SONGWRITING CHEAT SHEET 

The 3 Frame orks of Song riting 

All o son ritin an e oiled do n to three di erent uildin lo ks: the l ri s, 
melod , and instrumentation. The order that ou hoose to reate these three lo ks 
matters! The lo k that ou ha e irst ill a e t the lo k that omes a ter. Tr out the 
ollo in rame orks and use the one that orks est or ou. 

   

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Frame ork # : 

. Instrumentation 
. Melod  
. L ri s 

Frame ork # : 

. Melod  
. L ri s 
. Instrumentation 

Frame ork # My Personal Fa orite : 

. L ri s 
. Melod  
. Instrumentation 

6 Ways to O ercome Writer’s Block 

● Start ith a pro en son structure.​ You don’t need to rein ent the heel ith 
e er ne son ! I ou’re stu k, just sti k ith the lassi erse > horus > erse > 
horus > rid e > horus stru ture. 

● Listen to completely ne son s or enres.​ Listenin to ne musi an i e 

ou a resh perspe ti e and ne reati e inspiration. Tr somethin ou’ e ne er 
tried e ore, and implement some o the ne sounds ou hear. 

● Try to replicate a son .​ Pa attention to ea h o the uildin lo ks in this son  

ou are o erin . Ho do the l ri s rh me? Ho does the melod transition rom 
one se tion to the ne t? What is the hord stru ture? Use this ne insi ht to o 
and rite our o n son . 

● Gi e yoursel creati e constraints.​ Sometimes part o the pro lem is ha in too 

man options. Challen e oursel to rite a son usin onl hords. Or rite a 
son a out our o ee pot. Or look at a paintin and rite a son inspired it. 
The possi ilities are endless. 

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● Do somethin to ree up your mind. ​Take a 5 minute alk. Make oursel some 
tea. Take a minute nap. O tentimes our mind su ons iousl sol es 
pro lems hile ou are doin thou htless thin s. 

● Create a ord omit note on your phone. ​This is one o m a orites. I ha e a 

note in m phone that I rite e er sin le phrase that omes to m head hile 
I’m out runnin errands, or ra in o ee, or orkin . You’ll e surprised ho  
man poeti phrases et stu k in our head ithout realizin it durin the da . 
This pra ti e ill help ou keep rom ettin lo ked in the uture. 

● BONUS - Stop thinkin and just WRITE.​ This ma seem o ious, ut o tentimes 
riter’s lo k omes rom per e tionism. You ant e er line and melod to 
sound e a tl ri ht the irst time around. But that’s hat the editin phase is or! 
Instead o takin our time hoosin e er ord e eptionall are ull , just 
rite hate er omes to our head. Don’t orr a out rh me or stor . I ou 
need to rite one erse, rite si instead. That a ou ha e a hu e amount o  
material that ou an edit do n and make into somethin amazin . 

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