general lyric writing tips?

  • Thread starter Thread starter fellowtraveler
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fellowtraveler

fellowtraveler

some guy idk
i've never written lyrics to my own music before but i want to start heading down that avenue. any general tips for writing lyrics?
 
A lot of people have interesting approaches. Like some people write lyrics after looking at a painting or other things that draw inspiration. Just get out your pen and start jotting stuff down, don't worry if it sounds cheesy :) good luck!
 
Like some people write lyrics after looking at a painting or other things that draw inspiration.
 
Start with the shortest slogan possible, not a hook, just a little anchor to attach a chain to. Maybe it's an observation of something physical or a play on common wisdom. Now every link in the chain is somewhat the same, and leads to the next. To determine the length of the link, observe where it fits best in the beat. Stretch and repeat.
 
brunagari said:
Like some people write lyrics after looking at a painting or other things that draw inspiration.
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The absolute FIRST thing you should do is learn about song structure. I cannot stress this enough; it’s incredibly important. If your song has no structure, there’s nothing making the listener want to listen to it again. You know how sometimes you listen to a song (good or bad) and it’s stuck in your head for the rest of the day? That was done on purpose. A common song structure that’s easy to work with is: Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus. You can also add instrumentals here and there, especially before or after the bridge, before the first verse with that papers, and after the last chorus. Once you know about song structure, choose a general structure for your song. You can Google some basic ones if you don’t know any off the top of your head.
 
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I think it's important to know the purpose of the lyrics. Should they be catchy? Should they convey something deeper? Should the be the main focus or just something that sounds good together with the rest?
 
Always write lyrics that mean something to you and bring out the deepest emotions. If you fake it, it will be obvious or sound forced. Example: I suffered from depression & went through a lot in England before I moved to the US. This fuels a lot of my lyrics and although I have just started in electronic music production (I used to be in indie rock bands), I have about 100 songs written and ready to produce. Dig out your soul and your listeners will love you for it and connect faster with your music.
 
I tend to try to write anything catchy that people would be drunk and love to shout at each other in a club like 'Wiggle wit it, clap wit it' etc... get those audience members involved aha
 
I’m a Newbie to the group and FP. As I am browsing around I’m an getting a ton of good information. Not just like facts but the discussions are confirming, calming, and enlightening ideas I’ve had. I’ve written since I was young and always wanted to write a song, but I never felt like my writings were songs. They usually came as poems or conversations. I know there are artist that can flip writings like that an make it into a song. So with that being said I am glad I read this article about song structure. That gives me more of a blueprint to work with. Thanks for posting.
 
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