The Songwriter's Starter Pack - Article 1 - Creating a Lyric for the First Verse

Introduction

It often happens at some point in a keyboard player's career that they develop a desire to write their own music. This is quite natural as music involves artistic creativity and what could be more creative that writing your own music but many put it off in the belief that they don't posses the talent or they simply don't know how to start.

Now I am not a world famous songwriter and have never had a number 1 hit so this article includes just a few tips from an amateur and doesn't pretend to be anything else. This is a starter for those who would like to give it a go and at the very least this will develop your keyboard skills and knowledge of music.

How to start

Different songwriters start at different places and there is no hard and fast rule. Some start with a lyric, others like a particular chord progression and start with that, while others have a melody going round in their head. You will start at different places as your skill improves and as the mood takes you. For an absolute beginner I suggest you start with the lyric. There are some very sound reasons why it is best to start with a lyric.

The lyric can define the entire structure of the song so half your job is done once you have a complete lyric. It is the lyric that sets the tone of the song. Is it sad and somber or is it light and fluffy? It is the lyric that suggests the rhythm so it is easier to create a melody to fit rather than try and force a lyric into an existing melody.

The lyric

First of all we have to understand that poetry is not necessarily the same as a song lyric. A poem can go on for 15 minutes without a single chorus or repetition but popular songs invariably include 2, 3 and 4, choruses which are repeats of the same thing.

A popular song should fit into a 3 to 4 minute time frame unlike a poem that has no time frame. As there are going to be 2 or 3 choruses which repeat themselves it follows that there is not a lot of time left to get the story across so of necessity it should be a short message that you are trying to convey. To start with, and to get a bit of practice, it does not have to be very clever. Just get some lines down and play around with them. For practice purposes it doesn't even have to rhyme. I'm not suggesting that this first attempt is going to be a hit song but just something to play around with.

Here is a simple verse I have created to use as an example then, after realizing how easy it is, you will be motivated to create something better yourself. I have created this example because it is simple and straight forward. As I mentioned before, it doesn't have to be clever and good songs don't have to be complicated.

It's raining now so heavily
A cold wind shakes the trees

Old Winter has refused to go

He drives Spring to her knees.

First of all, what mood does the lyric suggest?

Secondly what rhythm does it suggest? You can play this in 4/4 time. To understand what I mean by the rhythm count the syllables in each line. It's raining now so heavily = 8. A cold wind shakes the trees = 6. Old Winter has refused to go = 8. He drives Spring to her knees = 6.

Having established that, you need to keep it exactly the same for each verse and fit your words into that rhythm so that the music will flow. As you gain experience you can vary this but to start with it helps to keep it simple and straightforward.

That's enough for this first article but there are more to follow on from here. You can see the entire Songwriter's Starter Pack at my website members area.

Steve Parry has been teaching keyboard on the internet for over 10 years. His downloadable eBooks cover basic tuition, chord finder software, how to play by ear and numerous articles covering such topics as home recording and song writing.

Visit his site at http://playkeyboards.com/ for more information.

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