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A Primer on Tension and Release in Your SongwritingTension and release in songwriting uses the same mechanics as good joke telling. The way you let your story – in your song or joke – unfold is what sets the table for a satisfying hook/punchline. The difference is that songs not only have words to do this but also a melody. When lyric and |
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A Few Tips on Writing Lyrics to An Existing MelodyMore often than not, songs seem to come together as a gradual and simultaneous creation of lyric and melody. Maybe a snippet of melody has been running around in your head with a bit of lyric attached. Or maybe you’ve got a title or hook idea that has a bit of melody to go with |
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A Few Tips on Writing Your Second VerseA friend of mine once said she’d have a lot more hit songs if they didn’t require a second verse. For anyone who’s ever written a song, this should make perfect sense. There comes a moment in the process of writing a song where you find yourself wondering how to follow up your first verse |
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Four Things You Might Not Know About Lyric WritingAs a longtime songwriter and – often specifically a lyricist – I’ve had a chance to observe why and how lyrics work. While it’s obvious that the words can tell a story or create a mood, what’s less obvious is what happens when you take a step back and look at the role of the |
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Five Ways to Find Songwriting CollaboratorsSo let’s say you’re a lyricist who has lots of great song ideas but no melodies to hang them on. Or, let’s say, you’re an experienced musician and vocalist but can’t imagine putting words to any of your melodies. Songwriting collaboration in these – and many other – instances can be the ideal solution. The |
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Some Tips on Editing and Re-writing A LyricI’d like to introduce you to Tom Kimmel. Along with releasing several major label albums as an artist himself, Tom has written songs covered by Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt and Randy Travis among others. Tom’s insights into the lyric-writing process are well worth a good read. Enjoy! _____ For some of us, a |
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Four Ways Simplifying Your Lyrics Can Make Your Songs BetterIn my early years of running my recording studio in Nashville, I had the privilege of demoing songs for quite a few hit songwriters. This provided me with the opportunity to observe, up close, not only the work habits of super successful songwriters but also an in-depth look at what made up their songs. I’ll |
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Eleven Tips & Tricks to Help Songwriters Write Better LyricsLyric writing, at its heart, is about telling a story. However, it can help to remember that it’s not just the story we tell but how we tell it that gets people to listen to what we have to say. To that end, I’ve put together a collection of tips and tricks to help you |
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Seven Questions Songwriters Should Ask For Better LyricsAt its best, lyric writing is a magical mixture of creativity and storytelling that can bring your listener into a world you’ve created and hold them there for the length of your song. However in order to create the perfect, tightly-scripted narrative that great lyrics possess, countless hours of writing and re-writing are often necessary. |
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Four Ways to Significantly Improve Your Verse LyricsI thought I’d start this article with an analogy. Verses are to a song as vegetables are to a meal. And, just as we should all eat our vegetables, we should make sure our songs have interesting, well-balanced verses. To that end, I’ve put down a few things to keep in mind if you’d like |