Overview
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Professional songwriter Cliff Goldmacher reveals 20 unofficial songwriting rules that can make your songs more engaging and memorable.
Syllabus
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Introduction
- Welcome
- What you should know before watching this course
- Using the exercise files
- Introduction to lyric writing
- Rule #1: Make your lyric conversational
- Rule #2: Emphasize the natural syllable
- Rule #3: Use concrete details in your verses
- Rule #4: Show 'em, don't tell 'em
- Rule #5: Make sure every line of your verses and bridge provides new information
- Rule #6: Make certain your chorus is the main message of your song
- Rule #7: Putting the hook at the end of your chorus gives it extra punch
- Rule #8: Give your song a title that references the hook
- Rule #9: Keep your chorus lyric the same in each chorus
- Rule #10: Keep your rhyme schemes the same in similar sections
- Introduction to melody
- Rule #11: Make your melody simple
- Rule #12: Make your melody unique
- Rule #13: Melodies rise in pitch at the chorus
- Rule #14: Repeating melodic figures makes them memorable
- Rule #15: Keep your melody's range singable
- Introduction to song structure
- Rule #16: Three commercial song structures
- Rule #17: Keep your song's introduction short
- Rule #18: Only use a double verse before the first chorus
- Rule #19: Think of songs as having three parts
- Rule #20: When in doubt, make your song shorter
- Breaking these rules on purpose
- Next steps
