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Tips For Lyricists



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Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:49 pm
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Mikko says...



Right, so I haven't seen any tips for those who write lyrics and I thought "Well, Mikko, you write lyrics. Why not help others out by giving them some of the tips you got from reviews/critiques?"

And I'm going for it - I'm going to help you, but I really don't know if I can trust myself to give tips that are good enough. Let's see how it goes.


The chorus

Let's start by the most important element of a song: the chorus. It's what makes people remember your song because it is repeated at least twice throughout. You can decide to have it after each verse or after two verses -- these are the two major forms of song structure you'll find nowadays.

But you will find that there are some forms of songs that have a few lines bewteen a verse and the chorus. This is called a bridge and can be compared to the "rising action" you find in prose; however you can choose not to have a bridge -- that works too but including it, I believe, really makes the chorus stand out.

Make your chorus catchy, but not too complex. You can choose to rhyme and you may choose not to.

That brings us to our next major point in lyric-writing: rhyme.


Rhyme

Some lyricist just choose to not include any rhyme at all, some choose to have a rhyming chorus, some choose rhyming verses only and then you have those who think that the whole song should have rhyme. It's your call but, just like with all literary pieces, try your best to not make your rhymes cliché and obvious. Nobody likes listening to a song for the first time and knowing what the next rhyme is going to be. xD


Rhythm

Keep a regular rhythmic pattern -- don't have one line with 3 syllables (beats) and then another with 10. It makes things... well irregular and that makes it difficult to find the right melody to match the lyrics with and then the words of the song will be what they call in the music industry: "off beat".


Keepin' it simple

Basicaly, what ^ that says. Keep your lyrics simple and don't try sqeezing a novel into a song xD. Remember, your verses tell the stroy, your bridge (if you wish to have one) is the rising action, building up to the chorus which rounds things up so that your audience remembers the message of the song.


Can I make my poem into a song?

Dude, yes! Most songs come from poems but remember that you have to have one of your poem's stanzas repeated at least twice to make your chorus.

Okay, well I had come here wanting to give out short tips but it turned out as a mini-tutorial (now I'm wondering if I should post it in 'Writing Tutorials instead...). Anyway, I hope this helps and if you have any further questions, I'd be glad to help!

Happy (song) writing, ppz! <8D
Last edited by Mikko on Wed May 30, 2012 12:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Fri Mar 09, 2012 4:51 pm
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MasterGrieves says...



Splendid, Mikko! Well done!

I think you should add about a possible key change, and maybe if a lyricist wants to go really complex, to have a change in tempo or something. You could also talk a bit about instrumentation perhaps, and where good instrumental gaps should be. Great work, Mikko! *cyber-five*
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Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:36 pm
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LadySpark says...



Darling, you are amazing. :D

I SHOULD DO ONE.
But wait. I can't do good lyrics, I'd have no where to start xD
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Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:53 am
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AlfredSymon says...



:) Nikko!

Hmmm, maybe I'll write my own song lyrics...
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Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:02 pm
Mikko says...



Yes! Do it!
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Sat May 12, 2012 2:13 pm
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BenedictTheSinger says...



I just caught a glimpse of this and now I am satisfied, Is there a forum where I can showcase my works? anyway please check out my covers [link removed for inappropriate content]
  








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