggest G, C, and either F or D. Each of these can be played several different ways and it is perfectly fine to pick the way that is easiest for you. Practice strumming the strings while playing these chords in different patterns. It is important to be able to switch chords quickly while strumming steadily.

When you have gotten the hang of strumming those chords in some way, in some pattern, start humming along to it, quietly at first. See what pitches of hums sound good with your chords. Hum different notes from down low to up high. Then try humming different series of tones, holding different tones for different lengths of time. After one of these series of hummed notes feels good and natural to you as you play the guitar, start opening your mouth while you are humming, forming the beginnings of words. It doesn't matter what the words sound like at first or if the phrases make sense. If you just let your mouth evolve these sounds naturally, they will become words, as you use words very often.

This process, however, is not fully automatic. It requires nudges in the areas of structure and style. Style first, as this is what will form your lyrics. As the lyrics to your song form organically out of humming noises that you make as you strum three chords on the guitar, some phrases might emerge that make sense. It is important to pay attention to these, as they are the only clues you've got to what the song will be about, if anything. If a phrase emerges, for example about going somewhere or about some emotion or verb, let that contribute to the shaping of future words and phrases in the song.

This method can sometimes result in a shallow, featureless song. To fix this, since we are writing a folk song, there's a whole vocabulary to jump-start some imagery. Anything related to rural life will do. There are bridges, quarries, trains, trucks, tractors, any geographical feature (mountain, river, clouds, etc), fences, barns, cool summer nights, porches, dogs, and rusty things, among others. Involve these things in any way with the phrases that emerge from playing the guitar and humming with your mouth open.

The structure of your folk song will be A-A-B-A. Essentially, this means that you only have to come up with two different sets of slightly different melodies and add slightly different lyrics in for some of it.

In the first A section, you write a verse. This will include about four phrases sung in two different melodies

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