You don’t need to feel “inspired” to write. You don’t need some grand idea either. …
Podcast: Lyric Writing Pens, Notebooks, and Software
How to sweeten your lyric with ‘anadiplosis’
Repetition in songwriting works magic on listeners. All by itself, repetition can make a lyric sound musical before it’s even set to a melody. The chorus and refrain are the two most common forms of …
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7 Ways to Write Better Songs through Creative Writing
Disclosure: the book recommendations below are Amazon affiliate links. Want to write better songs? Try writing something that's not a song. At age eight, my pal James and I wrote a story about a …
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Which do You Write First: Lyrics or Music?
For songwriters, it’s a perennial question: “Which should I write first, music or lyrics?” …
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What’s the REAL Difference Between a Poem and a Lyric?
Poetry and music share a long history of mutual inspiration and collaboration. Modern song lyrics are just the most recent way that music and poetry have come together. …
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The Lyric Idea Sketch: An Easy Way to Finish the Songs You Start
One trick for finishing the songs you start is to write a lyric idea sketch. It takes just a few minutes, and it can save you a lot of trouble. …
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To Write Better Lyrics, Read Poetry
Want to write better lyrics and fall in love with songwriting all over again? Read poetry. Here's how to start. …
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An Easy, Little-Known Rhyming Technique That Adds Excitement to Your Lyric
Why, as songwriters, do we place rhyming words at the end of each line? How and when did that become normal? We songwriters don't usually think about this method as "end rhyme" at all; we just think …
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Write Better Love Songs (with Help from Ancient Roman Convicts)
Follow me back to ancient Rome for a minute. I want to show you something. In Roman courts, there were no mugshots used to correctly identify suspects. Courthouses didn't have sketch artists to draw …
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