Just Posted A New Lyric Writing Article

[john]

Hey

I just posted a new article. It's intended as the first in a series:

Improve Your Lyric Writing

Any comments are appreciated.

Cheers

John

[Steve]

It's a good article. Lots of sensible but not always obvious ideas. I'm off for another read and to make some notes!

[nigel lawry]

nice one john

[DeadSkinny]

a good article.....

-joel

[Lazz]

Yeah John.

Very timely.

I am keen to read the rest of the series.

It seems especially important, to me, for you to be articulating and sharing ideas of structure.

The notion of "a language that enables you to effectively discuss songwriting" is also something that interests and intrigues me. Bugs me, too, that I'm continually stumbling over the ambiguities of terminology like Verse, Chorus, Refrain, Bridge, Hook, and the ways popular useage seems so completely disconnected from the conventions of established tradition. I can walk onto any job and explain that the verse is rubato, for example, and that we go only once through the chorus directly to the coda - and make immediate sense to the guys I'm working with - but it is my distinct impression that few regular songwriting forum participants would understand what was going on.

And I think that we should understand.

Edited March 28, 2007 by Lazz

[Bitstream]

Yeh! The points you make seem obvious, John, but I think that is because I have just read them

If anything, I will be spending much more time when writing lyrics now. But I think the critique is an absolute must. The language that the critique is written in should be as diverse as possible. Maybe a musical babel fish translator could allow conversions, or maybe forum members could do the same thing?

"Da bass is kikn' man"

or,

"The harmony and counterpoint, particularly at the lower octave regions, provided excellent tonal quality during the piano-forte section."

or simply,

"Turn up the f*$%&ng bass! I can hardly hear it!!"

[john]

Hey

Thanks guys for all your comments.

I plan on working through most of the topic areas from taxonomy (the language you use), to song forms, selecting a title, hook placement, rhyme schemes, and critique. One think I plan to include is check list questions to help hone an idea from title right through to finished lyrics. I've started the taxonomy article, and almost finished the first dealing with critique.

I'm also planning on a series on musical aspects, such as chord progressions, melody writing, harmony writing and rhythm.

If that's not enough I've been pulling together an article on online promotion and guerilla marketing, and one on preparing your mix for mastering.

Cheers

John