Category: FASTER & BETTER

A Three-Stage Rocket to Lyric Writing

When NASA blasts a rocket into orbit, they do it in stages: The big lift-off, a second stage to get the payload into orbit and a third to fine tune the direction. So, what’s this got to do with writing lyrics? You can think of the lyric writing process in three stages:

  •  1. Getting started. (Lift off)
  •  2. Developing your idea. (Getting into orbit)
  •  3. Rewriting (Fine tune it)

=> STAGE ONE: GET STARTED

BEGIN WITH A TITLE

Starting the lyric writing process with a title can give you a beacon that will keep your song lyric focused. That’s very important if you want to keep listeners involved. Any short phrase you find emotionally intriguing—or simply an honest statement of how you feel—can work as a title. Make it something you want to write about.

Then make a list of questions the phrase suggests. These are the questions you’re going to answer in your song. Try questions like: What does this mean? Why do I need to say it? How does it feel? How did it happen?  What do I think the consequences will be? Every phrase suggests different questions. And every songwriter will find different ones to ask. 

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Elmore Leonard’s Advice to Songwriters

When I hear great fiction writers talk about their craft, I’m often struck by how easily these insights can be applied to songwriting.  We can learn a lot about our own craft by stepping outside and looking at it from another angle. For example, the late, great novelist Elmore Leonard said this in an interview with WritersDigest:

A writer has to read. Read all the time. Decide who you like then study that author’s style. Take the author’s book or story and break it down to see how he put it together. 

If you apply this to songwriting you get:

A songwriter has to listen. Listen all the time. Decide who you like then study that songwriter’s style. Take the songwriter’s songs break them down to see how they’re put together.

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Songwriting Habits: Make Them Work For You

Habits: We all have them. Good habits, ones like exercising or flossing, can be a big plus, helping you improve your life without even thinking about it. Bad habits—well, we all know what those are and we’ve all got ’em. They can be a drag on your life and keep you from achieving  your goals.

As in life, so in songwriting. There are good songwriting habits that can help you achieve your goals faster, and bad habits that can cause you to write the same unsuccessful song over and over.

Have you ever noticed yourself falling into the same melody, chord, or lyric writing habits in song after song? This is songwriting by rote; doing the same things over and over without thinking about them. Often it means you’re writing the first thing that occurs to you. It could be a chord progression or melody style you heard in the music you grew up with. It became so ingrained that it now feels natural and spontaneous.

Sometimes we mistake this for our “authentic voice.” But it’s no more authentic than brushing your teeth he same way every day. It’s just what comes out of you first.

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Tip: Stockpile Ideas for Songs

Problem: You don’t have big chunks of time to spend on your songwriting. (Not many of us do.)  So when you finally do get an afternoon to work on your songs – or at least a couple of uninterrupted hours – you need to get the most  from it. You don’t need to be spending the first hour or two just trying to find an idea you want to work on.

Here are three BIG songwriting tips that can help you avoid wasting hours!

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