Songwriting Rhymes

There are several types of songwriting rhymes. But should you use them? After all, this is the 21st century, right? Whether you use rhymes in your songs or not, it's absolutely your decision. However, there are a couple of reasons why you should consider including some in your lyrics:

Why should you use rhymes in your songs?

✓ Rhymes help listeners remember your song better
✓ Rhymes give a feeling of "satisfaction" to the ears
✓ A cleverly used rhyme emphasizes the message of the song (especially if the rhyme is in the hook)

Almost all songwriters use rhymes to some extent. Many take it very seriously and make sure that every line rhymes with another one. Some of them even count the number of syllables in each line. You don't have to go that far, but using at least a small number of songwriting rhymes is definitely beneficial. Lyrics are very similar to poems. And although you have other tools to emphasize different parts of your song, set the tempo, etc., I guess there isn't anybody who doesn't like a good-sounding and witty rhyme. However, don't go overboard. Too many rhymes (or too many perfect rhymes) can distract the listeners' attention from the message or melody of your song. You overall goal is to keep the lyrics conversational. This doesn't mean that you can't afford a little poetry here and there, though.

What kind of songwriting rhymes are there?
The most popular rhyme type in the current hits is undeniably the:


• Vowel Rhyme - (also called "near rhyme", "assonance") These are words in which the stressed vowel sound is the same but the consonants that follow them are different. For example: "kind" and "night", "why" and "goodbye", "net" and "bent", etc.


There is another songwriting rhyme that is less often used but is very popular in contemporary music. This rhyme type might be the most difficult to create but it sounds the most clever too:


• Internal Rhyme - The rhyming words occur within the line. For example: "Anybody I throw flames at gets a name it's a game" (from the song Ricky Ticky Tockby Eminem)


Less popular nowadays, and a little too predictable and old-fashioned is the:


• Perfect Rhyme - These are words that contain the same vowels followed by the same consonant. For example: "breaking" and "taking", "embrace" and "grace", etc.
There are some other, less often used rhyme types. These are most often used in poetry. These are: masculine, feminine, three, open and closed rhymes. If you would like to learn more about them, you may want to visit Wikipedia: Rhyme.


How do you find great songwriting rhymes?
There are several ways to find great rhymes. You could purchase a rhyming dictionary. The most popular one of these is The Complete Rhyming Dictionary. Or use an online rhyming dictionary, such as RhymeZone. But what I found to be the most helpful is Masterwriter 2.0. It's a piece of creative software for songwriters and lyricists used by many of the most successful songwriters. The software includes Word Families, Parts of Speech, Phrases, Rhymes, Pop-Culture, Dictionary and a Thesaurus. There are some famous songwriters who also use it, like David Foster, Gwen Stefani, Linda Perry and many more.

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