JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum Lyric to Music exercise

Okay, I was going to try to do the two lyrics simultaneously, but I realized that the thought processes happen fast enough, but my ability to put my thoughts in words then share it here is not nearly so quick. So it will be easier to stay on one lyric at a time and I won't forget so much that I want to say between each post.

So, on to Part 2:

--3---5----6/5----5-----3------2/1
all - day - long - he - lurks - there

----2/1----3----1------1
Staring - at - the - screen

1-----3-5-5-----3-----5------6------5------3
A - predator - on - the - world - wide - web

-2----1----3---2---1--2
well you know what I mean

----------------------------------------------------

His specialty is grooming
Though he seldom washes his face
He grooms the pretty girls and boys
And tries to leave no trace.

-----------------------------------------------------

Notice on the last word of the first part I ended with a 2nd interval note. That happens to be a very frequent note used on a last note of a line to transition from a root chord to a fifth chord, or a minor 2nd. That means going into the second four lines we are coming out of a fifth chord (or minor 2nd), so we could choose to stay there or not. We might go back to the root to start the second four, or possibly go to the fourth chord, all common approaches.

Any of these choices are fairly conventional, we have heard thousands of songs do each of these changes. We could also use this point in the song to try a more unusual transition, but keep in mind that this is the second part of the first verse and whatever we do here we will probably repeat each verse. I personally prefer when I have eight lines to a verse to think of the first four as an A part of a verse and the second four as a B part so I don't want the A and B parts to sound the same.

I often try several different things here to see if I come up with something really interesting or sometimes I might decide that it is better to go on with one of the more conventional routes here because I am still building and want a big payoff later in the song. If you do something unusual here it sets a marker in the music, so the words should have a strong point to make. However, this lyric is still developing and we are not looking for a payoff yet, so maybe a more conventional route will probably be a better fit.

With all that in mind, I think we will build best by going to the fourth chord. I don't want it to sound like the first four so I don't want to go back to the root. I could stay in the fifth (or minor 2nd), but I personally want to hear a change here so I don't want to hang on it.

Damn, I just realized that I changed the third line and used a line from your chorus. That was probably a subconscious thing. I think the line should remain in the chorus so I would probably rethink the line I came up with for the first verse, but we won't backpedal right now.

I think I am going to hang this second four lines around the fourth chord key center as I build to the chorus.

-5-----6---5---6----6----5---3
His - spe-cial-ty - is - grooming

-3---------5-----6--5-----6----5-----5------3
Though - he - sel-dom - wash-es - his - face

5----6---------5----6----6----5-------3-----2/1
He - grooms - the - pret-ty - girls - and - boys

5-------6-----5-----6------6-----7/6/5
And - tries - to - leave - no - trace.

Okay, so here is my take so far. These four lines have the fourth chord resolving to the root at the end of each line until the last line which resolves to the fifth chord. In this case it would only be the fifth, the minor 2nd chord would not work as climax to the build before the big chorus.

So, what do you think so far? Remember that we are building a framework which may be expanded or revised later if we choose.