From the course: 20 Unofficial Rules of Songwriting

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,600 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

Rule #10: Keep your rhyme schemes the same in similar sections

Rule #10: Keep your rhyme schemes the same in similar sections

From the course: 20 Unofficial Rules of Songwriting

Start my 1-month free trial

Rule #10: Keep your rhyme schemes the same in similar sections

“

- Rule #10: Keep Your Rhyme Schemes the Same in Similar Sections. This is yet another device to help listeners remember your songs. I'll admit it's a subtle one, but every single thing that you can do to help a listener remember your song counts. In our song example -- and you might want to reference your lyric sheet in your course materials for this -- we have used a rhyme scheme that is ABAB in our verses, and we've kept this consistent in each verse. What I mean by that is, in the first verse we use, at the end of the first line, "love" and at the end of the second line, "sleeve" and then we rhyme "stuff" in the third line with "love" in the first line, and "leave" in the fourth line with "sleeve" in the second line. In other words, ABAB. We do a similar thing in Verse 2 with the words "you," "sure", "blue", and "door," and then in Verse 3 with "enough," "home," "tough," and "alone." So what I'm suggesting here is simply that you keep that rhyme scheme structure the same throughout…

Contents