Playing the guitar well or playing the piano well might be someone’s talent or nature’s gift to that individual. But lyrics writing is not a talent to hunt for but rather it’s a skill that can be polished by practice. Lyrical writing is a tough job but as always lyrics freak will be providing with the basic 5 steps needed to master your lyrical writing.
Before heading towards the steps let’s have an insight into how you can improve yourself
The first basic necessity for lyrical writing is to write consistently. By writing a lot you can acknowledge your weak areas and your powerful areas. Take some time out just for writing, constant practice can help to improve in lyrical writing. Secondly you can, have an idea from different lyrics by listening to them. When you listen to different lyrics, you will know how the words are turned into notes. How these notes can create a movie around a song. In this way, you can improve your writing skills. Thirdly, study the lyrics. Analytically studying the lyrics will help to expose the song to the writer. Focus on why the writer focused on some words and why he choose to add Rhymes. Your analytical study will break down the song into pieces that help you to construct your song most beautifully.
5 steps for better lyrical writing are:
1. Selection of thoughtful words
Remember it’s your words, that will turn into a song. So selection of appropriate words is an utmost important job while lyrical writing. Always start by imagining a story you are about to portray in your song. While writing a story focus on the thoughtful words that can add a description as well as meaning to your thoughts. When you study different songs, you will realize that every artist might have the same Story of heartbreak, but the words’ selection makes every song unique. It is a good initiative to focus analytically on different songs so in this way you will be focusing on what you need to make your lyrical writing outstanding.
2. Keep it simple
While songwriting, your lyrics should be simple and meaningful. Nobody wants a whole dictionary being sung in a song. Too many words can make a song boring unless it’s a different genre. Try to focus on the audience and you should be focusing on leading your audience with your lyrics. The lyrics should be taking your audience on your journey. As we talk earlier about creating a story and adding meaningful words and keeping it simple these are all the ingredients needed for perfect lyrical writing.
3. Keep it conversational
It’s a great idea for lyrical writing to keep your words in a conversational format. Writing in a conversational format helps the audience to connect with the song. Moreover, this helps the listener to reflect on the song deeply. Moreover, if you observe songs you will see that commonly used phrases are used in the songs this is because your brain is used to these words already, and when they are sung in a song your brain captures these words readily, and in this way your song can be stuck easily in someone’s head for a week or longer. Furthermore, applying this method can give you a major hit in your career.
4. Specify your words
You can add meaning to the words when you add some specifics. For example, describing the dress wear by a woman you can go with a torn dress – this will give the image of trauma a woman is going through. Another example can be describing the character of a woman you are in love with. This will make it easy for the individual to picture your words into his imagination. As talked earlier, lyrical writing can take an individual from his living room to space with the appropriate words. Specifying the word can give a whole image of the surroundings as well. How about talking about a rainy day in your yellow dress with your loved one in your car. In this way, you are specifying the dress, the situation, the place giving an insight into your thoughts. You can always try different words. It’s a good practice to always go for new words.
5. Show us your personality
While lyrical writing the major rule is to never copy anyone’s work. Always focus on your work. How unique you can get with lyrical writing. It’s a good approach to showcase your personality. A person can be good in some aspects and weak in others. When you are analyzing different songs observe which songs get in your mind, or which songs you want to pen down. This will lead you to observe that what your personality is. When you are clear with the type of song your personality craves, you can inspire the audience with the beautiful skills of lyrical writing.
Remember, there is no hard or fast rule in lyrical writing. Enjoy what you do or what you write. Think of any story and work on it. It’s a good approach to write on a paper starting with the title and then focusing on the story. Later adding words and lyrics to your story. Above all, the last rule is to write and write. Never give up on your writing skills. No matter you were the one writing research articles once. Focus and work hard. Nothing is impossible. These are just the basic guidelines shared but as an individual, you have to follow your heart, follow your soul. Our soul open ups multiple windows in our mind that can lead to an exciting adventure of lyrical writing. Moreover, you can sing back your own words, again and again, to find out how can you improve your lyrical writing. Or you can ask your friends for suggestions to improve your lyrical writing. No matter where you stand today, you can be on top of lyrical writing with constant practice.
