Ten Lyric Writing Tips for Beginners


Have you ever been inspired to write lyrics to a song only to get blocked as soon as you start? I have.

Especially when I was starting out as a songwriter. I would come with an idea or a lyric line and immediately start to try and think of words that rhymed with it. A couple of minutes later I was just too frustrated to get past the first or second line. Sound familiar?

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There are as many ways to write a song as there are songs to write. In this post, I’m going to show you one of them. A seven-step process for beginners to go from no idea to finished lyric.

I’ve put a Free cheat sheet together of all this information with some examples and bonus tips. That includes a way to put your new lyrics to music even if you don’t play an instrument, so be sure to download it here https://mailchi.mp/58918357b8ca/ten-lyric-writing-tips-for-beginners

Ok, let’s do this…

Tip #1 Get Writing

Bet you didn’t see that coming! Freewriting or stream of consciousness, whatever you want to call it. It is the easiest way to start. Don’t just wait for an idea to fall into your lap. Set a timer and write only for five to ten minutes and just pour your thoughts out onto paper.


It doesn’t matter what you write here, and I’ll show you why in a second. Writing on paper is better for this than using your phone or computer. That’s not just my opinion, there is science to back that up plus You can always draw a picture if you can’t think of anything to write.

So just write or sketch anything that’s on your mind. If you can’t think of anything to write about then write about that. If you get really stuck check out this video linked below on how to generate endless song and lyric ideas.

Don’t judge what you are writing, or care about spelling or grammar or if it even makes sense and don’t stop to think what you should write next. Just go for it. You could even talk this out and record it on your phone.

Then, Go back over what you have written and pick out any words, phrases or sentences that you are drawn to. You can even pick these out at random if nothing excites you. The last video I linked to has a solid system for turning random ideas into something concrete to work with.

Tip #2 Meet the W’s

Now that you have picked some words or phrases, you have some raw material to work with. Take a couple of those words and ask what, who, when, where, why, and how questions.

This will help flesh out any ideas. So say you have the word rain, you ask. Who? who is in the rain? Who are they with or who are they waiting for? Waiting for the sun maybe.

Why? Why are they in the rain, maybe they have no choice, maybe they are homeless.

What? What are they doing…walking, dancing?

Just by taking the word rain and asking the w’s we have an idea we can work with now.

We have Someone dancing in the rain because they have nowhere else to go and have decided they may as well dance rather than wallowing in self-pity and getting drenched waiting for some good luck to come their way.

Tip #3 Endless Possibilities

Ok, we have just come across an idea that we can work with. A couple of points to make here, first notice how we practically came up with this out of thin air, and second, you can write about whatever you want.

A lot of people will say ‘write about what you know’ and that’s fine advice but don’t let it hold you back. There is no limit to the imagination so use that to your advantage.

So we have an idea. The possibilities are endless with a new idea but Endless possibilities aren’t as good for the creative process as they might sound. Especially if you want to actually get this song finished before you lose the vibe.

So here is a trick for not wasting time and getting lost in the possibilities. Pick out a Theme for the song.

Is the theme love, break ups, overcoming an obstacle, finding your path in life, friendship, nostalgia… these are probably some of the most common themes.

So for our rain song example Overcoming an obstacle seems like an obvious choice.

Tip #4 Emotional Laser

Now let’s focus our creative energy like a laser. We have an idea and a theme now let’s pick an emotional point of view or attitude.

How we feel about the theme, do we love it, hate it, are we scared of it, confused by it, does it make us sad or happy…

For our example let’s keep it simple and let’s go for scary and boom!  Now we have all the raw material to write a lyric.

Overcoming major obstacles in our lives is scary and this will be told through the filter of Rain.

Having a theme and emotional point of view gives us a solid home base to create from. We can explore ideas and go off on tangents all we want without getting lost or confused by all the possibilities.

Tip #5 Give it a Name

So for lyric writing, the next big help would be to find a title. For our example, we could try ‘Rain Dance’, ‘Dancing on the rain‘, ‘Dancing through the rain‘, All possible titles for this song. 


Now that we are more clear about where this song is going we can get the lyrics moving. So the easiest way to do this is to repeat step two.  Ask the w questions again focusing on the title and brainstorm some ideas.

We want to get visual and emotional this time. We want to come up with some imagery, something to stir the emotions to go along with the details we already have.

Coming up with imagery can be hard, sometimes we try to sound poetic and end up sounding corny, so If you need any help with this, check out this video, I’ll link it below.

Tip 6 Give it some Bones

Next tip is to take a song you really like and follow its structure.  The reason for this is, as a beginner using the songs that inspire you is a really good way to learn how songs work.

In each section take one of the answers to the w questions you asked earlier and use that info.

To keep our lyrics interesting they should have some kind of progression. It could be a time frame, past. present, future, it could be a point of view, you, me, us, it could be physical, mental, emotional.

You choose how you want the information to unfold but it should unfold and move in some way. Three main stages of development will be plenty for now. Planning the song out a little bit can save a ton of time in the long run.

I give a bit more information about this in the cheat sheet, so don’t forget to grab it

HERE…https://mailchi.mp/58918357b8ca/ten-lyric-writing-tips-for-beginners

Tip #7 Reasons to Rhyme

The next tip is to look at the template song and how it rhymes, does line one rhyme with line two or does it rhyme with line three or whatever. Follow that rhyme pattern in your song.

To make this easier Pick out some keywords from what you have so far. These are words that you have that you know you will use in the song, words that have a strong connection to the theme and emotion of the song. 

Pick out any of the words you have that will be used for rhymes and find more rhymes for them. Use rhymzone.com and find rhymes, near rhymes, and similar-sounding words.

Collecting rhymes for the keywords will also give you more ideas. Make sure to stick to the theme and emotion of the song. Don’t pick unrelated words just because they rhyme.

Tip #8 Go for it

you have everything you need to come up with lyrical lines and keep building the sections using the patterns in the template song you chose to follow.

Remember. Songwriting and lyric writing is a craft and like any craft,  it takes time and practice to get good. don’t be disappointed if you don’t get the results you want straight away.

Everyone sucks at the beginning. If you have been a fan of music for years your expectations are going to be high but as a beginner, your skill level is going to be low. This gap is what makes people think they suck and give up before they give themselves a chance to get good.

So don’t give up, it’s going to take some time and practice but you will get there.

And most important of all…Check out Songwriters Chop Shop youtube channel for weekly songwriting tips, tools, and techniques

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