Songwriting & AI Music Generation

Everything here is a GUIDELINE, not a rule. Art breaks rules on purpose. Use what serves the song. Ignore what doesn't.

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1. Song Structure (Pick One or Invent Your Own)

Common skeletons, mix, modify, or throw out as needed:

ABABCB  Verse/Chorus/Verse/Chorus/Bridge/Chorus    (most pop/rock)
AABA    Verse/Verse/Bridge/Verse (refrain-based)    (jazz standards, ballads)
ABAB    Verse/Chorus alternating                    (simple, direct)
AAA     Verse/Verse/Verse (strophic, no chorus)     (folk, storytelling)

The six building blocks:

• Intro, set the mood, pull the listener in
• Verse, the story, the details, the world-building
• Pre-Chorus, optional tension ramp before the payoff
• Chorus, the emotional core, the part people remember
• Bridge, a detour, a shift in perspective or key
• Outro, the farewell, can echo or subvert the rest

You don't need all of these. Some great songs are just one section that evolves. Structure serves the emotion, not the other way around.

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2. Rhyme, Meter, and Sound

RHYME TYPES (from tight to loose):

• Perfect: lean/mean
• Family: crate/braid
• Assonance: had/glass (same vowels, different endings)
• Consonance: scene/when (different vowels, similar endings)
• Near/slant: enough to suggest connection without locking it down

Mix them. All perfect rhymes can sound like a nursery rhyme. All slant rhymes can sound lazy. The blend is where it lives.

INTERNAL RHYME: Rhyming within a line, not just at the ends. "We pruned the lies from bleeding trees / Distilled the storm from entropy", "lies/flies," "trees/entropy" create internal echoes.

METER: The rhythm of stressed vs unstressed syllables.

• Matching syllable counts between parallel lines helps singability
• The STRESSED syllables matter more than total count
• Say it out loud. If you stumble, the meter needs work.
• Intentionally breaking meter can create emphasis or surprise

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