Verb Power
Verbs are power in a song. So, mastering your verb power will make your songs more memorable because there is more emotion and motion in your songs. Verbs will…
lyrics
-
-
Rhyme Mastery: Lori McKenna ‘The Bird & The Rifle’
Lori McKenna’s “The Bird & The Rifle” is a masterclass in song craft. Not only is the rhyme pattern brilliant, but she illustrates how to use a metaphor to…
-
Kacey Musgraves ‘Merry Go Round’
Kacey Musgraves, along with Josh Osborne and Shane McAnally, uses the play on words in ‘Merry Go Round’ bring the images and the story of “a life” from a…
-
Rhyme Patterns
Understanding rhyme patterns is one of the best ways to increase your songwriting ability. What Are Rhyme Patterns To me, rhyme is one of the fundamental building blocks, or…
-
Adele ‘Chasing Pavements’
A recent comment on the blog got me thinking. The comment was downplaying the songwriter’s lyrics, mentioning they sounded as if they were written by a 17 year-old, because,…
-
Rhyming Tools
A rhyming dictionary is important if you’re a songwriter. It’s a great tool to find new ways of saying things and get you away from predictable rhymes like: when…
-
Rhyme Families: Your Secret Weapon
Using rhyme families effectively can help you not only move through a song, but add nuances to the rhythm, melody and feel or tone imparted. The goal is to…
-
Adele ‘Hello’
Adele’s ‘Hello’ focuses on a telephone conversation/voicemail. The song brilliantly leverages the strength of direct address to create a highly personal moment, while the melody moves from ballad to power ballad…
-
When To Stop Finishing Songs
Don’t get me wrong. Finishing songs is important. But, not every song deserves endless revisions! I believe there are some songs that come out and flow down the page…
-
Keeping Your Spare Song Parts
You’ve heard of a spare parts for a car – so why not have spare song parts? One of the best ways to give yourself permission to write songs…
-
Eric Church ‘Talladega’
Artist Eric Church Album The Outsiders (2017) Songwriter Eric Church & Luke Laird Total Time 4:22 Structure V | CH | V | CH | BR | CH Talladega…
-
Creating A Bridge That Works
Creating a bridge in a song is done for one key reason: to galvanize the “A-Ha!” moment of the song. Musically, it should sound different – but how do…
-
Third Person Point Of View Song
We’ll take a look at the third person point of view song by Jon Vezner and Don Henry called ‘Where’ve You Been.” What Is A Third Person Point Of…
-
A Song Title Should Give You Options
A song title is one of the most important parts of your song. I usually try and give myself as much flexibility as possible when writing, so I tend to…
-
First Person Point Of View
Point of view (POV) is the perspective from which a story is being told. It can change the sentiment of the story, as well as the mood and depending…