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Category: Lyric Writing

24 Lyric Writing Tips For The Lyrically Challenged

April 7, 2020 / / 0 Comments

If anyone asks me whether lyrics or music comes first when writing a song, I would generally say that it would be music first because I don’t consider myself a proficient lyricist.

Musical ideas come much easier than lyrical ideas and even though, over time, it has become easier to come up with lyrics to my songs, I still struggle with coming up with the right words to say.

A lot of the problem has something to do with confidence however, even though I studied music theory in high school, I wasn’t taught lyric writing (and NO, studying poetry in English class doesn’t count).

According to the MusicRadar article 24 Tips For Writing Lyrics…

Like any other creative process such as playing guitar or programming synth sounds, lyric-writing is a skill that can be learnt and improved upon

From reading this article I wished there was an element of study in song lyrics when I was in school.

The article outlines twenty four lyric writing tips that are not necessarily hard and fast rules per se, but are guidelines to be experimented on.

You’ll need to read the whole article to get the full list of lyric writing tips however I wanted to highlight some tips that really resonated with me.

#04: Move On – If you can’t quite figure out how to say what you want within a particular line, jot down the gist of it and move on to another part of the song

#05: Elevator Pitch – Try to have a clear idea of what the song is about.

#14: Don’t Be Scared Of Imagery – Don’t feel that using imagery will make your lyrics too arty or flowery.

#20: – Don’t Use Too Many Words – Cramming a line full of words where they clearly won’t fit is not a good idea

#24: – Avoid Filler – Avoid writing filler lines in order to make rhymes work.

For me, there were certainly some “ahaa” moments when I was reading through the tips that will definitely help my lyric writing in the future.

Check out the article 24 Tips For Writing Lyrics and let me know what you think. Do you have other lyric writing tips that you’d like me to share?

Until next time, just keep on writing,

Corey Stewart
All About Songwriting

Original Source: 24 Tips For Writing Lyrics | MusicRadar

Using Poetry To Transform Your Lyric Writing

February 19, 2020 / / 0 Comments

There have been a few instances where lines of poetry have inspired a song or two inside me and with that in mind, I came a cross an article written by songwriter Anna Dagmar called “Transforming Your Lyrics From Poetry To Personal Truth.”

She mentions at the beginning of the article after discovering that her lyrics had changed stylistically from her first album in 2001 to her latest album in 2012:

… when I began writing songs at about age twenty, I had a lot of emotions that wanted to come out somehow, but I was very shy about revealing myself too much. So, I turned to poetry. I turned to the world around me and looked for symbols or metaphors to describe the way I felt.

What grabbed me about the article were two things:

1. The eloquent way she deconstructs some of her lyrics to illustrate some of the points she makes

2. Her “Handful Of Tricks For Expanding Your Lyric Writing Process” list that she mentions halfway through the article

She ends the article with yet another piece of great advice, saying that lyricists should:

… read and write as often as possible. Be true to yourself, and don’t be afraid to share detail, whether about yourself or another person. Try to dig deeply to find ways of describing the world more eloquently than we do in daily conversation.

What I’ve found through my online research into all things songwriting, is that a lot of information is out there about the music, arrangement, collaboration and the business side of songwriting but not necessarily enough about the things lyricists have to go through to make themselves heard.

I hope that you find this information as helpful for you as it was for me. You can find the full article “Transforming Your Lyrics From Poetry To Personal Truth” here.

Until next time, keep on writing,

Corey Stewart
All About Songwriting

The BIG List Of Songwriting Prompts And Lyric Generators

January 31, 2020 / / 1 Comment

Take it from me, there will be times when you’ll need a little bit of help in getting your songwriting process underway.

It’s inevitable…

But when this happens to you, be comforted by the fact that there are free online songwriting tools available that are able to get your creative juices flowing again.

As a songwriter who comes up with musical ideas much more easily than lyrical ones, I use these online random word generators and (song) writing prompts whenever I find myself in a situation where I’m fresh out of songwriting ideas.

I know from personal experience that from time to time a prompt such as a good song title or a few well chosen lines overheard in a conversation can be all that’s needed to open the floodgates of inspiration.

So, with that in mind, I thought I’d do some online research into these types of songwriting tools.

Some are fairly serious and some are humorous but if you have a look at them all you’ll find some value in these sites I’m sure so here is the BIG List Of Songwriting Prompts And Lyric Generators for you to enjoy and be inspired by…

Song Lyric Generators

Song Title/Band Name Generators

(Song) Writing Prompts

You’ll notice that some of these tools are a bit tongue in cheek but there are also some songwriting tools that are seriously good. Either way, by using these tools it’s my hope that you’ll take your creativity to places you’ve never imagined as much as I have by using them.

I’d be interested to hear how you go with any of these. If you come across any other songwriting tools that you feel will help anyone with their songwriting process, feel free to let me know about it.

Until next time, keep on writing,

Corey Stewart
All About Songwriting

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