Getting Out Of A Rhyme...

[Elbie]

Hi, I'm new and came here because I'm looking for some help... I don't know ANYTHING about songwriting, yet I try to do it. My problem is that I never finish the song I start writing because I rhyme way too much, and then when I try to stop rhyming I just can't think of anything that flows well without rhyming... I don't know how to describe it, but take my latest start to a song for example.

I've seen live fall apart

I've seen them broken from the start

I've loved very few

And most of them never even knew

I've been taken from all I've known

And the pain has only made me grown

Ughh... every line rhymes with the previous one and I can't seem to get out of that pattern... any suggestions?

[john]

Hey

Well for a start, try working with a variety of standard rhyme schemes. What you have above is:

A

A

B

B

C

C

Where A is the "Art" rhyme, B is the "ew" rhyme and C is the "own" rhyme.

So try working with

A

B

A

B

and

A

A

A

B

C

C

C

B

Then try something that has two lines in it that there is no rhyme for:

A

B

C

B

Lastly I would also suggest a song where there is no verse rhyme at all (not even accidentally) and use A, B, C, B for the chorus rhyme scheme. Make sure your verses keep the same rhythm though. You might just be surprised.

The brain works with repeated patterns to help us digest the song. If you strongly expect a pattern to be repeated and it isn't it can feel incorrect and jars. So what you do is lay out what the patterns are with the repeat being anticipated because it's what happened before. You are the song architect, you define what happens, you lay out what is to be expected. If your first verse has no rhymes listeners will expect the second verse to be like that, however you can still have a chorus that uses rhymes, as the next time it occurs in the song it will also rhyme, the listener comes to anticipate / expect that. We can do that because musically, melodically the feel and theme of a chorus is a change from that of a verse (at least in good songs!). At least that makes it more likely to work as a transition from one song section to another.

So, I'd suggest learning sone standard rhyme schemes. Copy the rhyme scheme of a song you know (not the exact rhymes or rhyme sounds, just the pairings). That will also help give you an introduction to song forms (the architecture of songs). Both are very useful to know and will help to expand your horizons.

Cheers

John