Like most aspects of music, learning how to get better at writing lyrics more or less comes down to practice. However, with something as abstract as songwriting, it can be challenging to uncover what you can do exactly to improve your craft.

Fortunately, we've compiled a guide of 25+ strategies designed to help you improve your own lyrics and start generating new ideas throughout the songwriting process. If you want to take your lyric writing to the next level, these guided exercises will help you start writing at your fullest potential.

25+ Ways to Get Better at Writing Lyrics

Whether you're an experienced lyric writer or new to songwriting entirely, these exercises are designed to elevate your technique for writing engaging, unique song lyrics:

Study Your Favorite Songs

Every famous singer and artist learned a lot of what they know from listening to the hit songs of the eras that came before them. Make a playlist of what you feel are the most well-written songs and spend some time analyzing the lyrics. How do your favorite artists transition into chorus sections? Why does the second stanza stick in your mind long past the song is over? Does it have to do with the way things are described? Does one word shine out in front of the rest? Listen closely to expertly crafted lyrics, see what patterns emerge across your favorite songs, and you'll be surprised what you can learn.

Pull Up a Thesaurus

Thesarurus.com is one of the best tools for writing better lyrics. Every time you've finished up the first draft of a song, circle certain words that might have a stronger alternative. Getting 10% more descriptive in your writing can take you a long way.

Transform a Story Into a Song

Get inspired by some of your favorite stories whether they're ancient myths, pulled from your favorite books, or a part of pop culture! Take a story that you know well and write it in your own words. Use your verses to progress the story and create the climax of the action in the choruses.

Start with a Specific Song Structure

Sometimes, creative constraints can be super helpful containers for writing better lyrics as they give us a starting point. You could challenge yourself to test out different rhyme schemes, or even opt for a different songwriting formula than the typical verse-chorus form. Here is a video containing several different types of song structure to spark inspiration:

Try To Paint a Picture With Your Words

It's always a good idea to use vivid imagery in your lyrics. Describe color, texture, taste, sound and use sensory imagery to depict the full story behind your song. A great song immerses the listener in an entirely novel environment by providing the listener with the sights and sounds needed to get lost in the world of the musician.

Write a Poem, Then Add a Melody

One way to become a better lyric writer is to start with the words exclusively, independent from the rest of the chord progression or melodies of a track. Write out a poem and then set it to music. It might take some extra time to translate poetry to song, but its a surefire way of making sure that your lyrics stand on their own.

Start With a Word and Create Associations

Let's say you have a song topic in mind but you're not sure how to go about writing better lyrics surrounding that topic. Instead of jumping right in to crafting certain sections of the song, brainstorm all of the associated adjectives and words you could use to describe that topic on a separate piece of paper. Then, use that word bank to guide the rest of your composition. Having a space to draw inspiration from can be the missing push you need to put your craft in motion.

Build a Feedback Circle

Keep yourself and other local musicians accountable by starting a group chain or conversation chain where you can all honestly, without judgement, critique each other's work for the betterment of your work. You don't have to take every piece of feedback into serious consideration, but having a place where you can get an honest opinion before it goes out into the world is undeniably valuable.

Write a Famous Song From a Different Perspective

If you're feeling totally uninspired when you sit down to write, try crafting lyrics from the perspective of a character in someone else's song. For instance, Miley Cyrus' Flowers was written as a response to Bruno Mars' When I Was Your Man , turning what appears to be a sad breakup ballad to an empowering, confident pop song. Find a track that is singing to a subject and embody that subject. Listen to these two tracks to get a good reference point of how Miley Cyrus transformed lyrical inspiration from the first song:

When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars:

Flowers by Miley Cyrus:

Start Collecting Thoughts in a Journal or Your Notes App

You'll never know when inspiration strikes. Give yourself an easy way to start collecting lyric ideas wherever you are throughout the day whether that's a small journal or a dedicated note in your notes app. This way, whenever you hear something in everyday conversation or think of great lyrics you want to use later, you can capture them as needed. Whenever you sit down to write music, pull up your lyric writing note or page to get inspired.

Begin With An Evocative Verb or Adjective and Build From There

Surely "running" is better than "going" and "sprinting" carries more emotion than "running". Take a second to think of an action that inspires a scene or emotion in your mind. Start building around that verb or adjective, and choose equally descriptive words to complement your base word over the course of the song.

Write With Other Musicians

Cowriting and collaborating is one of the most effective ways to write better songs and lyrics. Ask a friend if they would be open to having a songwriting session or strike up a conversation with other musicians at a local open mic night. You can also find online writing partners or feedback through forum sites like Discord or Reddit if you have a limited community locally.

Find Daily Lyric Prompts

If you're finding yourself blanking when you sit down to write, use a tool like random word generator to kick off your writing session. You can even ask friends or followers on social media to challenge you to come up with a song about random topics. Doing so can help you engage with the community, all while helping you improve your lyric writing skills on a global scale. Here are 100 other topics to write about other than the common theme of "love":

Set Up Time Constraints

Some great songs were crafted over months of toiling and tweaking, others are written in an afternoon. If you find yourself ultimately overwhelmed by the process to the point that you avoid writing altogether, start small. Instead of giving yourself large goals upfront like "I need to sit down and write an entire song", try setting a timer for 20 minutes and seeing what happens.

If you give yourself a small goal such as this one, chances are, you'll become invested in the process and opt to write for longer than 20 minutes, anyhow. Start small and branch out rather than setting the bar so high for yourself that you flounder under the pressure of your expectations.

Write Different Themes

Do you notice that all of your songs are centered around love? Partying? Sadness? Challenge yourself to stray away from your usual topics and themes. We all have our crutch song focuses that we love to go back to and explore, but writing different themes can help you create better lyrics and give your discography more sonic variety.

Gather Live Feedback

One of the easiest ways to get direct feedback for your music and lyrics is to perform it live! If you're not playing out as an artist just yet, try your hand at an open mic night. Take note of what lyrics and sections of your songs get the most visible reaction from the audience. When all else fails, ask your friends to tell you which track of yours is their favorite. You'll start to see some clear overlap which can help you guide your future writing.

Write Outside of Your Usual Genre

Even if you don't plan on crafting songs outside of your usual genre comfort zone, switching up your writing style by putting it within a different context can be undoubtedly useful for your overall growth. Many artists cowrite for other musicians, which is a great way to keep your skills intact without the   hardship that comes with crafting something for your own artist project. Give yourself license to experiment and play outside the usual conventions of what you typically create.

Use Literary Devices

Start writing better lyrics by focusing on incorporating common literary devices like idioms, metaphors, simile, and irony into your work. You can even try your hand at more obscure literary devices like anaphora, allusion, or metonymy. Here's a brush up on all the common figures of speech to help you get acquainted:

Write Better Lyrics on The Second Draft

It's natural to get in your head and in your own way while writing music. To avoid this self-induced trap, give yourself the license to dump out everything you're thinking on the first draft, with the promise to edit and revise the initial lyrics later. Separating the initial brainstorm and revision parts of the process can give you the freedom you need to express freely on the page.

Make Writing Lyrics a Daily Practice

For some music creators, it's all about putting in your reps. In order to write better lyrics, try to find ways in which you regularly incorporate practice into your schedule. One way to do this is to associate lyric writing with another common task. For instance, you might practice writing lyrics for 20 minutes after you come home from work. Or, you write lyrics first thing in the morning.

Try to Write From Different Age Perspectives

Take a trip through time and write lyrics from the perspective of your younger or older self. You could even write lyrics as a letter to your future or younger self. Different stages of life come with their own sets of challenges and perspective, which is excellent fodder for a track.

Write as Though You're From a Different Time Period

You don't have to experience something firsthand in order to write about it - that's the beauty of art! If you're a fan of historical fiction or other period-based works, apply the same principles to your songs. Write from the perspective of another era.

Try Using Different Literary Tones

If most songs you write tend to be sincere, try writing lyrics in a sassy, silly, or other tone. It's all too easy to get caught up in writing sad songs or otherwise. See what you can do to evoke different emotions and tonal palettes in your work. If you tend to be verbose and very descriptive in your lyrics, challenge yourself to write exclusively simple lyrics, and get to the point as quickly as possible in your song. Switching up your modality will force you to adapt and grow as a writer.

Write Lyrics Surrounding Your Most Vivid Memories

If you're at a loss for inspiration, dig into your past. Pull out some of your most vivid memories and write lyrics surrounding those experiences. Perhaps you have a favorite dish a parent made, or remember the first time you made a friend or had a crush. These core experiences can help you bring up certain words and feelings that you might not have accessed otherwise.

Write In Multiple Languages

If you're lucky enough to be bilingual, consider writing lyrics in multiple languages. Switching between the two can make for an interesting flow and cadence, and help your track resonate with more listeners. Plus, languages have different words to encapsulate meaning for various things, so word choices in one language might resonate more than in another. You could even experiment with having one verse in one language, and the other in a different language.

Switch Up Your Default Rhyme Schemes

If you typically write lyrics with an ABAB rhyme scheme or otherwise, challenge yourself to stray from your default. Not sure where to start? Our guide on 14 different rhyme schemes is a great blueprint to draw from. You can also experiment with adding more rhyme variation across the course of the song: for instance, maybe you have one rhyme scheme in first verse and then you opt to completely switch it up in the second verse.

Get Inspired by Everyday Conversation

There are few things more inspiring than the feeling and emotion of real life. If you find yourself searching for lyrics, why not experiment with referencing an everyday conversation? Try to think of the last time you discussed something that was emotionally charged or at the very least, led you to feel something intense. Try to encapsulate the setting, the arch of the conversation, and the story behind your discussion. What was the aftermath? How do you wish things could have went down? Did you say everything you needed to say? These are all questions that can be answered through the thread of your lyrics.

Consider Writing With Different Settings In Mind

Instead of focusing on the people within a scene, try focusing on different settings for your song lyrics. What are some unfamiliar environments you can draw upon in your songs? Describe the weather, texture, feeling, and landscape of a particular place. Focus on immersing your listener in the depths of this imaginary world.

Try and Work With More Complicated Words

Expand your vocabulary and write better lyrics along the way! Pull out a dictionary and pick out the most descriptive verbs, adjectives, and emotionally evocative nouns you can find. Sometimes skimming through a library of words and phrases can be exactly what you need to kickstart a new song. You can also use clever wordplay like double entendre to keep listeners engaged: search for words with double meaning to add an extra level of interpretation to your lyrics.

Write the Worst Song You Can Think of

This method might seem a bit silly, but it boils down to tricking yourself into writing a song lyric or passage that you normally wouldn't encounter in your regular practice. Sometimes, giving ourselves license to be "bad" or write something that doesn't have the expectation to be a hit can be the tool we need to let our guards down and subsequently, let the ideas flow. Some of the best lyrics start as nonsensical and reveal themselves to the writer: give yourself the license to stray away from your preconceived notions of a "great idea".

How Do I Get Rid of Writer's Block?

Many songwriters frequently face the challenge of writer's block, which can prevent anyone from engaging in the creative process. We've written extensively on some of the best ways to get rid of writer's block here , but essentially, it's key to find the root cause of your blockage and address it accordingly.

For example, the way someone affected by perfectionism approaches writer's block is going to be entirely different than someone struggling with procrastination or fear of failure. The most important thing to remember is that you're not alone, and even the most accomplished songwriters alive have to work through this issue frequently.

If you find that you're still fatigued after attempting to navigate writer's block on your own, it's a good idea to consider co-writing. Working with other musicians and ultimately varying ideas around how to structure and write a song can be exactly what you need to reignite your songwriting capabilities.

Great Lyrics Come with Patience

Writing a couple lines a day can make a huge difference in your songwriting ability when compounded over time. Ultimately, whatever strategy you use to get you writing is the right one for your needs. It's true that the best way to learn how to get better at writing lyrics is to well, write lyrics but of course, it's much easier said than done with the challenges and constraints of day-to-day life.

Remember that most great songs are a result of years of concentrated, dedicated experience. Enjoy the journey to writing better songs and if you find yourself getting stuck, remember that writer's block is a natural part of the process. Writing better lyrics begins when you put pen to paper.