Lyric Writing 101: Essential Techniques for Beginner Songwriters

What You Will Learn?

• General Course Description.
• If you’re here, you’ve probably already written a song. In fact, it’s most likely a good song..
• But we’ll bet that the question you’re asking at this point is: How can I turn my song from a good song into a GREAT song?.
• What if we told you there are proven techniques to writing great lyrics? Techniques to help ensure you won’t have anymore abandoned songs in your notebook. Techniques to help ensure lyric writing doesn’t feel like you’re banging your head against a wall..
• You’re in the right place, because this course will walk you through these techniques..
• In this short course, we’ll talk about essential techniques for beginner songwriters. .
• In this course, we look at:.
• Equipped with songwriting exercises that you can repeat multiple times, this course is the definitive bootcamp you need to level up your lyrics..
• Lesson 1: Introduction.
• In this video, Keppie provides us with a brief description on what we will be covering throughout this course. She also gives us some great free PDF resources to help jumpstart our learning process..
• Lesson 2: First Impressions Matter.
• We start out our course with an introduction to one of the most important parts of writing a song: The first line. If first lines are so important, then how do we ensure that they have the most impact? Through briefly discussing subjects such as tension, avoiding cliches and generality, and analysing lines in famous songs, we answer this question..
• Lesson 3: Say No to Cliches.
• Here, we delve deeper into power positions in a song, and how to set up tension. We also take a dive into different types of tension - specifically, image tension..
• Lesson 4: Feel Those Feelings.
• To continue on from the previous lesson, we discuss two other types of tension that can be set up in a song: inner tension and interpersonal tension..
• Lesson 5: Generic Isn’t Necessarily Relatable.
• Earlier on, we briefly touched on how cliches and generalisations can be detrimental to a song. This video expands on that, and teaches us how generic does not necessarily mean relatable..
• Lesson 6: What’s Your Point of View?.
• In this video, we discover what point of view is, and why picking the right one can potentially alter the entire direction of your song..
• Lesson 7: Reality - Amplify It.
• Now, we delve into how in a song, we only have such limited time to deliver our point. We learn how to minimise crutches in our lyrics, and to amplify the reality we are trying to present..
• Lesson 8: Repetition Is Key.
• Repetition is a key part of what makes songs memorable - particularly when it is repetition of lyrics. This video teaches us how repetition can help you develop your earworm..
• Lesson 9: Find Your Title.
• Most beginner songwriters decide on their title at the end. However, this is actually detrimental to your hook writing, and this video helps to explain why..
• Lesson 10: Paint Pictures with Words.
• Songs are mini-containers for stories. It’s extremely important to be able to draw people into your story’s world. This video touches on sense writing - a tool to help you achieve that every time..
• Lesson 11: Explore Your Senses.
• In this video, the exercise of sense writing is explained to you and you’ll get to follow along as Keppie goes through the process herself..
• Lesson 12: View the Results.
• To continue from the previous video, we go through Keppie’s sense writing piece and analyse her writing style in regards to the senses that she used..
• BONUS: Conversations (Part 1) | Being a Bookworm is Useful.
• In this video, Benny and Keppie talk about how there’s a direct link between literature and songwriting, and how to use what you learn from reading in your songs..
• BONUS: Conversations (Part 2) | Short and Sweet.
• To continue on from the previous video, Benny and Keppie reflect on how sometimes, six words are enough to convey a multitude of emotions..
• BONUS: Conversations (Part 3) | Questions, Journeys, Settings and Glitches.
• Benny & Keppie continue their discussion on literature, this time focusing on how songwriters can learn from authors, and their methods of setting up the story..
• BONUS: Conversations (Part 4) | Intention - Does It Matter or Exist?.
• In this discussion, Benny & Keppie get more philosophical and discuss whether writers have intention when they write their stories, and if this even matters or not..
• BONUS: Conversations (Part 5) | Words of Wisdom.
• Benny & Keppie wrap up their conversation by dispensing some words of wisdom that they’ve learnt from others, as well as through their own experiences as songwriters..
• Want some inspiration before signing up? .
• Download the FREE eBook, "The 5 Best Exercises for Writing Great Lyrics"..
• You can find all our free tutorials here on our YouTube channel..