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Lyrical writing exercises11/18/2023 ![]() Your next songwriting session is about to be full of words and high notes! Let’s dive in. We’ll talk about how to organize your ideas, and ensure that you always have material to pull from. This guide will show you the best strategies I’ve learned for finding interesting lyric ideas, capturing them reliably, and writing lyrics that hit a chord with your listeners. But try to keep early versions of works.Does writing music and melodies comes naturally to you, but lyrics tend to be a sticking point? Lyrics may feel understandably tricky for musicians who have spent the majority of the lives or careers working on their instrument, performance, or music-writing craft. the nugget from which to build a new song.Ī computer with a good word processor may be your preference. Later look back and you might see the one line or two in it that is the real gem Write half a song before you decide it’s too lame to finish. But keep it - start a shelf full of journals. Scribble in, daydream with, experiment with. Of the best things you can do is keep a songwriting journal. Taking a lesson or two, or studying a page or two of a book of jazz chords, orĪttending a concert of music or poetry you love (or you thought you would hate),Ĭan give you one new thought just one pearl of insight that might just become Own - whether that means listening to Afro-pop or Wisconsin polka. Listen to some music from another culture other than your Or retune your guitar to an open tuning and try normal chord forms over the If you find yourself in a rut, tryĬonfusing yourself - play an instrument you don’t know and make a tune on it just doesn’t stop!īetter you know music, the better you will compose. Of light is a “new” light? What kinds of things would you see in an “old” light? See. This a few times and you start to see language in a new light. What kind of gear does a worm need? Raingear? Maybe the gear to catch a worm? Flashlights Opener - you see the phrase “worm gear.” Think about the image. Perhaps it is the manual that comes with your garage door Point your fingerĪt the middle of the page and see what the word or phrase is. You have the nugget from which a song might flow.ĭead? Take a book off your shelf. Phrase could capture that central image? Now When you look at what you have written, is there a What is the weather like? The temperature, the breeze, theĪre the smells? What are you wearing? Who else is there? How is her/his hairįixed – what is his/her scent? What are the sounds around you? How aboutĬreating the image. Imagine a perfect day in your childhood – or the day your childhood To work in creating a scene, place or mood. ![]() Similar to listmaking, but more purposeful, is putting your imagination But more importantly, writing down a list begins to mine your “I Love.”) or could be a starting pad for an essay song, enumerating facts List could become a song (remember “My Favorite Things” or Tom T Hall’s School counselor told you were important all the shades of blue - anything. People eat for breakfast words that remind you of your mother things your high Pen & paper ready, start a list of practically anything - things ![]() Remains is a new song with only a hint of the “ghost” song that acted as a You could do A-C-B-D - write the new music to the “scaffold” song and then write Adjust your new words and melody to fit your newly established Keys, time signatures, tempo, etc., to remove yourself from the original.ĭ) Edit. Verse for verse, chorus for chorus,Ĭ) Take that new lyric and write completely new music to it. Look familiar, but once removed yields a unique building.Ī) Take some song you like - any song at all from any era, any style -ī) Write a new lyric to that song. Much as a scaffold is used to frame a skyscraper - the scaffold may You can build on the form of another song, without sounding at all like Not always easy to create, but easy toīorrow. Stuck? Here’s an old trick to get you going. ![]()
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