Songwriting Rules Are Only A Few

Connecting emotionally with you listener is one of only a few songwriting rules. This is your job as a songwriter. Fail to do it and you've lost the listener.

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Once you have lost your listener your song dies. It can be quick, slow or anywhere in between. But a funeral for the song will be required.

"Show, don't tell" is another tool that get as close to a rule as it gets. A picture is worth a thousand words. Boy that cliche nails it in songwriting. If you don't paint an interesting picture, why will anyone be drawn into your song?

Who are you writing for? This is a critical question you should ask yourself while writing every song. If it's just for you, that's ok. If it's to communicate with others, be as effective as possible.

People are emotional beings. Take your listener on an memorable and honest emotional journey. If you do they won't want to stop and likely won't forget you or your song. They'll also want to hear (buy) more from you.

It is both a lyrical and musical journey. Lyrics and music must fit perfectly together to achieve this. Songwriting rules or guidelines can help here as well

Why do we....

• Listen to some songs over and over?
• Remember songs for years?
• Associate songs with memorable events in our lives?
• Want to dance when we hear a song?
• Feel a song hit us like a train?
• Laugh or cry when we hear songs?
• say "boy I know how that feels"

People's emotional connection with the song is what does it! Emotions can be positive or negative for the mind, body and heart. That's our job as songwriters, touching the listener emotionally.

It doesn't matter if it is rap, hip hop, country, blues, jazz or pop. Creating a meaningful feeling for the listener is the beauty of a song.

It's one of the biggest rewards for a songwriter. Ok, some might say its making money from the song! If you consistently write great songs you have a much better chance of money finding you. Beyond those two golden rules, songwriting rules are really only guidelines, techniques, tools, skill and creativity. They all are powerful and build a great song.

Generally the more you know and use them the better your song will be. But they are not rules because you can always find a song that breaks them and still works.

Great songs connect emotionally. Thats the job of a songwriter. Songs that break that rule aren't great songs. Of course it's not all or nothing. Sometimes a song does a pretty good job of connecting emotionally.

However that makes it a good song not a great song. Learning how to find a way to tweak a song to give it that extra lift is often what makes a great songwriter stand out.

I've designed this website so you can access the tools and knowledge that allow you to see where the bar is. It's when you see the bar that you know where your songs have to be.

Try and remember each time you write, there are no such things as songwriting rules. The only one is connecting emotionally with your listener. The rest are guidelines meant to guide you, not enchain you.

However, beware that you understand the guidelines before you decide to break them. Generally they are guidelines for a good reason and you won't go wrong using them. Usually you need something unique that works better in your song to replace the guideline.

If you are a beginner or an intermediate songwriter, you should stick to the guidelines. They are there because they work. You should know the guidelines before you replace them.

Here are some other tips on song meaning and emotional writing and some songwriting guidelines.

Elvis' song Are You Lonesome Tonight is a great example of asking questions. See how it follows songwriting rules and guidelines.