Songwriting - How to Write a Love Song

Many of us have asked ourselves the question of how to write a love song, as this is one of the most romantic things you can do for that someone special in your life. Even though writing your first love song appears to be a demanding task, there are many things that can help you turn your innermost feelings into an enchanting love song. All you need to do is read through some how-to articles, and you will find the answers to all the questions you are interested in. Let's start!

Dedicate Your Song to the One You Love

If you plan to write an intimate love song, you ought to include the name of your loved one into a song. This will help you express your feelings better, and it will help you focus on the person the song is dedicated to instead of writing about love in general. It is a very common problem with writing songs that you can easily wander off, and if you want any song to be good you need to make the song to the point.

Don't Wait for Magic to Happen

Many people who are writing a love song for the first time start things the wrong way by waiting for an epiphany to help them write the perfect song out of the first try. It is easy to guess that this is not a good idea if you want to create a love song, owing to the fact that a song like this usually cannot be written in one breath, especially if you are a beginner in this field. This being said, try to write down any ideas that might pop into your mind, and eventually you will be able to collect of these thoughts and turn them into a song. Try writing down all the things you love about that someone special; try to answer the question why you love them and maybe let them know you appreciate they are part of your life.

Trim the Lyrics

After you have written an outline of what you want to include in your love song, you should drop everything that seems unnecessary in your piece. When writing down your thoughts and especially feelings it is easy to get carried away and write many unnecessary words, because the feelings are very difficult to put into words. Therefore, try to make your song easy to take in.

Should Your Song Rhyme

There are many different opinions on the topic of whether a love song should rhyme or not, but since this is highly subjective there is not a right or wrong answer. The fact is that rhyme makes songs easier to read and remember, but a song that does not rhyme can be just as beautiful. As long as your words are coming straight from your heart, the song will be just great.

Ana is a freelance writer, and she enjoys writing on any topic.

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Songwriting - How Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" Uses Rhyme As an Accelerator in Its Lyrics

When you write lyrics, they tend to work best when the meaning of your words is directly tied into what's happening musically. When all the elements of your song are fused together this way, it's called prosody.

Rhyme can be an incredibly powerful tool for tying the meaning of your words to your music. One way to do this is to use rhyme as an accelerator. For example, let's say you have a rhyme scheme that rhymes on every other line. We'll call this an ABAB rhyme scheme. It might look like this:

Now we're gonna rhyme (A)

It'll be so fun (B)

We'll do it in four lines (A)

Just like that, we're done (B)

In this ABAB scheme, the 'A' rhymes are the lines with the words "rhyme" and "lines" and the 'B' rhymes are "fun" and "done."

Once we've established this rhyme scheme in our song, it becomes what's expected throughout the song. If we change it, it'll change what the song makes us feel.

For example if we establish our lyric to be an ABAB rhyme scheme and then change it to an ABBB rhyme scheme the next time around, it'll feel different. Check it out:

Section 1

Now we're gonna rhyme (A)

It'll be so fun (B)

We'll do it in four lines (A)

Just like that, we're done (B)

Section 2

Now we're gonna rhyme (A)

It'll be so fun (B)

These lines are gonna run (B)

Just like that, we're done (B)

Future Grammy-winning lyrics for sure. Okay, maybe not. But lame lyrics aside, how did the second section feel compared to the first? Did you notice the acceleration of the last three lines in the second section? One of the functions of rhyme is it can act as an accelerator, when you space your rhymes close together.

In the example above we established our rhymes to happen at every other line, in section 1. Then we went against your expectations in section 2 by increasing the frequency of the rhyme, which made the lines feel accelerated.

strong>"Heart of Gold" by Neil young

Let's check out a great example of this concept in action. Who better to learn from than Neil Young? Check out the first verse of the song "Heart of Gold:"

I want to live, I want to give

I've been a miner for a heart of gold

It's these expressions I never give

That keep me searching for a heart of gold

And I'm getting old

This is essentially an ABABB rhyme scheme, in five lines. Technically, in lines one through four, they're not rhymes, but identities, since it's the same word being repeated ("give" and "live"). But that's beside the point for right now. Let's treat them as typical rhymes.

With the ABAB rhyme scheme that's established in the first four lines, there has been a certain rhyme pace that's become expected. So when the fifth line comes in with another 'B' rhyme, it's a surprise that accelerates that line.

Mixing Meaning With Your Rhymes

"So what?" you ask. "The fifth line accelerates... Big deal." Fair point. Here's why it's cool. This acceleration happens on the line "And I'm getting old." The implication of a line like "And I'm getting old" is "I'm getting old, quickly." Except he doesn't have to say "quickly" because that was implied with how the line was written. The acceleration due to two lines of rhyme back to back (after establishing a slower rhyme pattern previously) really helps us FEEL the aging process happening fast for him. It's the meaning of the lyric tied into the rest of the song. And in my opinion, it works very well. If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself.

This pattern continues throughout the song, but you'll get the gist after the first verse. So just listen to the first verse, through about 1:15 into the song.

You can hear it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZX8RAaRNIk

Other Factors

With moves like this, rhyme is always the most obvious contributor, because it stands out so clearly when we hear it. It can't be mistaken. But when you're using rhyme to highlight one of your ideas, it usually works best when combined with other tools. In the case of our line "and I'm getting old," a second tool being used is a change of line length.

If you check out the first four lines of the verse, you'll notice they're longer than the last line, "and I'm getting old." This helps drive home the idea about "I'm getting old quickly." When you establish a longer line length in previous lines, and then shorten it, it'll feel quicker. It's a second contributor to the same idea. And it contributes so nicely.

Use It

Experiment with this idea. If your lyrics give you a reason to accelerate (or decelerate), try supporting that meaning with rhyme, and even line length, if possible. See if you like the results you get compared to what you would have done beforehand. And don't forget to have fun.

For more lyric writing advice, watch your free lesson, "Writing Lyrics to Music," here: http://www.successforyoursongs.com/freeoffer

Anthony Ceseri is the owner of http://www.successforyoursongs.com/, a website dedicated to the growth and development of songwriters of all skill levels. Anthony's writings appear as examples in the book "Songwriting Without Boundaries: Lyric Writing Exercises For Finding Your Voice" by Pat Pattison, an acclaimed lyric writing professor at Berklee College of Music.

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Songwriters - The Five P's for Succeeding in Songwriting

As difficult as it may seem at times, achieving your goals as a songwriter is very possible. There are a few crucial things to be aware of that can help you succeed in reaching your goals. We'll talk about them here.

1. Purpose

It's important to know what you want to achieve as a songwriter or performer in order for you to get there. That may sound obvious, but it's often neglected. A lot of times amateur songwriters walk around with the mindset of simply hoping "something's" going to happen for them, without knowing what that something is.

Whether you want to become a chart-topping performing songwriter, be on a songwriting staff in Nashville, or simply enjoy songwriting as a hobby, you need to define that for yourself. Knowing your purpose is the first step to getting there.

2. Planning

Once you know your purpose, you need to know HOW you're going to get there. Planning is crucial to achieving your goals. A lot of songwriters go around hoping that "someone will discover them." That's not a plan. With that mindset you can also plan to win the lottery. It doesn't mean it's going to happen.

Instead, come up with clearly defined plans to achieve your goals. Keep your overall purpose, in mind when you lay out your goals. It's important to put dates on your goals, so they're not open ended. You're much more likely to reach your goals if you put an achievable timeframe on them.

I'd recommend laying out plans for the short, mid and long terms. It's okay to modify your goals as you move along, so long as you always have a plan for achieving them in place.

3. Persistence

As crucial as planning is, it's important to realize that occasionally your plans aren't going to work out the way you hoped. That's okay. It happens to every successful person. When this happens you'll need to be persistent. Persistence sets those who succeed apart from those who fail. Keep modifying your plans, until you find one that works. Most people give up at the first sign of failure, and as a result never achieve the success they've hoped for.

4. Passion

This one's pretty easy for most songwriters. I don't think I've met a songwriter yet who doesn't love his/her craft, but it's important to talk about here anyway.

Your passion for what you do is the fuel that's going to carry you through everything else we've talked about so far. When times get hard, and you need to be persistent, your passion will keep you going. That's why it's so important to love what you do if you want to be truly successful at it. As Napoleon Hill says in the classic success book, Think and Grow Rich, "Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire brings a small amount of heat."

Love what you do, so when things get tough, you can still power on to move forward.

5. Practice

As important as the previously mentioned points are, they won't do you any good if you don't practice your craft. As a performing songwriter, this includes practicing your instruments (vocals, guitar, piano, etc), practicing your performances, and even practicing your songwriting.

As strong as your will to succeed is, you've got to be damn good at what you do to achieve your goals. And you can absolutely get there with practice.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell points out that natural talent will only get you so far. No matter how much talent you have, you will never reach your full potential without consistent practicing. He makes the argument that it takes 10,000 of practice to become a master in your field. So get cracking.

Practice consists of education and experience. Learn your craft, apply what you've learned, and repeat. Constantly continue this loop and you can only improve.

To start learning about songwriting right now, watch your free lesson, "Writing Lyrics to Music," here: http://www.successforyoursongs.com/freeoffer

You can also get a free report on improving your performances and dealing with stage fright, here: http://successforyoursongs.com/freeoffer/stagefright/

Anthony Ceseri is the owner of Success For Your Songs, a website dedicated to the growth and development of songwriters of all skill levels. Anthony's writings appear as examples in the book "Songwriting Without Boundaries: Lyric Writing Exercises For Finding Your Voice" by Pat Pattison, an acclaimed lyric writing professor at Berklee College of Music.

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How I Mastered Songwriting and Piano Playing Without A Piano

Back in 1986, my 6th Grade class went on a week long excursion to a facility in an area called Jackson's Point, Ontario. There were a little over 30 of us young school children, getting ready for the last of many adventurous and educational experiences throughout the year. Our teacher, Mr. Bruce Dailey, along with Ms. Procop, were the organizers of the trip. This was made possible when the Scarborough School Board gave Mr. Dailey the green light to go ahead with the field trips. The difference is that we had the blessing of all the parents to be away for over a week.

My last week-long excursion was in a place called Albion Hills, where we stayed in a very beautiful facility made of burnt umber timbers, surrounded by a beautiful everglade. That was in October of 1985. During that time, i learned how to draw Blue Jays and many other Canadian birds. But I only learned by copying from what I saw. Many of my classmates were amazed, but the more artistic ones felt that I wasn't being original. Of course though, being a boy at that age, I'd go rambunctious and tell them to take a hike. I wasn't really popular with those people. But as an adult, we're all friends now. Hey, kids are kids, right?

Anyway, things were different this time around as the excursion at Jackson's Point was months after Albion Hills. The whole class was undergoing a change in life. Hormones were flying. The Boys, instead of fighting or disagreeing with the girls (remember the word "koodies?") were suddenly interested in them. I, for one, was also interested - particularly with one tall, and very beautiful blonde girl in the class. Her name was Melanie. But I was too shy to even ask her out. She had a most wonderful smile and was very pretty.

We're now good old friends today, as we both have gone our separate walks of life and are married to different partners.

There was this glossy ebony coloured piano in a corner of the facility. Every day, she would go to the piano and play it. Most of the class would drop by and listen to her play. They'd give her loud applauses. Then Mr. Dailey would take over and dazzle us with his elaborate piano expertise. Wow, I thought. If I could play like him, I may just be able to win the heart of that girl in class.

But of course, I was extremely shy. How on earth could I impress her. Even moreso, how on earth could I ever get up to speed in playing the piano.

Just to sidestep a bit in fragment, I have two brothers who played the piano. They were taking lessons from the same teacher as my blonde female classmate was taking. Years ago, when I was four, I took lessons at the Yamaha piano schools. I didn't like it because 1.) The teacher was too strict and punishing - i saw her slap a ruler on any student's hands if that student didn't do their homework and 2.) daylight savings time meant that the lessons ended earlier. Meaning that my parents would come one hour later. When I didn't see my parents outside after class, i felt as if they had abandoned me, so I walked all the way home on my end. Crying. Imagine a little 4 year old boy, walking all the way home for almost 4 kilometers. There were stories of child kidnappings happening around that time, so when my parents found that I wasn't at the school, you can't blame them for freaking out. The police had been dispatched, looking for a little 4 year old filipino canadian boy who was missing. Well, when they found me at home, they were not only relieved. They went bezerk. Since then, I didnt' want to play piano any more. I cared more for playing the guitar, because rock guitarists were popular and cool. Playing piano was for sissies. Plus the experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

Later on, I decided to take lessons from another teacher, Mrs. Bennett, who i really enjoyed learning piano from. She always gave me the freedom to choose whatever music i wanted to learn, plus she would remind me of the importance of the technical skills. Because of her, I became a much more proficient piano player. I love Mrs. Bennett, she is like a second mother to me.

Well, Back to where I left of.

One afternoon, my blonde classmate had injured her foot during one of our outdoor activities. I think it was soccer or something of that nature. I saw the whole thing and wanted to help her, but i didn't know what to do. Mr. Dailey immediately carried her and brought her to medical attention at the nearest hospital. The next day, she was back at the facility to rejoin us, but with crutches and a bandage cast on her right ankle. Apparently, she had sprained it severely. I really cared about how she was, even more. But i was too shy to do anything about it.

Then a couple of evenings later, I decided to try my hand at the piano. I had been learning, or attempting to learn a song on the piano, called "Feelings." It was written by someone by the name of Morris, I think. My father used to play Bobby Vinton tapes, and that song stuck out most for me. How fitting for the moment that that song was. I couldn't play the song that well though, it was pretty difficult (well, any song I played was too difficult.)

Mr. Dailey saw me at the piano and decided to join me. He asked me if I really liked playing piano. I told him that I'd be willing to learn, i just want to impress my classmates (well, i didn't really tell him the REAL reason!) He said that he recognized the song I was playing. Then he showed me a different way of playing the song.

What he did, was take a chorded triad in the left hand and made it into a broken chord. It was the kind where you would play it, starting from your pinky finger and move it up to the thumb, then back to the pinky finger, before changing the chord in the next part of the sequence within a bar.

I couldn't believe what i was seeing and hearing. It sounded really good and yet, it was so simple to do. So much so, that I picked it up right on the spot. But the trick about it was that he made it simple! Then he played it differently. He showed me so many easy ways of playing the song - all by making it simple. That was the greatest gift a teacher could ever give a student - their knowledge and skills.

There's a saying by singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins and it was this: Simplicity is clarity and focus into power. He won a grammy and sold millions of records for only one song - Return to Pooh corner. The song itself was very simple, yet it became the household song for children of many generations to come.

So, I played the song "feelings" over and over again. Before I knew it, i had an audience - and they actually clapped! Even the blonde student really like it.

Imagine that. By making things simpler, I could believe in myself and in my ability to play piano. Sometimes even today, I struggle when i make it too hard on myself to write/compose a new original song. I have to remind myself to keep things simple - even in everything I do.

Anyway, the evening before we were to head back home to Toronto, I was all alone in the recreation room at the piano. I started playing a song "Heart and Soul", which so many kids, even to this day, still play. It's the easiest and simplest song in the world and anyone can learn out. Because of it's simplicity, that gave it it's staying power in the minds of those who want to play it.

I was just playing the left portion. Normally, the song would require a partner to play the melody. But I was all alone with the piano to myself. Suddenly, someone joined me to play the melody. It was Melanie. I tell you, i was nervous and kept playing. It was a dream come true for me, but I tried to stay focused on the piano, as if she wasn't there. But there she was, sitting beside me. I kept playing while my heart kept racing. I was thinking, WOW, she is so talented and pretty and here I am, not have had a shower yet! However, we sounded pretty good playing together. Then before we knew it, our classmates had joined us to listen. We both got thunderous applause.

So that was what it felt like to have a big audience appreciate your performance.

The day that we were to leave, hours before that, i started playing Heart and Soul one more time. Some of the special education classmates came to join me. While I played the left hand, one of them (His name was Daniel), played a more jazzy version of the melody. I was blown away. Even he did it using just simple chords, even if it was a step further and slightly more complex that the original melody. The amazing part about it was that he was also playing it different each and every time. That was the first time that I would be exposed to jazz piano at it's simplest.

The whole experience at Jackson's point was as growing one for me. I learned a whole lot. Not just about playing piano. Of course though, that was huge. But what I learned, of many things that I learned there, was that when you keep things simple, you have much more focus and power. When you keep things simple, you can put embellishments so much easily on top of the very thing that you are working on.

Sadly, Mr. Dailey died 16 years after that night when he taught me how to improvise and create music at the piano, rather than just play it. If he only knew how much his teaching had touched my life and playing. If it werent' for him, I probably would have never become the songwriter-piano musician that i am today. But it's the lesson I will never forget - which was to keep things simple - then everything will fall into place. Because of him, girls stand around the piano when I'm playing a song. Because of him, I got a chance to perform in front of hundreds and thousands of audiences. I do miss him and could only wish that I was able to speak to him before he left this life. I will never forget him.

But I know that he is always a part of me, whenever I put my fingers to the piano and create original music.

Rodney is a musician, an artist, a tech geek, wellness consultant and an entrepreneur. Visit his website at: http://www.healthylifepath.com/

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Songwriting Help - Tips to Get Lyric Ideas

Sometimes people ask me "how did you get the idea for that song?", or "how did you make that up?"

I tend to cringe at the thought of "making something up". I'd like to think that I create, compose orchestrate or something high sounding like that.

But I suppose when you boil it all down...I make it up.

And the process for "making it up" can be as varied as the people doing the making...er, creating.

For me, when things are going really well, it's like I have this radio inside my head, and I hear all of the parts happening. That's really the best, because then all you're trying do is transcribe what you're hearing.

However, my radio is often fuzzy or not working at all. And when you don't have the radio, what do you do? Well, that's when you need to create or make it up, based on a number of other factors.

I tend to like to start with the words or the lyric. Now, when you don't have your radio working, sometimes it can seem tough to find an idea to write about. However, ideas are all around us. Conversations, Movies, TV Shows, Books, Magazines, Blogs, the list is endless.

The real trick is to find something within those things that you can try and boil down to what may be considered a universal idea, something that might have appeal to a wide group of people, or at least that you think a wide group of people would understand. I've always thought that if I could write something about tying ones shoes, and make it interesting, it would have a chance of being a big hit, because everyone has had to learn to tie their shoes.

So, once I've found my idea of what I want to say, I then have to spend some time determining how I want to say it. What treatment do I give this idea. What point of view am I writing from.

Often, when I know what I want to say, sometimes I'll just start with a sentence or two, without any concern about whether it rhymes. I'm just trying to be coherent and get a start.

If I think the first couple of lines are any good, they may suggest the next lines.

At this point, I'm not concerned with tempo, although I'm keeping my eye and ear open for any cadence the words may suggest on their own. Depending upon what's happening, I may write the lyric to completion, or I may go about half way and see if the words suggest a melody or rhythm - something to propel me.

I usually don't move forward until I have a lyric and melody that I think is working. When I reach that point, I begin to build the musical accompaniment. Most often I'll start with finding the chord progressions, then it's on to the rhythm tracks.

The idea for my song "Do You Remember America?" came from a blog post. As I was reading the blog, many of the ideas there spoke to me, and I felt like...hey I think there's a song here.

Now, I still write lyrics with pen and notebook, but more often, I find myself at a computer, so I tend to fire up notepad and start typing. I probably had the rough draft written in about 10-15 minutes. And then the radio in my head started playing with the words that it saw on the page, and it suggested a melody and cadence for the words.

I knew that I needed to get home right away so that I could record what I was hearing so that it wouldn't fade into the ether. So, I race home and fire up my gear, and just record a rough vocal with a click track, just enough to capture the idea. Then I'm able to go back later and finish "making it up".

Everyone I'm sure creates or "makes it up" differently, and it changes even more when you have a collaborator. The real key is to find what works for you, and then to repeat the process over and over. You'll eventually reach the point where you can call upon your process even when your "radio" isn't operating at peak efficiency.

For a free download of 3 songs please visit http://ez.leemanuel05.com/

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How To Write Great Songs On Bass Guitar - Why It Can Be Easier Than Songwriting On Six String Guitar

So you play bass guitar do you? You'd like a piece of the action?

Well the good news is that you can become a songwriting power house!

Although I'm a lead guitarist and songwriter believe it or not I find it much easier to write songs on a cheap $50 bass guitar I picked up from a second-hand store.

I never actually intended to use it as a writing instrument and only bought it in the first place because I wanted to record some live bass guitar on my songs and just figured it would fit this purpose well.

Then one day I was just strumming around on it playing a very simple line and suddenly, out of the blue a singing melody came to mind.

Before I knew it I had some basic lyrics and a really catchy song, with a verse, chorus, bridge and a rhythm that just rocked.

I was quite taken aback to be honest because I'd never actually considered it would be possible to write a song on a bass guitar but it came very easily, and since then I've written many songs on that bass guitar.

In fact it is now my main songwriting instrument and here's why:

What all great songs have is a great melody. The simpler and more catchy the melody then the more chance people are going to like the song.

This is because people just love to sing-a-long to a catchy hook.

Because bass guitar gives such a simple and pure note, then I believe that it allows the creative mind more space to think and create.

It makes perfect sense to me.

Think about it.

When you are playing chords then there is already a lot of notes flying around to influence and distort the melody line.

For instance if you are playing an A Chord on guitar then you have an E, a C# in there that is bound to clutter your thought process and taint your melody.

With a bass guitar then A is A, which means that if you want to hum a melody along you can hear clearly how it fits with your bass line.

You also get a much better feel for the rhythm of the song and how best to structure it because again it is a much simpler and less complicated sound that you are working with.

So to all you bass guitarists out there - you have no excuse for not contributing to your band's song repertoire.

If you are keen to write songs then check out the tips and ideas on this songwriting: Songwriting For Guitar.

Once you have a great melody then learn the secret of writing great lyrics that people will love: Write Great Lyrics.

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