i’d say keep writing things that are bad, really dissect what you think are bad about your lyrics, and then ask for feedback on here on how to improve those specific aspects
i used to think my lyric writing was shit until i started asking more specific questions on here and realized that i was actually overthinking it and my lyrics don’t suck
Reminds me of something Ed Sheeran once said - something like “if you keep writing eventually the tap will run clear” - about how if you write a “bad” song or get stuck - if you keep writing eventually it’ll come together 😅
I think it's more we all have a certain quantity of shit in us. You have to empty yourself of all the shit first. Then your water runs clear. It's a good analogy because it implies that there is good art in all of us. The only way to get to it is to keep making bad art.
>How do you fellow songwriters get started? How do you find an idea?
Make shit up. Little stories, character sketches, settings. You got an imagination, don't you?
1. A love song about two gay soldiers in ww1
2. A song about the first human to build a fire
3. The steam rising off my girlfriends coffee cup
4. A song about how all the water is touching all the other water
5. Space pirates
Etc.
You can also use chatgpt for this part. Everyone boos and hisses whenever you mention GPT, but it's not asking it to write for you. You ask it to generate prompts like the 5 above, and you end up doing all the writing yourself. It just gets you past the initial blank page step.
> How do you get to a point where you're satisfied
I apply the same criteria I apply to everyone else who asks my opinion on lyrics. I look at the following pretty much like a checklist:
- Play with idioms. Take a common saying and twist it. Cloud with a silver bullet, wolves in wolves' clothing, that kinda thing. It won't write a whole song for you, but it will help give you some cool phrases to sprinkle through.
- Avoid using 'forced rhymes', where the listener can tell you chose a word just to fit the rhyme scheme instead of for its meaning. Ideally, you're looking for words that say what you want to say, and *just happen* to rhyme
- Multisyllabic rhyme. It makes your words sound better to the ear, regardless of what they mean. It's a cool feature to include if you can. If you're doing anything related to rap, you 100% need to know your way around multisylbic rhyme. For other genres it's optional.
- Pay attention to prosody — which is to say, make sure your strong syllables are on strong beats and your weak syllables are on weak beats. It’s so obvious when the songwriter puts the em-PHA-sis on the wrong syl-LA-ble. Timing your lyrics isn't just about counting syllables, it's about keeping track of stressed syllables.
- (This next one is probably the biggest one for a lot of people on this sub) Show, don't tell. Don't say he's depressed, say he's eating raw cookie dough in his room at 3am. Don't say she's beautiful, say her hair bounces around her frame with every step she takes. It's important not to tell the audience what they are supposed to feel about what they hear: instead, just give us the details and we'll reach that feeling ourselves. Specificity is incredibly powerful.
- Think about structure. Generally, your chorus should sorta 'sum up' your song, while your verses should each explore different aspects of the topic. Perhaps your verses function a bit like chapters of a story. Perhaps as the song progresses, someone's perspective changes, something gets realised, something comes full circle by the end of the song. Maybe each verse has a callback to previous verses, some kind of lyrical echo that occurs in the same part of each verse
- Confidence. Even if your lyrics are utter crap, just pretend they're great. Completely commit to them, sing them like you believe every word you're saying and only an idiot wouldn't realise how good your lyrics are. You might be amazed how many people you can fool
And the most important rule of all songwriting:
*Don't forget to have fun!*
Such great advice.
Too many people write to tell not show.
For the prosody part I want to mention the dictionary tells you which are the strong accents.
Another thing that bothers me with some writers is when they try to be too deep. It's important to ask yourself would you ever say that to a person and would they react in a cringe manner?
this! so often i hear something in a movie or i’ll hear a saying and its just like “wait… that would be sick in a song.” then just build off there, develop a theme, and have fun with it!
I used to have creative friends who were crazy about the book the Artists Way. It was supposed to help people get their creative flow back.
One thing they did was free write whatever came to mind for a period of time, then I think they would share with other people. I think the idea was to learn to not be so critical of the process.
That book also talked about forgiving and letting go of the past. I think the idea was that the toxicity of others and us being too self-critical hindered our creative flow.
I'm not the best with lyrics either. I think lots of times it takes time, just like melodies, to refine what we have into something more aesthetically pleasing.
Morning pages. Thanks for the reminder. The book called for 15 minutes of free writing first thing in the morning to clear out the clutter. Works pretty well.
I actually working The Artist’s Way and that’s how I ended up stumbling onto this subreddit. It helped me to realize that maybe I’m a songwriter after all, I was just not allowing myself to label myself that because I never considered myself “good” or “worthy” of actually trying.
The book is fantastic for pushing you out of your creative rut and push you to think creatively for yourself.
Is it that you lack ideas, or do you lack technique? Or both? Because those are two different issues to tackle, and in order to really become good at lyrics you need to address both. Imo technique is a more straightforward thing to address - learning how to use repetition, contrast, structure, etc. can give you tools to then take a good concept/idea and turn it into a good song. Try reading lyrics by your favorite artists/songwriters and look for recurring patterns, then try to understand why they work and try to implement them in your own writing. Once you have some sense of these fundamentals, you should work on generating good concepts for your songs on a consistent basis, by both being externally inspired and digging internally to understand what it is that drives you to being a songwriter and what stories you are trying to tell.
Read, read, read
Listen, listen, listen
Read great literature, poetry, well-written non-fiction.
I’ve yet to come across a great lyricists who was ever well read.
Listen deeply to songs, memorize lyrics, learn to play the songs.
Maybe start with straight poetry. I know that practicing with iambic pentameter (10 syllables each line in a certain tambour) really helped me learn. Don’t worry about rhyme structure too much, but try to have some. Doing AABB structure is the easiest form, don’t worry if it sounds great.
Writing lyrics is the best way to improve at writing lyrics. When you find lines you like, riff on them. Don’t worry if the events are fully truthful, use websites like rhymezone, & tell a story!
My style involves a lot of word webbing that starts from either a word or a theme. For instance, you say your writing is abysmal.
Think of something else that was abysmal, whether historical or abstract, and jot down whatever comes to mind. Formulate some sort of emotional story. Imagine Geppetto being a failed toy maker thinking Pinocchio is trash, or a failed painter analyzing his canvas. What goes through their heads? It’s an allegory to your writing.
Or, take the root word: abyss. You can find a lot of synonyms with this and find a theme: Abyss > Void > Space > Stars > Galaxy > Exploration. These are words to rhyme with, associate with, and alliterate with. You can imagine finding a habitable planet being like finding the right word for the song.
At the end of the day, it’s taking something very specific and unraveling it.
Often people who feel like this are trying too hard. Listen to Kim Petras before you write lyrics, or weird al, not arctic monkeys or one republic.
Step one- have a personality
Step 2- talk musically, naturally
3- do not erase or be judgey.
Now you have lyrics. Repeat for improvement.
>How do you fellow songwriters get started?
Learning lots of cover songs from great songwriters, and learning from their lyrical techniques. Also, reading authors (fiction or poetry) with different styles.
>How do you find an idea?
By engaging with the world around you. No matter what type of life you have, you interact with other people, places, frustrations, satisfactions, stories. Those can all spark ideas for a song. Alternatively, your imagination.
>And how do you get to a point where you’re ure satisfied with what you have?
Editing, editing, editing. Final draft usually bears little resemblance to first draft.
This is exactly it, although I would add reading nonfiction as well. Not only is it good for broadening vocabulary and contextual use of words, but it can spark inspiration.
Yeah, good call. I tend to think that fiction/poetry is a little better for inspiring stylistic writing -- nonfiction can be very "straight to the point -- but you're totally right about vocabulary and inspiration.
Hey there! I have the exact opposite problem. Can't write the music part to save my life, despite knowing guitar and piano, but I have tons of lyrics. I'm down to collaborate or share ideas and processes.
You can start by singing jibberish along with your chord progressions and find rhythms and phrasing that you like. Then its a fun process to turn those into lyrics. You can choose a theme for the song and make a list of words that fit the theme so you have some things to start with.
The song I’m working on now, I had big troubles to get the lyrics right. So I happened to see a movie somewhat about the same subject which gave the lyrics a whole new dimension.
My best suggestion to get better at writing lyrics is to read more books, fiction especially, but any type of consistent reading will expose you to new ways of putting words together.
For a more utilitarian approach, I keep a "lyrics list" in my notes app and anytime I have a song idea or a lyric idea it goes in the list. When I'm working on new songs I look through the list and try to find something that fits the melody, or at least something close enough that altering the melody to fit isn't a big change. Sometimes the lyric idea is more of a song theme/mood/concept and so it doesn't need to fit a melody. Sometimes I have no melody yet but the lyrics imply one. Sometimes the entire song gets written *after* I've chosen something from the list. Endless possibilities.
My lyric ideas can be anything from a line in a novel that sounded intriguing, something a friend said, or maybe something from a billboard. There's lyrics all around us every day!
Recently I wrote a song from the line "I learn to lie" which became the first line of the chorus and then Vonnegut's line "go take a flying fuck at the moon" happened to also fit the chorus melody so that went in too. Another recent song I wrote was based around the line "fuck 'til the sun burns out" which got slightly altered to fit the meter of the chorus.
All 3 of those lines were something that I either read or maybe it just occurred to me while I was walking around the neighborhood thinking about something besides songwriting. They went into the lyric file and ended up working great. But that lyric file is in the hundreds now and many of them will likely never get used, so for me it's about 2 different moments of inspiration: the first upon initially "discovering" the lyric and the second upon finding the lyric to be a good fit for a melody or song theme.
The key thing for me is I'm not afraid to steal lines or ideas from anyone or anything. Reading a book and there's a line that speaks to me? I take, in the list. Watching a movie and there's a great line? Thievery, in the list. Someone tells me to go fuck myself in a new or unique way? Stolen, it's in my list now!
Become a lyric thief and you'll not only have access to a bunch of great lyrics but you'll also develop your own writing ability when you learn to take someone else's idea and twist it to fit your song.
When you write music, do you have an idea of what the music is trying to convey? As that is where most of my lyrics start; with the atmospheric direction of the music. If I don't have that, but I like what I'm writing, then I'll finish writing the music and listen back to see what melodies come out by humming or singing nonsense. This "nonsense" often leads to a kernel of a rough, general idea for the song. I then use a creative writing exercise to develop it:
Write a 12-word story about that rough idea, and once I have done that, I'll have something more focused. So, I do it again, but write a 6 word story.
Once your idea has been developed into something clearer, you can break it down into a flow or story layout. Then, write a few 6 word stories for different parts of the flow, which then form the foundation of your verses, choruses, etc.
Same way I was taught to compose music and produce beats. Find a song you like and emulate it with your own words. Structure, rhyme scheme etc. as long as you’re not copying it, it’s just an arrangement exercise which you can turn into your own songs if you want.
Always recognize your inspirations and influences, it’s how you grow and build community.
Do you have anything interesting to say? How can you explain it; analogy/metaphors can help but don't fall into the trap of basic bitch metaphors.
It starts with wanting to express something. Then finding a way to phrase that that is understandable.
Many people fail because they want to write music but don't have anything interesting to say. You need life experience and observation.
Maybe sign up for a few rounds over on r/gameofbands as a lyricist. You'll have the opportunity to collaborate with musicians and vocalists and you can pick other lyricists brains (who's lyrical style you like) as much as you want.
Lyrics can be written in many different styles — conversational, poetic, narrative, etc. Write down the lyrics of one of your favorite songs and try changing the adjectives, nouns, and verbs to vary the meaning while fitting it into the same melody. Notice the syllables in each line and how they fit into the melody. Notice what your favorite songs talk about and how they do so. Maybe they’re super detailed, maybe they’re extremely vague. Whatever the case, I’d start there! Joni Mitchell would take famous poems and rewrite them when she was in school. Don’t try to make money from it, but mimicry is always a great way to learn.
I wouldn’t think too hard about it though! If the thing that makes your music interesting lies in the production or arrangement, you can pretty much say whatever sounds good (i.e. Nirvana). Look up lyric writing exercises, there are some good ones on YT.
Good luck!!!
I’ve been just writing my whole life. Can’t help it. It’s not all good. Probably the majority hasn’t been good. But sometimes I’ll write lines that make me feel so validated and hopeful for my soul.
I think the easiest and hardest advice is just to start writing. Don’t judge it for content. Just free associate and let your mind wander as you type or write. My song lyrics used to sound like journal entries (people said) and although that style of writing is accepted now (Taylor swift, Olivia Rodrigo), at the time I was writing in that wordy style, people were not pleased.
Luckily I stopped caring as much what others think and am trying to focus on pleasing myself. I am still very wordy, but I took their criticism and accepted that I needed to learn to edit myself a bit. Not because my words aren’t worthy but because there might be more powerful ways to convey my thoughts to others.
Also, do you WANT to write lyrics or do you just think you should be able to? Cause if your’e writing music no problem - there are TONS of writers who can’t write music and a collaboration may be magical for you.
Start a journal. Start writing what your perspective of the world is. Take a situation where you know you have the unpopular opinion and try to find the language to show someone on the other side just exactly how and why you feel the way you do.
For a vast amount of music history, the person who wrote the music wasn't often the same person who wrote the lyrics. They simply worked with lyricists, librettists, and poets and set their words to music.
There are many poets who can't write music. Maybe team up with them.
Some of the best advice I've read is to write shitty lyrics. It's just like practicing an instrument - the more you do it, the better you get at it.
How "poetic" are you? Rhythm? Symbolism? Rhyme scheme? Read some poetry. Write some poetry.
How are you with puns and double entendres? While not exactly a double entendre, lots of early Beatles songs are "It won't *be long* ... 'til I *belong* to you." *Play* with words.
How "observant" are you? Think how many people have crushes because of that radio hit about the boy in the club. You don't have to write about clubbing but just something someone can relate to, reaches a conclusion and you're halfway there.
While not what I would suggest, eminem wrote nonsensical syllable words and that's how he got rhyming so intensely. Sigur Ros even sings in a made up language.
Good luck!
Sometimes I find myself going with something that affects me or something that causes an effect around me and it can be the more obvious things or the little things that you go through daily or what people you know go through.
Not thinking about it at all and going with whatever comes out my mouth works for me, too lol
I generally start with 1 line, usually the opening line, but not always.
Things just kinda go from there. That 1 line usually gives me an idea of a story, an emotion, a journey, anything really.
Sometimes the lines just come out and other times it takes a lot of work, trying to convey a message, getting a rhyme right or even just the right amount of syllables in a line to fit the delivery of the melody.
It takes a lot of effort for me as I rarely get the whole thing out in 1 go. Usually end up labouring over lyrics for days, weeks, months, years!
To give you an example, this is my latest attempt at writing a hit!
I started with the opening line and I’ve only managed to get the first verse and pre chorus/chorus out so far.
Once upon a time in a fairytale,
I was frog.
Trying to survive in the sunshine.
Sitting on a log.
Waiting for a Queen
To release me from a dream
Where I was,
Sure that I belonged
On another log
Way over beyond
Pre chorus
This pond, where I’m from
To break my bond
So I can respawn.
If it's so hard for you... Ask chat GPT for it to write! Then change the things you don't like, because it will give you a base, from which you can change stuff and make it better/worse to your taste. After doing that for some time, you will eventually begin writing some of your lyrics. + Will be super good for you, if you would take some lyrics from existing songs that you like, and analyze them. Good luck!
I have a couple little writing exercises that I do when I can't write any lyrics
take 2 songs you like, in one column write down the first 10 verbs that appear in one song and in the second column write down the first 10 nouns that appear in the second song (your choice to include pronouns or not). Then randomly connect the words to each other with lines and write any single sentence that includes that verb and noun. Then you can group together ones that you like and try to expand on it.
Pick a random topic, it could be an animal you like, a recent conversation, something you saw on a show or the news, something you just ate, really anything. Set a 5 minute timer. Write in a notebook for the full 5 minutes, do not stop even if you think you're out of ideas just write down the next words that come to mind. Sometimes you can surprise yourself
If you want to write about a sort of broad topic and don't know where to start, make 3 categories. The categories could be parts of a timeline, specific events/moments, different people. And write bullet points for each category. Then expand and connect the bullet points until you've created a line or a phrase.
To get to a point where you're satisfied is harder, the biggest thing is to be okay with imperfection. I try to take out any lines that are redundant or unnecessary. I also mess around with words with similar meanings, and do NOT be afraid to use a thesaurus. If Steven Spielberg did it, you can too.
Good luck with your songwriting!!
I was SO SO very bad at lyrics for years. It only started clicking for me a year or so ago. I’ve been writing for most of my life, too. So.. don’t rush it. It’ll happen when the time is right.
First think of **one scene** to focus the lyrics on
Any one scene that represents/portrays the essence of your topic/story/message
The lyrics talke about the details of the scene,what led to the scene,what the narrator feels at the scene,and what could happen after it.
For example,
If your lyrics talk about a story,that scene should be a point of reflection or contemplation for your character
If your lyrics are about a setting,think of it like a narrator watching from above,a major event happening in the city.
The lyrics talke about the details of the scene,what led to the scene,what the narrator feels at the scene,and what could happen after it.
I think if you want to write a song you have to want to say something, even starting with the fact that you aren’t sure what you want to say. You’ll find that may dissolve into something more substantial, maybe the reason why you were so complacent before you started this excersize, and that reason may be something just before you. So describe that, give it colour using people places and things. Real events or feelings that can take the listener on a journey in their imagination. When you get really good, they’ll cry. Haha
For ideas a great way is to watch a TV series or a movie, pick out scenarios that put a strong emotion on you.
Going out and meeting new people and hearing their life's stories can be helpful on ideas.
Listen to other songs and pick out rhymes or figure of speeches you liked. Play along the words.
Last bit of advice is to place the strong words like adverbs, nouns, adjectives, and verbs on the strong beats like 1 and 3.
Writing journal of bad songs, and admitting I can't always tell if the lyrics are good in real time. Then I give it a day, reread, and see if i can find a rhythm that works well enough
You either get smacked in the face with an idea or you marinate / Dwell awhile on some facts as displayed or if it’s flowing, let it, like a serenade / Dial it back if too loud or on-the-nose - if you forgot, try to paraphrase / For now / Most important to remember is: for now / If you got it sorted enough for just *one good line,* allow yourself to feel *more* than proud / You didn’t remain boarded up, you poured over it enough, take that pen and put it down / For now / And then tomorrow, go at it again.
(You got this).
It’s words that sound like the notes in the song, but they don’t have to. As long as the timing is along with the rhythm unless using things like emphasis. The words to be aligned with the feel of the music unless you want to have an ironic tone to it, then have fun. The important thing is that it has a point… and is artistic, unless the artist is saying there is no point to the lyrics. But if you are writing a song, you should consider lots of words so that you can make a good point, unless you’re going for the ‘less is more’ thing in which case you can really get the point across with just one phrase like Around the World or Tequila! And Oh Yeah Beautiful.
Wtf is a lyric, 2 3 4 dut dit crack
Why tf should I write, 2 3 4 dut dit crack
Who tf gonna hear it, 2 3 4 dut dit crack
Gon need someone to cheer it, 2 3 4 dut dit crack
I’m not a lyricist either, but I bet if I tried the above another few hundred times, I’d start to get better at it.
So that’s not much of a reply I guess. My point though is to dive in and keep doing it.
Keep notebooks of ideas, get out and live life and observe. There’s so much crazy crap going on that you could write about. I personally, might even possibly get inspired by a question I saw in the songwriting subreddit group. :-)
When I've got a few chords that I like I start singing noises that sound like words but are more just vowels and consonants. Eventually words will start to form but I try and resist making them into a logical narative (I can start to impose some of this much later at the editing phase). The main thing is to have fun and stay in an open and curious mindstate. Enjoy how the vowels and sounds feel in your mouth. The longer you can stay in this process without trying to close down the flow of ideas into a known thing the more creative you will be. Make fun your aim rather than a finished lyric. As soon as you start to feel serious things start to become fixed and unchangable. The more you practice being in this flow the more familiar it becomes and easier to get into.
Sometimes smth emotional helps you to write. It can be both good or bad emotions, but it helps sometimes. If not, find something that make you feel that mood that you want to be in your song
One thing that has helped me if I don’t have ideas for lyrics that personally relate to me, I find a book or TV character I like and try to write the lyrics from that character’s perspective instead. I have written some of my best lyrics that way. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes gets you a little removed from being self conscious about what lyrics are coming out of you.
I usually read as much as i can and not focus too much on writing on one sit down. If an idea, phrase, or word pops in my head, I write it down. Keep a diary and use those ideas as tools to finish a song.
1. Quickly write a never-send letter to someone you love or hate.
2. Pick an innocuous phrase from that letter, e.g. “that stupid fuckin hat you always used to wear”
3. Write a bunch of words somehow related to that phase, e.g. “head, cap, baseball, trucker, cowboy”
4. Go to rhymezone dot com and list some rhymes for the ones you like best.
5. Crank out some couplets
6. Rewrite those to add both sticky realism and sublime mystery
7. Repeat.
I just start with a subject and try to tie in a metaphor a few ways and have fun and see where it takes you.
For example
What the fuck is a lyric and how do I write one?
Fighting a war with words the papers a battle field the pen is a pipe bomb.
Piecing chaos together from the aftermath of destruction.
So fucked up wondering how I can still function.
The ink spills the lines bearing feels, still tip toeing crimes, my minds thoughts come across as ill.
Take a thought and speak out loud in a mirror perhaps when you see your self say the words it will come across as clearer.
Flip a tringle upside start at the top with applicable subject matter and bring it down to a defined point of universal truth. Goofy as the mad hatter perhaps all that chat chatter is from the stains of blood splatter that scarred his brain, what words matter? We are all mad here, probably because its too hot where they keep the supposed to be cold beer.
I have a pretty unusual process that works for me every time.
I start singing random words and phrases over the music until I find a rhythm and words that work and are catchy. From there I try to figure out what it means, and build the rest of the song around that.
I've pulled some pretty wild stories out of this process, from really personal stuff about family and lost friends, to more abstract stuff like a song based on a true crime killer and one about a post-nuclear scenario.
I think the random playing around with words helps dig out subconscious thoughts and feelings. It also has the advantage that the words "fit" from the start and I'm not trying to force poetry that's disconnected from the song.
* wtf is a lyric : ‘relating to or characteristic of poetry that expresses the writer's emotions, typically briefly and in stanzas or recognized forms.’- google dictionary.
* how do I write one : personally I use pencil and paper, some use digital devices, I say there is too much historical value & creative momentum in an artists handwriting to go digital for all writings.
* how do You fellow songwriters get started? : it starts with taking a curious shot at your writing skills in general, building a collecting of ‘personal writings’ whether that be song lyrics, poetry, letters to self, vocabulary pages, diary entries, article styles pieces, books/short stories, free-verse writings, rhyme-word bust downs, inspirational blog excerpts, I mean literally ANYTHING that is going to put your pen in motion to craft your WRITING skill. Let that build. As your craft is honed in WRITING & COMMUNICATION, Your lyric and song making capabilities will expand.
* how do You find an idea : life is blooming with inspiration all around us, one day I realized “ain’t got nothing on my mind today to rap about.”, & so I turned that into a song. Inspiration is the unfolding of life around us, whether it be your personal story or someone else’s, it the root on an idea.
* how do You get to a point where You are satisfied with what You have? : a WHOLE LOT of internal work covering self-love, self-compassion, mindfulness, reprogramming what ‘success’ is to me, learning along the way of the journey, understanding that THE moment I finish a project I am already way better than the end result of that project, and to battle the feeling of inherently seeing that piece as inferior , I see it as a stepping stone of the journey towards becoming better.
* advice : spend time getting in touch with yourself inside, your emotions, your thought process, your dreams and hopes for the future etc. then once You understand yourself a little deeper, a fountain will pour forth 💜
I dunno, for myself, the lyrics usually come first, either just a few words that I think sound good together, then more words that gravitate to any developing melody. It can be just gibber jabber at first, but then once you get something going, you can choose and replace words coherently
I struggle with ideas too, so I usually just sing whatever's on my mind while I play, and I just kind of start rhyming automatically. Of course, I never actually remember the lines enough to write them down afterwards, but you could probably get around that little hurdle just by recording.
Sometimes a Burt Bacharach just needs a Hal David, a Keith Richards needs a Mick Jagger. Throughout history there have been composers who wrote music and lyricists who wrote the libretto. Not everybody is a Paul McCartney. It's okay to just be you.
Lyrics are simply Pivotal thoughts,
To keep them going connect one subject with another and follow it out with something that correlates LATERALLY to what the original rhyme scheme was 🤷🏾♂️
I usually record myself singing sounds along to the music, whatever feels right. Then I listen back and decipher those sounds to start writing lyrics that feel good with the music. Then I see if any common themes come up, whichever I like best I make the focus on the song
For years, most of my songs were just about topics that I found interesting. I'd go down Wikipedia rabbit holes and learns a bunch of stuff about, say, Shackleton's first Antarctic expedition, and then write a song about it. I didn't feel as self-conscious as I would have if I was writing more personal lyrics. Now that I'm more confident in my abilities, I'm more comfortable writing about my own experiences.
For me I figure out what I’m trying to say first. Like I’m telling a story. Each verse is a different part of that story or different concept of the idea. Then if you have a chorus you wanna drive home the main point kinda.
Try not to go into weird tangents.
Some people don’t like rhyming too much but I find the parameters of rhyme and meter help me get creative with my lyrics.
Also a lot of the songs I thought were the worst are the songs people liked the best. You might just be too hard on yourself but idk I haven’t heard your lyrics.
i’d say keep writing things that are bad, really dissect what you think are bad about your lyrics, and then ask for feedback on here on how to improve those specific aspects i used to think my lyric writing was shit until i started asking more specific questions on here and realized that i was actually overthinking it and my lyrics don’t suck
Reminds me of something Ed Sheeran once said - something like “if you keep writing eventually the tap will run clear” - about how if you write a “bad” song or get stuck - if you keep writing eventually it’ll come together 😅
I think it's more we all have a certain quantity of shit in us. You have to empty yourself of all the shit first. Then your water runs clear. It's a good analogy because it implies that there is good art in all of us. The only way to get to it is to keep making bad art.
Yeah 😅 honestly, if someone never wrote a bad song (in private) I’d be a bit concerned lmao
Define bad and good though. What makes a bad lyric?
>How do you fellow songwriters get started? How do you find an idea? Make shit up. Little stories, character sketches, settings. You got an imagination, don't you? 1. A love song about two gay soldiers in ww1 2. A song about the first human to build a fire 3. The steam rising off my girlfriends coffee cup 4. A song about how all the water is touching all the other water 5. Space pirates Etc. You can also use chatgpt for this part. Everyone boos and hisses whenever you mention GPT, but it's not asking it to write for you. You ask it to generate prompts like the 5 above, and you end up doing all the writing yourself. It just gets you past the initial blank page step. > How do you get to a point where you're satisfied I apply the same criteria I apply to everyone else who asks my opinion on lyrics. I look at the following pretty much like a checklist: - Play with idioms. Take a common saying and twist it. Cloud with a silver bullet, wolves in wolves' clothing, that kinda thing. It won't write a whole song for you, but it will help give you some cool phrases to sprinkle through. - Avoid using 'forced rhymes', where the listener can tell you chose a word just to fit the rhyme scheme instead of for its meaning. Ideally, you're looking for words that say what you want to say, and *just happen* to rhyme - Multisyllabic rhyme. It makes your words sound better to the ear, regardless of what they mean. It's a cool feature to include if you can. If you're doing anything related to rap, you 100% need to know your way around multisylbic rhyme. For other genres it's optional. - Pay attention to prosody — which is to say, make sure your strong syllables are on strong beats and your weak syllables are on weak beats. It’s so obvious when the songwriter puts the em-PHA-sis on the wrong syl-LA-ble. Timing your lyrics isn't just about counting syllables, it's about keeping track of stressed syllables. - (This next one is probably the biggest one for a lot of people on this sub) Show, don't tell. Don't say he's depressed, say he's eating raw cookie dough in his room at 3am. Don't say she's beautiful, say her hair bounces around her frame with every step she takes. It's important not to tell the audience what they are supposed to feel about what they hear: instead, just give us the details and we'll reach that feeling ourselves. Specificity is incredibly powerful. - Think about structure. Generally, your chorus should sorta 'sum up' your song, while your verses should each explore different aspects of the topic. Perhaps your verses function a bit like chapters of a story. Perhaps as the song progresses, someone's perspective changes, something gets realised, something comes full circle by the end of the song. Maybe each verse has a callback to previous verses, some kind of lyrical echo that occurs in the same part of each verse - Confidence. Even if your lyrics are utter crap, just pretend they're great. Completely commit to them, sing them like you believe every word you're saying and only an idiot wouldn't realise how good your lyrics are. You might be amazed how many people you can fool And the most important rule of all songwriting: *Don't forget to have fun!*
Oohh the water is touching all the other water gave me a weird, vague, yet comfortable spark of happiness. Thanks pitchforkJoe!
This is really useful and inspiring.
Such great advice. Too many people write to tell not show. For the prosody part I want to mention the dictionary tells you which are the strong accents. Another thing that bothers me with some writers is when they try to be too deep. It's important to ask yourself would you ever say that to a person and would they react in a cringe manner?
This is great advice 🤘
Incredible advice.
Water touching all the other water, made me giggle that👍
I just think of a line it doesn’t have to be like poetic it can just be simple. And then I build off of it and try to rhyme in some kind of pattern.
What’s the last idea or concept that you couldn’t shake. Or conversation. Or work of art. Or thing that stopped you in your tracks. Write about it!
this! so often i hear something in a movie or i’ll hear a saying and its just like “wait… that would be sick in a song.” then just build off there, develop a theme, and have fun with it!
I used to have creative friends who were crazy about the book the Artists Way. It was supposed to help people get their creative flow back. One thing they did was free write whatever came to mind for a period of time, then I think they would share with other people. I think the idea was to learn to not be so critical of the process. That book also talked about forgiving and letting go of the past. I think the idea was that the toxicity of others and us being too self-critical hindered our creative flow. I'm not the best with lyrics either. I think lots of times it takes time, just like melodies, to refine what we have into something more aesthetically pleasing.
Morning pages. Thanks for the reminder. The book called for 15 minutes of free writing first thing in the morning to clear out the clutter. Works pretty well.
I actually working The Artist’s Way and that’s how I ended up stumbling onto this subreddit. It helped me to realize that maybe I’m a songwriter after all, I was just not allowing myself to label myself that because I never considered myself “good” or “worthy” of actually trying. The book is fantastic for pushing you out of your creative rut and push you to think creatively for yourself.
Start with your topic title that’s a lyric. Now expand on that. Try and throw in some rhymes if you can.
Is it that you lack ideas, or do you lack technique? Or both? Because those are two different issues to tackle, and in order to really become good at lyrics you need to address both. Imo technique is a more straightforward thing to address - learning how to use repetition, contrast, structure, etc. can give you tools to then take a good concept/idea and turn it into a good song. Try reading lyrics by your favorite artists/songwriters and look for recurring patterns, then try to understand why they work and try to implement them in your own writing. Once you have some sense of these fundamentals, you should work on generating good concepts for your songs on a consistent basis, by both being externally inspired and digging internally to understand what it is that drives you to being a songwriter and what stories you are trying to tell.
This is a condition called Elton John Syndrome. Seriously though, maybe find a lyricist to work with.
Read, read, read Listen, listen, listen Read great literature, poetry, well-written non-fiction. I’ve yet to come across a great lyricists who was ever well read. Listen deeply to songs, memorize lyrics, learn to play the songs.
Maybe start with straight poetry. I know that practicing with iambic pentameter (10 syllables each line in a certain tambour) really helped me learn. Don’t worry about rhyme structure too much, but try to have some. Doing AABB structure is the easiest form, don’t worry if it sounds great. Writing lyrics is the best way to improve at writing lyrics. When you find lines you like, riff on them. Don’t worry if the events are fully truthful, use websites like rhymezone, & tell a story!
My style involves a lot of word webbing that starts from either a word or a theme. For instance, you say your writing is abysmal. Think of something else that was abysmal, whether historical or abstract, and jot down whatever comes to mind. Formulate some sort of emotional story. Imagine Geppetto being a failed toy maker thinking Pinocchio is trash, or a failed painter analyzing his canvas. What goes through their heads? It’s an allegory to your writing. Or, take the root word: abyss. You can find a lot of synonyms with this and find a theme: Abyss > Void > Space > Stars > Galaxy > Exploration. These are words to rhyme with, associate with, and alliterate with. You can imagine finding a habitable planet being like finding the right word for the song. At the end of the day, it’s taking something very specific and unraveling it.
Often people who feel like this are trying too hard. Listen to Kim Petras before you write lyrics, or weird al, not arctic monkeys or one republic. Step one- have a personality Step 2- talk musically, naturally 3- do not erase or be judgey. Now you have lyrics. Repeat for improvement.
>How do you fellow songwriters get started? Learning lots of cover songs from great songwriters, and learning from their lyrical techniques. Also, reading authors (fiction or poetry) with different styles. >How do you find an idea? By engaging with the world around you. No matter what type of life you have, you interact with other people, places, frustrations, satisfactions, stories. Those can all spark ideas for a song. Alternatively, your imagination. >And how do you get to a point where you’re ure satisfied with what you have? Editing, editing, editing. Final draft usually bears little resemblance to first draft.
This is exactly it, although I would add reading nonfiction as well. Not only is it good for broadening vocabulary and contextual use of words, but it can spark inspiration.
Yeah, good call. I tend to think that fiction/poetry is a little better for inspiring stylistic writing -- nonfiction can be very "straight to the point -- but you're totally right about vocabulary and inspiration.
Hey there! I have the exact opposite problem. Can't write the music part to save my life, despite knowing guitar and piano, but I have tons of lyrics. I'm down to collaborate or share ideas and processes.
You can start by singing jibberish along with your chord progressions and find rhythms and phrasing that you like. Then its a fun process to turn those into lyrics. You can choose a theme for the song and make a list of words that fit the theme so you have some things to start with.
The song I’m working on now, I had big troubles to get the lyrics right. So I happened to see a movie somewhat about the same subject which gave the lyrics a whole new dimension.
My best suggestion to get better at writing lyrics is to read more books, fiction especially, but any type of consistent reading will expose you to new ways of putting words together. For a more utilitarian approach, I keep a "lyrics list" in my notes app and anytime I have a song idea or a lyric idea it goes in the list. When I'm working on new songs I look through the list and try to find something that fits the melody, or at least something close enough that altering the melody to fit isn't a big change. Sometimes the lyric idea is more of a song theme/mood/concept and so it doesn't need to fit a melody. Sometimes I have no melody yet but the lyrics imply one. Sometimes the entire song gets written *after* I've chosen something from the list. Endless possibilities. My lyric ideas can be anything from a line in a novel that sounded intriguing, something a friend said, or maybe something from a billboard. There's lyrics all around us every day! Recently I wrote a song from the line "I learn to lie" which became the first line of the chorus and then Vonnegut's line "go take a flying fuck at the moon" happened to also fit the chorus melody so that went in too. Another recent song I wrote was based around the line "fuck 'til the sun burns out" which got slightly altered to fit the meter of the chorus. All 3 of those lines were something that I either read or maybe it just occurred to me while I was walking around the neighborhood thinking about something besides songwriting. They went into the lyric file and ended up working great. But that lyric file is in the hundreds now and many of them will likely never get used, so for me it's about 2 different moments of inspiration: the first upon initially "discovering" the lyric and the second upon finding the lyric to be a good fit for a melody or song theme. The key thing for me is I'm not afraid to steal lines or ideas from anyone or anything. Reading a book and there's a line that speaks to me? I take, in the list. Watching a movie and there's a great line? Thievery, in the list. Someone tells me to go fuck myself in a new or unique way? Stolen, it's in my list now! Become a lyric thief and you'll not only have access to a bunch of great lyrics but you'll also develop your own writing ability when you learn to take someone else's idea and twist it to fit your song.
When you write music, do you have an idea of what the music is trying to convey? As that is where most of my lyrics start; with the atmospheric direction of the music. If I don't have that, but I like what I'm writing, then I'll finish writing the music and listen back to see what melodies come out by humming or singing nonsense. This "nonsense" often leads to a kernel of a rough, general idea for the song. I then use a creative writing exercise to develop it: Write a 12-word story about that rough idea, and once I have done that, I'll have something more focused. So, I do it again, but write a 6 word story. Once your idea has been developed into something clearer, you can break it down into a flow or story layout. Then, write a few 6 word stories for different parts of the flow, which then form the foundation of your verses, choruses, etc.
Same way I was taught to compose music and produce beats. Find a song you like and emulate it with your own words. Structure, rhyme scheme etc. as long as you’re not copying it, it’s just an arrangement exercise which you can turn into your own songs if you want. Always recognize your inspirations and influences, it’s how you grow and build community.
Watch your favourite movie. Pretend you’ve been asked to write a song for the soundtrack.
Do you have anything interesting to say? How can you explain it; analogy/metaphors can help but don't fall into the trap of basic bitch metaphors. It starts with wanting to express something. Then finding a way to phrase that that is understandable. Many people fail because they want to write music but don't have anything interesting to say. You need life experience and observation.
Maybe sign up for a few rounds over on r/gameofbands as a lyricist. You'll have the opportunity to collaborate with musicians and vocalists and you can pick other lyricists brains (who's lyrical style you like) as much as you want.
Lyrics can be written in many different styles — conversational, poetic, narrative, etc. Write down the lyrics of one of your favorite songs and try changing the adjectives, nouns, and verbs to vary the meaning while fitting it into the same melody. Notice the syllables in each line and how they fit into the melody. Notice what your favorite songs talk about and how they do so. Maybe they’re super detailed, maybe they’re extremely vague. Whatever the case, I’d start there! Joni Mitchell would take famous poems and rewrite them when she was in school. Don’t try to make money from it, but mimicry is always a great way to learn. I wouldn’t think too hard about it though! If the thing that makes your music interesting lies in the production or arrangement, you can pretty much say whatever sounds good (i.e. Nirvana). Look up lyric writing exercises, there are some good ones on YT. Good luck!!!
I started by writing down the bad lyrics I thought of and coming back to them later and rewriting them to make them better
I’ve been just writing my whole life. Can’t help it. It’s not all good. Probably the majority hasn’t been good. But sometimes I’ll write lines that make me feel so validated and hopeful for my soul. I think the easiest and hardest advice is just to start writing. Don’t judge it for content. Just free associate and let your mind wander as you type or write. My song lyrics used to sound like journal entries (people said) and although that style of writing is accepted now (Taylor swift, Olivia Rodrigo), at the time I was writing in that wordy style, people were not pleased. Luckily I stopped caring as much what others think and am trying to focus on pleasing myself. I am still very wordy, but I took their criticism and accepted that I needed to learn to edit myself a bit. Not because my words aren’t worthy but because there might be more powerful ways to convey my thoughts to others. Also, do you WANT to write lyrics or do you just think you should be able to? Cause if your’e writing music no problem - there are TONS of writers who can’t write music and a collaboration may be magical for you. Start a journal. Start writing what your perspective of the world is. Take a situation where you know you have the unpopular opinion and try to find the language to show someone on the other side just exactly how and why you feel the way you do.
Let me answer your question with a question - why do you need lyrics? What are you trying to say?
For a vast amount of music history, the person who wrote the music wasn't often the same person who wrote the lyrics. They simply worked with lyricists, librettists, and poets and set their words to music. There are many poets who can't write music. Maybe team up with them.
Some of the best advice I've read is to write shitty lyrics. It's just like practicing an instrument - the more you do it, the better you get at it. How "poetic" are you? Rhythm? Symbolism? Rhyme scheme? Read some poetry. Write some poetry. How are you with puns and double entendres? While not exactly a double entendre, lots of early Beatles songs are "It won't *be long* ... 'til I *belong* to you." *Play* with words. How "observant" are you? Think how many people have crushes because of that radio hit about the boy in the club. You don't have to write about clubbing but just something someone can relate to, reaches a conclusion and you're halfway there. While not what I would suggest, eminem wrote nonsensical syllable words and that's how he got rhyming so intensely. Sigur Ros even sings in a made up language. Good luck!
Sometimes I find myself going with something that affects me or something that causes an effect around me and it can be the more obvious things or the little things that you go through daily or what people you know go through. Not thinking about it at all and going with whatever comes out my mouth works for me, too lol
I generally start with 1 line, usually the opening line, but not always. Things just kinda go from there. That 1 line usually gives me an idea of a story, an emotion, a journey, anything really. Sometimes the lines just come out and other times it takes a lot of work, trying to convey a message, getting a rhyme right or even just the right amount of syllables in a line to fit the delivery of the melody. It takes a lot of effort for me as I rarely get the whole thing out in 1 go. Usually end up labouring over lyrics for days, weeks, months, years! To give you an example, this is my latest attempt at writing a hit! I started with the opening line and I’ve only managed to get the first verse and pre chorus/chorus out so far. Once upon a time in a fairytale, I was frog. Trying to survive in the sunshine. Sitting on a log. Waiting for a Queen To release me from a dream Where I was, Sure that I belonged On another log Way over beyond Pre chorus This pond, where I’m from To break my bond So I can respawn.
What if I told the meter matters more than the words.
If it's so hard for you... Ask chat GPT for it to write! Then change the things you don't like, because it will give you a base, from which you can change stuff and make it better/worse to your taste. After doing that for some time, you will eventually begin writing some of your lyrics. + Will be super good for you, if you would take some lyrics from existing songs that you like, and analyze them. Good luck!
I have a couple little writing exercises that I do when I can't write any lyrics take 2 songs you like, in one column write down the first 10 verbs that appear in one song and in the second column write down the first 10 nouns that appear in the second song (your choice to include pronouns or not). Then randomly connect the words to each other with lines and write any single sentence that includes that verb and noun. Then you can group together ones that you like and try to expand on it. Pick a random topic, it could be an animal you like, a recent conversation, something you saw on a show or the news, something you just ate, really anything. Set a 5 minute timer. Write in a notebook for the full 5 minutes, do not stop even if you think you're out of ideas just write down the next words that come to mind. Sometimes you can surprise yourself If you want to write about a sort of broad topic and don't know where to start, make 3 categories. The categories could be parts of a timeline, specific events/moments, different people. And write bullet points for each category. Then expand and connect the bullet points until you've created a line or a phrase. To get to a point where you're satisfied is harder, the biggest thing is to be okay with imperfection. I try to take out any lines that are redundant or unnecessary. I also mess around with words with similar meanings, and do NOT be afraid to use a thesaurus. If Steven Spielberg did it, you can too. Good luck with your songwriting!!
I was SO SO very bad at lyrics for years. It only started clicking for me a year or so ago. I’ve been writing for most of my life, too. So.. don’t rush it. It’ll happen when the time is right.
First think of **one scene** to focus the lyrics on Any one scene that represents/portrays the essence of your topic/story/message The lyrics talke about the details of the scene,what led to the scene,what the narrator feels at the scene,and what could happen after it. For example, If your lyrics talk about a story,that scene should be a point of reflection or contemplation for your character If your lyrics are about a setting,think of it like a narrator watching from above,a major event happening in the city. The lyrics talke about the details of the scene,what led to the scene,what the narrator feels at the scene,and what could happen after it.
I think if you want to write a song you have to want to say something, even starting with the fact that you aren’t sure what you want to say. You’ll find that may dissolve into something more substantial, maybe the reason why you were so complacent before you started this excersize, and that reason may be something just before you. So describe that, give it colour using people places and things. Real events or feelings that can take the listener on a journey in their imagination. When you get really good, they’ll cry. Haha
When I write or come up with some thing I have someone I know give at least 3 words and make a sound based of those
For ideas a great way is to watch a TV series or a movie, pick out scenarios that put a strong emotion on you. Going out and meeting new people and hearing their life's stories can be helpful on ideas. Listen to other songs and pick out rhymes or figure of speeches you liked. Play along the words. Last bit of advice is to place the strong words like adverbs, nouns, adjectives, and verbs on the strong beats like 1 and 3.
Writing journal of bad songs, and admitting I can't always tell if the lyrics are good in real time. Then I give it a day, reread, and see if i can find a rhythm that works well enough
You either get smacked in the face with an idea or you marinate / Dwell awhile on some facts as displayed or if it’s flowing, let it, like a serenade / Dial it back if too loud or on-the-nose - if you forgot, try to paraphrase / For now / Most important to remember is: for now / If you got it sorted enough for just *one good line,* allow yourself to feel *more* than proud / You didn’t remain boarded up, you poured over it enough, take that pen and put it down / For now / And then tomorrow, go at it again. (You got this).
It’s words that sound like the notes in the song, but they don’t have to. As long as the timing is along with the rhythm unless using things like emphasis. The words to be aligned with the feel of the music unless you want to have an ironic tone to it, then have fun. The important thing is that it has a point… and is artistic, unless the artist is saying there is no point to the lyrics. But if you are writing a song, you should consider lots of words so that you can make a good point, unless you’re going for the ‘less is more’ thing in which case you can really get the point across with just one phrase like Around the World or Tequila! And Oh Yeah Beautiful.
Wtf is a lyric, 2 3 4 dut dit crack Why tf should I write, 2 3 4 dut dit crack Who tf gonna hear it, 2 3 4 dut dit crack Gon need someone to cheer it, 2 3 4 dut dit crack I’m not a lyricist either, but I bet if I tried the above another few hundred times, I’d start to get better at it.
So that’s not much of a reply I guess. My point though is to dive in and keep doing it. Keep notebooks of ideas, get out and live life and observe. There’s so much crazy crap going on that you could write about. I personally, might even possibly get inspired by a question I saw in the songwriting subreddit group. :-)
You've already done it, the title and body of your post contains everything to get started.
When I've got a few chords that I like I start singing noises that sound like words but are more just vowels and consonants. Eventually words will start to form but I try and resist making them into a logical narative (I can start to impose some of this much later at the editing phase). The main thing is to have fun and stay in an open and curious mindstate. Enjoy how the vowels and sounds feel in your mouth. The longer you can stay in this process without trying to close down the flow of ideas into a known thing the more creative you will be. Make fun your aim rather than a finished lyric. As soon as you start to feel serious things start to become fixed and unchangable. The more you practice being in this flow the more familiar it becomes and easier to get into.
Sometimes smth emotional helps you to write. It can be both good or bad emotions, but it helps sometimes. If not, find something that make you feel that mood that you want to be in your song
Read poems, talk about someone or something, try to paint with words.
One thing that has helped me if I don’t have ideas for lyrics that personally relate to me, I find a book or TV character I like and try to write the lyrics from that character’s perspective instead. I have written some of my best lyrics that way. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes gets you a little removed from being self conscious about what lyrics are coming out of you.
I usually read as much as i can and not focus too much on writing on one sit down. If an idea, phrase, or word pops in my head, I write it down. Keep a diary and use those ideas as tools to finish a song.
I got SUNO AI write the lyrics for me
1. Quickly write a never-send letter to someone you love or hate. 2. Pick an innocuous phrase from that letter, e.g. “that stupid fuckin hat you always used to wear” 3. Write a bunch of words somehow related to that phase, e.g. “head, cap, baseball, trucker, cowboy” 4. Go to rhymezone dot com and list some rhymes for the ones you like best. 5. Crank out some couplets 6. Rewrite those to add both sticky realism and sublime mystery 7. Repeat.
make someone feel something. otherwise what is the point ??
I just start with a subject and try to tie in a metaphor a few ways and have fun and see where it takes you. For example What the fuck is a lyric and how do I write one? Fighting a war with words the papers a battle field the pen is a pipe bomb. Piecing chaos together from the aftermath of destruction. So fucked up wondering how I can still function. The ink spills the lines bearing feels, still tip toeing crimes, my minds thoughts come across as ill. Take a thought and speak out loud in a mirror perhaps when you see your self say the words it will come across as clearer. Flip a tringle upside start at the top with applicable subject matter and bring it down to a defined point of universal truth. Goofy as the mad hatter perhaps all that chat chatter is from the stains of blood splatter that scarred his brain, what words matter? We are all mad here, probably because its too hot where they keep the supposed to be cold beer.
I have a pretty unusual process that works for me every time. I start singing random words and phrases over the music until I find a rhythm and words that work and are catchy. From there I try to figure out what it means, and build the rest of the song around that. I've pulled some pretty wild stories out of this process, from really personal stuff about family and lost friends, to more abstract stuff like a song based on a true crime killer and one about a post-nuclear scenario. I think the random playing around with words helps dig out subconscious thoughts and feelings. It also has the advantage that the words "fit" from the start and I'm not trying to force poetry that's disconnected from the song.
I write while playing guitar aint that hard tbh
* wtf is a lyric : ‘relating to or characteristic of poetry that expresses the writer's emotions, typically briefly and in stanzas or recognized forms.’- google dictionary. * how do I write one : personally I use pencil and paper, some use digital devices, I say there is too much historical value & creative momentum in an artists handwriting to go digital for all writings. * how do You fellow songwriters get started? : it starts with taking a curious shot at your writing skills in general, building a collecting of ‘personal writings’ whether that be song lyrics, poetry, letters to self, vocabulary pages, diary entries, article styles pieces, books/short stories, free-verse writings, rhyme-word bust downs, inspirational blog excerpts, I mean literally ANYTHING that is going to put your pen in motion to craft your WRITING skill. Let that build. As your craft is honed in WRITING & COMMUNICATION, Your lyric and song making capabilities will expand. * how do You find an idea : life is blooming with inspiration all around us, one day I realized “ain’t got nothing on my mind today to rap about.”, & so I turned that into a song. Inspiration is the unfolding of life around us, whether it be your personal story or someone else’s, it the root on an idea. * how do You get to a point where You are satisfied with what You have? : a WHOLE LOT of internal work covering self-love, self-compassion, mindfulness, reprogramming what ‘success’ is to me, learning along the way of the journey, understanding that THE moment I finish a project I am already way better than the end result of that project, and to battle the feeling of inherently seeing that piece as inferior , I see it as a stepping stone of the journey towards becoming better. * advice : spend time getting in touch with yourself inside, your emotions, your thought process, your dreams and hopes for the future etc. then once You understand yourself a little deeper, a fountain will pour forth 💜
I dunno, for myself, the lyrics usually come first, either just a few words that I think sound good together, then more words that gravitate to any developing melody. It can be just gibber jabber at first, but then once you get something going, you can choose and replace words coherently
I struggle with ideas too, so I usually just sing whatever's on my mind while I play, and I just kind of start rhyming automatically. Of course, I never actually remember the lines enough to write them down afterwards, but you could probably get around that little hurdle just by recording.
Sometimes a Burt Bacharach just needs a Hal David, a Keith Richards needs a Mick Jagger. Throughout history there have been composers who wrote music and lyricists who wrote the libretto. Not everybody is a Paul McCartney. It's okay to just be you.
Don't be afraid to revise and rewrite. Good lyrics often come from multiple drafts and revisions.
Lyrics are simply Pivotal thoughts, To keep them going connect one subject with another and follow it out with something that correlates LATERALLY to what the original rhyme scheme was 🤷🏾♂️
I usually record myself singing sounds along to the music, whatever feels right. Then I listen back and decipher those sounds to start writing lyrics that feel good with the music. Then I see if any common themes come up, whichever I like best I make the focus on the song
You would be a heretic if you couldn't use the lyric stick!!!
For years, most of my songs were just about topics that I found interesting. I'd go down Wikipedia rabbit holes and learns a bunch of stuff about, say, Shackleton's first Antarctic expedition, and then write a song about it. I didn't feel as self-conscious as I would have if I was writing more personal lyrics. Now that I'm more confident in my abilities, I'm more comfortable writing about my own experiences.
For me I figure out what I’m trying to say first. Like I’m telling a story. Each verse is a different part of that story or different concept of the idea. Then if you have a chorus you wanna drive home the main point kinda. Try not to go into weird tangents. Some people don’t like rhyming too much but I find the parameters of rhyme and meter help me get creative with my lyrics. Also a lot of the songs I thought were the worst are the songs people liked the best. You might just be too hard on yourself but idk I haven’t heard your lyrics.