How to write song lyrics

Do you like music and want to be able to dedicate yourself to it? Maybe it's good that you start playing an instrument and learn, for example, to play the guitar or play the piano, but it will also be advisable to know how to sing and of course, that you have an idea to know how to write lyrics. With this last is what we want to help you with, so that, step by step and in an easy way, you can reach your dream as a singer, or songwriter.

Guide to know how to write song lyrics

Within this short guide, you can follow all the steps to know how to write the lyrics of a song or in fact, how to write lyrics. If you had the intention to write a song to dedicate it to someone, or for other personal purposes, this is the guide for you. To write a good musical text we do not necessarily have to be writers or poets, we just have to say something and find the right way to do it. To write lyrics, follow this guide step by step to understand all the tricks you can use when you want to write a text and then sing it.


First of all, we recommend that the lyrics of the songs to attract the public is always based on something real, that is, that you base yourself in your own life or in the events that took place where you were a protagonist. Let's see what to do next.

The importance of words
As we have just foreseen in the brief introduction step of this guide, we will deal with how to write lyrics. Initially, you will have to concentrate on what you would like to express to the people who will listen to the song and the text. You will have to fix some basic ideas, in the form of a speech, in a few words, how you would explain the meaning of the song to a friend. The choice of topic is very broad, but the main thing is that it is understandable to those who listen and, above all, is not alien to people; therefore, it is advisable to choose something in which the listener can identify, without referring too specifically to a concept: it is necessary to find the right balance between explaining something exhaustively and leaving details to the imagination or memory of the listener. When we decide to write the lyrics of a song, we know that all this can not happen in a single day, so it is always advisable to write words about things that happen day after day to put them together and mix them, creating a text that unites them all.


The creation of the melody
At least at the beginning of the lyrics of your song, do not pay too much attention to the melodic component, since a text lends itself to be accompanied in many different ways, and you can always find a kind of melody suitable for the text you have created. It is essential to take ideas and imagination when writing a song, then take the text to the real part of life, it should not be a dimension outside the world, but you must capture it in all senses: smells, objects, colors and images so that they become a higher expression than the musical text.

All this obviously must have limits, because the lyrics are formed by rounds of chords so the melody will be the tool you use to limit or "wrap" the "life" of the lyrics of your song.

To do this, you should know something that we will explain in the next step of the guide to writing the lyrics: the structure of the song.

Make the structure of the song
Doing the structure is actually knowing how to adjust the lyrics of your song so that it has musicality. For this, you can divide the song into sections that have a standardized or almost length, without forgetting the parts in which the structure of the song should be divided.

To start writing lyrics a basic structure could be:

• Introduction (a first verse in which you introduce the song).
• Stanza (you continue to "explain" the song).
• Chorus (which marks the rhythm of the song).
• Stanza (continue the lyrics of the song).
• Chorus (that marks the rhythm of the song and that you can repeat for two).
• Stanza (follow the lyrics of the song).
• Bridge (a twist of rhythm or musicality).
• Chorus (you finish again with the rhythm of the song).
• It is important that you write down that you must repeat the refrain several times, which is a sequence of words that are repeated cyclically. This will break the rhythm of the song, otherwise, it could be monotonous and repetitive.

Sentimental point of view
Another really fundamental rule when writing lyrics is the following: you do not have to stick to it. Something that may seem silly but if you write the lyrics of a song that is too personal, it will be difficult for someone else to sing it. Think that if it is your desire to learn to write songs, you will not always be the one who sings them, they may be others and not only that, in your first songs it will be easy for those who work with them to want to change things. For this reason, it is important that the text be very flexible so that it can be changed and modified several times, both for reasons of understanding and for a possible readaptation during the composition of the arrangement.

The meaning
It is advisable to have someone read the text without explaining the meaning and then asking what it means, this will help to understand which parts of the text are confusing and which are fundamental and, therefore, "untouchable".

To finish, one very important thing to remember is that the song must have real and credible meaning.