Three Songwriting Tips to Write Great Lyrics   by Tim Fox

in Entertainment / Music    (submitted 2012-01-20)

It's time to learn some tips on how to write a great song. Songwriting is tough but there are a few tricks that can help you captivate an audience. The first few years of a songwriting career you may find yourself going back to the drawing board numerous times. It's not easy to compose some great song lyrics. These three tips should get you going.

First off it's important to experiment. While jamming on your piano or guitar mix in some words and phrases with the melodies you are creating to see if anything goes together. Constantly improvising during a jam session can lead to some pretty fantastic lyrics sometimes. The right magic line can be found in your own subconscious so the more time you spend in your music lab the better. Don't restrain yourself at all and just vocalize while playing original chords or riffs. It's important during these free flowing improvisational sessions to have some recording equipment at hand in case you strike gold. Just have your phone, computer, or any other recording equipment you own on. When you play a recording back you may notice that some lyrics were better than you thought.

A good songwriter is adept at making the first line of the song to tell the audience what the song is going to be about. The late great John Lennon was a master at doing this. Classic songs like Instant Karma (Instant Karma is going to get you) and Help (Help I need somebody) are examples how Lennon could demonstrate with one first line the entire theme of the song. This concept is very difficult, but if you can hammer home a theme in the first line of a song the rest of the lyrics should come easier.

It's important to think of your songs as if you were creating a short film. The imagery from your lyrics needs to be so strong that people can picture a movie in their head. To create vivid imagery use descriptive similes and metaphors while weaving popular sayings into your songs. For example in the Green Day song "Brainstew" the line "I'm Counting Sheep but Running Out" takes a popular colloquial phrase and turns it on its head to make it more memorable. The line creates a very strong mental picture for listeners of running out of sheep. When you hear a popular phrase write them down so you can use them in your lyrics later. This will help you create imagery and will help the audience relate to your songs.

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Timothy Fox
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About the Author

Now that we know how to write lyrics how about learning to play guitar better? Anyone can learn online guitar with the best collection of videos and instructors around. Just click the link.