×
What's new
By:

Method Songwriting

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nekujak
  • Start date Start date
  • Watchers Watchers 10
Nekujak

Nekujak

My muse is demanding better working hours
I started writing songs as a teenager with no training other than intensively listening, analyzing, and learning to play songs by my favorite artists. However back in the early 1990s, as an adult, I did enroll in a college extension course on songwriting that was taught by a professional songwriter whose songs had been picked up by Barbara Streisand, Glen Campbell, Ry Cooder, among others.

The class focused on lyrics with an emphasis on writing commercial/sellable songs. The backbone of the curriculum was a system the teacher called "Method Songwriting". He gave us a worksheet that he uses when writing alone or collaborating. Basically, it's a reliable and efficient process for crafting compelling songs.

The worksheet focuses on the most important aspects of effective lyric writing. To be honest, I've never meticulously followed each and every step of the worksheet, but it definitely exposed me to key concepts and techniques that I continue to use to this day. Even though I don't follow the worksheet verbatim, it's always in the back of my mind when I write. And now that we have this wonderful songwriting forum, I figure it's the perfect place to share what I learned all those years ago.

The first 11 steps in the worksheet are about forming ideas and developing the initial lyrics, while the second section contains important concepts to keep in mind throughout the entire writing and fine-tuning process.

Hopefully, there's something useful in here for everyone.
Enjoy!


METHOD SONGWRITING WORKSHEET

INITIAL IDEA AND LYRICS​

1. TITLE: Start with an original, workable title.
  • First thing someone sees/hears.
  • If it's a good title, they’ll want to like the song.
  • Try to come up with a new, original, and commercial title.
  • Keep a notebook to jot things you hear that could make a great title. This can be a great source of inspiration for new song ideas.
  • Title should give you an image and idea where the song should go.

2. SYNOPSIS: What feeling do you want to express, or what story do you want to tell?
  • Outline a complete story, based on the title. Describe the plot from start to finish.
  • Picture a situation – chart thoughts, actions, feelings of people in the story.
  • Map out the story using keywords.
  • If getting nowhere – then drop it, go on to something else.

3. REAL EMOTION: What is the emotional core or catalyst in the song?
  • This is THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT!!!!
  • Real emotional content and emotional honesty is what listeners relate to.
  • Primary factor in a song’s power is its emotion.
  • Makes the song believable. Believable songs ALWAYS work.
  • Remember, when you want your lyric to "move" your listener, it must first "move" you.
  • Break all other rules in this worksheet to get this!!

4. THREE-MINUTE MOVIE: Map out the beginning, middle, and end to your song.
  • 3 minutes is how long a songwriter has to tell a story, including plot, drama, scene changes, etc.
  • Visualize the song as a mini-movie.
  • Write down a description of each phase of the story:
    • Beginning: setting, situation, problem, or conflict.
    • Middle: examine how main character is affected.
    • End: solution or outcome (happy endings sell better).
  • Important to have an interesting beginning, both musically and lyrically.

5. PERSON-TO-PERSON LYRICS: Have you decided to direct your lyric to one person, if so, who?
  • Songs people respond to, and feel a part of, are personal statements.
  • The "Berry Gordy method”: use universal meanings, as opposed to private, vague, or obscure meanings.

6. ASSOCIATED WORDS: Before writing, make a list of words and phrases that are suggested by your title.
  • Use words/phrases in your lyrics that are directly related to a key word in the title.
  • Example: “Love Is A Gamble” - associated words: cheating, luck, ace, etc.
  • Try to get the most out of the title.

7. FORM/STRUCTURE: Choose a form for your song: AABA, ABAB, ABABCB, or something else.
  • Can often do this later, after lyrics are written. Form sometimes comes out of the initial lyrics.
  • AABA: Predominantly country ballads, Beatles, Hank Williams, or where lyrics are important.
    • Chorus/hook is built into “A”.
    • Music is alike in "A", but lyrics change.
    • Bridge is “B”, and should have an interesting change.
    • Two verse lead helps get listener into story. Hook or title appears once in each verse in same spot. Examples: “Yesterday”, “And I Love Her”, “Georgia On My Mind”.
  • ABAB: More frequent form.
    • "A" = verse.
    • "B" = chorus/hook.
  • ABABCB: Bridges are more popular now (back in the 1990s).
    • "A" = verse.
    • "B" = chorus/hook.
    • "C" = bridge.
    • Verse moves story along. Hook/chorus is consistent.
    • Each section usually 8 bars. If less needed, then do less.
  • As an exercise, try out your new lyrics over an existing song.

8. TITLE REPETITION: Title should be repeated in the lyrics to make a stronger impression.
  • How do you plan to use your title?
    • AABA: in line 1 or line 4 of each “A” verse.
    • ABAB: in line 1 of your “hook” or chorus
    • Other?

9. LYRICAL ENDING: A strong ending or payoff is important.
  • Which lyrical ending do you plan to use?
    • Twist
    • Surprise
    • Play on words
    • Other?
  • Unpredictable endings are particularly good for country music.

10. RHYMES: Pay attention to your rhyming scheme.
  • On which lines do rhymes appear?
    • 1st and 3rd
    • 2nd and 4th
    • Other?
  • Worth the effort to get perfect rhymes. Convincing vocalists can pull them off with style.
  • But don’t rhyme just for rhyming’s sake.

11. LINE CONSTRUCTION: Maintain consistent meter and syllable count.
  • METER: check your rhythm pattern for accented or unaccented beats.
  • SYLLABLES: count your syllables, and try to keep the number of syllables the same in similar lines; i.e., all 1st lines of verses should have the same number of syllables, all 2nd lines, etc..

FINE-TUNING YOUR LYRICS​

1. SINGABLE WORDS: Use singable words, and change those that aren't.
  • Make sure words are musical.
  • After lyrics are written, sing the lines without music.
  • Be on the alert for non-singable words and phrases that require changing.
  • If possible, run lyrics by an experienced singer to validate singability of lyrics.

2. IMAGERY: Infuse lyrics with picturesque images.
  • Be vivid, since you have limited in time.
  • Visual imagery is VERY IMPORTANT - go heavy on the paint.
  • Watch for lines that could be changed into more picturesque words or phrases.

3. ALLITERATION: Do this as much as possible.
  • Repetition of a sound or letter at beginning of words in close proximity.
  • Successive words beginning with the same letter are pleasing to the listener.
  • For a masterclass in alliterative writing, study "Helplessly Hoping" by CSN (analysis posted in this thread).

4. OVERSTATEMENT: Make larger than life statements.
  • Exaggerated statements work great in songs: “Drowning in my tears”.

5. CHANGING SCENES: Keep your characters moving thru different scenes.
  • Look for opportunities to introduce another time, person, or location into your lyric.

6. COMMANDING ATTENTION: Is the opening line powerful enough to hook the listener? Does the song's hook appear early enough?
  • First line of the song needs to draw in the listener.
  • Get to the hook quickly. Tom Petty's songwriting motto: "Don't bore us, get to the chorus."
  • Use musical hooks to lure the listener.

7. BREVITY: Lyrics should be brief and efficient.
  • Write larger than life, but be brief.
  • Each line should convey a complete thought and advance the story.
  • Avoid redundant statements - keep the story moving forward with each new line.
  • Stick to one basic idea in a song.

8. PROSODY: Does the music match the mood and meaning of your words?
  • Pay attention to the blending of words and music.
  • Avoid placing melodic accents on unimportant words. Example: "Sent a letter to my love" - the music and/or melody should emphasize the words "letter" or "love", but not "a" and "to".
 
Last edited:
This is really great and quite useful. @Mike Greene it might be useful to create a sticky for elaborate songwriting approaches like these. Posts like these could be plucked out of their separate threads with discussions and put in a locked sticky post.

One thing I notice about this Songwriting Worksheet is that it's almost completely about lyric writing, with a percentage of attention to song structure. The only thing that deals with melody, is prosody. And "pay attention to the blending of words and music" is vague. You might as well say, pay attention to the blending of words and meaning.

My understanding of prosody is when the music tries to tell the same story as the lyrics. You know when it's sad, when it's happy, when it's jubilant, when it's nostalgic, when it wants you to get up and dance, when it wants to make you cry. It's not just correct word emphasis. That's a "Doh! I sure hope you do that" kind of thing.

So much of what passes for advice about melody in songwriting books is "write a hook" for a chorus. Okay. How? I will write another thread about this.

I work very hard on my lyrics, but to me melody is number one. It's a belief shared by a lot of the world's greatest songwriters. The melody is how you grab people's attention so that they will want to learn what your lyrics are about.
 
Reid Rosefelt said:
I work very hard on my lyrics, but to me melody is number one. It's a belief shared by a lot of the world's greatest songwriters. The melody is how you grab people's attention so that they will want to learn what your lyrics are about.
Click to expand...
Agreed, melody is absolutely crucial. I was actually disappointed when I enrolled in the course and discovered 95% of the curriculum focused on lyric writing. But it turned out there was more than enough content in the course to fill up the entire semester. To properly cover the musical aspects of songwriting, including melody, would require another semester, if not more.

I also think the course was restricted to lyric writing because it was open to everyone - musicians and non-musicians. So the teacher couldn't alienate the less musically inclined students.

But in general, I think there's a reason we see so many songwriting collaborations between musicians and lyricists. Both are independent diciplines and talents that require unique expertise. Obviously, singer/songwriters typically do both, but as you move deeper into the world of commercial songwriting, it's very common to have multiple collaborators involved in the writing process because both aspects are critical, especially when you're not writing from a place of artistic inspiration, but simply need to manufacture a hit song.
 
Even though I already know many of these rules (and often break them just because I can), this is really a great overview!
Thanks for posting(y)

Nekujak said:
Exaggerated statements work great in songs: “Drowning in my tears”.
Click to expand...
That's for wimps.
Real men™ are "Drowning in an ocean of tears", at least🤘
 
This is really good. Thanks for posting it.

The one that sticks out most for me is about imagery. (Part 2, #2.) Even in normal writing, I try to use specific images rather than a generalization, since it makes things more real in the reader's/listener's head. For instance, "I even had to sell my truck" has more impact than "I had to start selling everything."
 
I'm glad that this post has been woken up again, because I think it's maybe the most useful post ever on this forum, along with all the other posts by @Nekujak

Maybe it's a place where we all could add our own ideas for crafting songs? If people disagree, let me know. Maybe this should stay as it is, and that could be a different thread. Anyway, here are two things from me:

First Problem: I start the song without thinking about where it will go. I get lost and waste time writing many drafts of things that I later decide to cut.

My Solution: I write an essay before I start writing any of my songs. I try to express what I hope my song will be. What story do I want to tell? How do I hope people will feel at the end? Once I have that, I can lay out a rough structure: what information will be relayed in all the verses and choruses, and any other parts.

Second Problem: I finish a song and find out it is four to five minutes long. I really want my songs to be three minutes to three and a half minutes long, if possible.

My Solution: I plot out a rough draft of the song in Band-in-a-Box or Cubase, before I've nailed down the lyrics or melodies. If it's too long, I look for things to cut or I try a faster bpm. It's a lot easier to cut something before I've spent weeks writing it.

Often this allows me to lengthen my songs too. I generally try to have very fast musical intros and outros, or even get rid of them altogether, so I can save time. On a recent song, I had a two-bar intro, but when I listened to it a lot, it seemed to want a four-bar intro, and as I had the time, I expanded it. I've also slowed songs down, even if it costs me a little time.
 
Mike Greene said:
For instance, "I even had to sell my truck" has more impact than "I had to start selling everything."
Click to expand...
Yep, that's something that, for some reason, makes a big difference, even for me as a listener.
If possible, always add something that creates a concrete image in the listener's mind (in this case: the truck).
Don't just kiss her, kiss her red, beautiful lips 💋
 
Mike Greene said:
What comes to mind for me with "kissing" is the Katy Perry song, where the first line in chorus,
"I kissed a girl and I liked it", is certainly provocative.

But it's the second line - "The taste of her cherry Chapstick" - that makes it real for the listener.
Click to expand...
Fun fact: as a self-confessed Pop writer, I actually wanted to use Katy's / Max' "cherry Chapstick" as an example.

However, since I know that most people here come from VI control and therefore classical music, I thought that no one would be able to relate to this example.

I am surprised, and impressed.
Brings a tear to my eye🥲
 
BDT said:
... since I know that most people here come from VI control and therefore classical music, I thought that no one would be able to relate to this example.
Click to expand...
Speaking for myself (and I assume a few others), I'm way more pop than orchestral. (Embarrassing admission - When we were getting ready to record Sunset Strings and the guys said the main articulation should be "sul tasto", I didn't know what that was. Same for "ricochets" and a number of other articulations. "Tremolo"? That's the knob on a Fender amp next to Reverb, right?)

I think a lot of us just gravitated to VI-Control because there aren't many other options.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom