A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention.
Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy.
But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. No decent rhymes in sight and no way out!
Today you'll learn how to get the most out of one of the most powerful parts of songwriting. By the end of this article, you'll know how to take your rhyme to the next level in style.
But first!
Be sure to get our FREE songwriting e-book, Break My Heart: How to Dial Up the Emotional Appeal of Your Songs.
It's packed with amazing lessons that will help you write songs so good they'll bring tears to your audience.
So if you want to write an impactful song with a strong message, go for it.
Contents
- What are rhyme schemes?
- How does a rhyme scheme work?
- So how do we create rhyming patterns?
- The most popular four-line rhyme schemes
- #1: AABB
- #2: PAI
- #3: AAA
- #4: ABBA
- #5: AAAB
- #6: EXPLAIN
- Nr. 7: AAA bis AAHA
- #8: AXA
- Six line schemes
- #1: XXXXA
- #2: AABCCB
- #3: AAABB
- #4: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
- #5: PAI
- #6: AAAAAAA
- NEWS! Rhyme Scheme Overcome Songwriter Block!
- BONUS TIPS
- Conclusion: rhyme schemes
What are rhyme schemes?
Rhyming is a crucial part of the songwriting process. It helps solidify the structure and rhythm of a song.
Rhyming emphasizes important ideas within a text and gives emotional payoff to the preceding lines.
Rhyming improves memorization and singability of your song.
We even get a shot of dopamine when we hear "click" rhymes. Especially rhymes at the end of a line, akalast rhymes.
But the rhymes don't appear randomly. They arrive in a textured pattern.
This last rhyme pattern in a song is called aReimschema.
Knowing rhyme schemes will help you avoid rhymes that sound cheesy or cheesy. ” They will help you feel elated by the rhyme instead of choking on it!
How does a rhyme scheme work?
A rhyme scheme is the final rhyme pattern. We can follow a song's rhyme scheme using letters of the alphabet.
If two lines end with the same sound, they are assigned a letter. That would be the first rhyme of a songA,the second isB, and so on through the alphabet. If the word at the end of a line doesn't rhyme with another word, it gets an X.
So how do we create rhyming patterns?
Two dominant groups of schemes are used in music. Four-line layouts and six-line layouts.
There are exceptions. But a good place to start is to start with the most commonly used ones.
The most popular four-line rhyme schemes
#1:AAbb
LikeAAbbThe rhyme scheme consists of four lines. The first two lines are a pair, as are the last two lines.
Each pair has a different rhyme. This type of end rhyme is also known asfew Fresh.
You can see this in action in the work of Simon and Garfunkel.The sound of silence.
Hello darkness, my old manFreund
I came to talk to you once again
Because a vision smoothlycrawl
It left its seeds while I wasSleep
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
ÖFinaleof the first pair, or couplet, isFreundcomonce again.that is oursArima.
The second couplet also rhymes. But he uses aRhymes with different sounds–crawlcomSleep- and that's itBrima.
This scheme also ties each new idea together with a couplet. As soon as the rhyming couplet ends, a new couplet (and idea) begins. look again:
Idea 1 - a Rima A
Hello darkness, my old manFreund
I came to talk to youonce again
Idea 2 - a rhyme B
Because a vision smoothlycrawl
It left its seeds while I was Sleep
This way of moving your ideas through music (especially the verses, IMHO) is called "theme movement.
This is one of the main reasons why rhyme schemes are used so well in music. Ushearinstead of reading the words.
#2:ABAB
This very popular scheme has interlocking rhymes.ABABis also known asSwitchrima.
You can write it like this:
- The first verse rhymes with the third.
- Rhyme the second line with the fourth, but use a different vowel.
A good example isScarborough Fair. This is a traditional English folk song made a perennial favorite by Simon and Garfunkel.
Are you going to Scarborough?Just?
parsley, sage, rosemary etc Thymian
Remind me of the one who livesleaves
For the first time she was true loveMein
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
#3:AAAA
With this scheme, all lines end with the same rhyme. It is also known asmonorrima.
It's harder to keep the sound fresh with this scheme, but it's great for building builds.
This is Sam SmithRobust.
You lift my heart when the rest of me isunder
You, you charm me even if you're not one
If there are limits, I will try to break them downunder
I'm packing baby now I know what I've gotfound
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
#4:AbbA
This rarer scheme works like a sandwich. It's calledAttachmentorenvelope rima.
You rhyme the first line with the last. So the two verses between them rhyme, but the rhyme sounds different.
This is James Taylor'ssweet baby James.
There's a young cowboy living in theArea
Your horse and your cattle are your only onescompanions
He works in the saddle and sleeps in thecanyons
Waiting for the summer its pasturesexchange
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
#5:AAAB
Everything rhymes except the last line of the verse. Often this last line has a very different number of syllables than the previous three lines.
Here's Coldplay with the lineup outFix you.
IfYou try your best but you don'tSuccess
When you get what you want but not what you want need
When you feel so tired but you can'tsleep
stuckturning back
When the tears run down your face Face
Because you're losing something you can't substitute
If you love someone, but go toWaste
What could it beworse?
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
The next three schemes (well, actually four) have more relative freedom and flexibility. They mix rhyming lines (A) and verses without rhyme (X).
The first is the most popular.
# 6: XAXA
in XAXA, you have two verses that don't rhyme and two that rhyme.
- Make sure lines 1 and 3NOrhyme with each other or with another verse
- line 2eline 4rhyme with each other
This scheme is less predictable because it istwoLines that don't rhyme.
But it allows for the potential for a more natural and colloquial style of writing. This makes him a real favorite among contemporary composers.
Like the police, withEverything she does is magical.
I decided to call herabove
thousand times oneIs
Ask her to marry me
in some old-fashionedAway
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
#7:AXAAe AAXA
Both schemes only require you to rhyme three of the four lines.
It's another great opportunity to gain a little more freedom.
You can vary where this unpredictable line with no rhyme appears. Makes you a little nervous.
Here Bruno Mars wears oneAAXAscheme onGrenada.
I would go through everythingdor
Take a bullet straight to meBrain
Yes I would die for you baby
But you won't do that The same thing
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
This is Joni Mitchellboth sides... now, varying toAAAX to mark your last line.
Lines and Streams of AngelsHer
And ice castles in thear
And feathered canyonsoverall
I looked at the clouds thatAway
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
#8: AXXA
This rhymes the first line with the last, as in the envelope scheme.AbbA. However, there remain two lines with no rhyme in between.
This allows you to focus on what you want to say, but still fit into an easier rhyme scheme.
So far we've seen four-line schematics. But another common way of structuring rhymes, especially in verse, is the six-line scheme.
Six line schemes
There are two six-line schemes that are used over and over again in popular songs.
#1: XXAXXA
The section has two parts, with the only rhymes ending up at the end of lines 3 and 6.
Here is the verse fromJive reasonby the BeeGees.
Oh dear God Kind
you never saber
only what youmean to me
Oh dear God Kind
you have so much
do you take mineEnergy
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
#2:AABCCB
This section has three different rhymes. Verses 1 and 2 have the same closing rhymes, and verses 4 and 5 rhyme together but differ from the first rhyme.
Finally, lines 3 and 6 are the same end rhyme. This scheme is great when there's a lot to say!
Johnny Cash can show you howA boy named Sue.
Well, my father left home when I didthree
And he left Ma and not much Mein
Just this old guitar and an empty bottledrink
Well, I don't blame him for running andescondido
But the cruellest thing he's ever beenfez
Before he left he left and gave me the name"Proceedings„
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
But maybe the champion is Leonard Cohen. He reportedly wrote 80 verses for potentiallyHallelujahusing this structure.
Well, I heard there's a secretChord
Which touched and delighted David Herr
But you don't really care about the musicmakevon?
It's like this, the room, that Quinto
The smallest drop, the biggestElevator
The helpless king composingHallelujah
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
But don't stop there. Other variations and examples of six-line schemes include:
#3:AAABBB
Ed Sheeran is at work here, using him to increase the pressure on the sceneA teamTowards.
White pale lipsFace
inhale snowThe herd
Lungs burned, sourI like
lights out, dayFilm
effort to payto rent
Long strange nightsMen
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
#4: XAAXbb
John Mayer adjusts this tension with a more subtle, mood-appropriate variationwhy georgia.
I drive 85
In the kind of tomorrow that takes everythingAfternoon
caught in themelancholy
Four more exits to my apartment
But I'm tempted to start the carto lead
and leave everythingreturn
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
#5:AABAAB
Meanwhile, Shawn Colvin uses this more rigid structure to take us straight to the main agent of change, "fire", in his refrainsunny came home.
She says the days are passingvon
I don't know Weil
I ride oneCable
I close mineEyes
and fly out of mineGeist
NOFog
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
#6:AAAA
And to top it off, Lizzo delivers a monstrous six-line monorhythmic variation. Here's her refrainJerome.
Jerome,Jerome
take your ass large
And come back when you aregrown
Jerome,Jerome
Come on, take your asslarge
where the peaches havethorns
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
NEWS! Rhyme Scheme Overcome Songwriter Block!
The beauty of reviewing sample rhyme schemes is that you don't have to stick with the oldReimroutine. Various options are available to you.
Please note that these are just some of the rhyme schemes you can use.
The wide variety means you never have to feel frustrated or blocked. Never try to rhyme for the sake of rhymes again!
You can easily change schedules, relieve pressure and restore flow.
Your ever-loving audience doesn't want to hear the uncomfortable noise of forced rhymes. We want to delight in your effortless yet stress-free skill!
BONUS TIPS
Tip #1– Don't memorize every schematic, but look up what's going on in your own songs and what's going on in songs you like. You will soonPart of your songwriting vocabulary.
Tip #2– Rhyme schemes are also approximateStructure your ideas. Line them up with your musical phrases.
They build up a kind of internal grammar of the music, which Professor Andrea Stolpe "the architectural plans of poetry.“
Tip #3– Rhyme schemes are useful for escalationContrastbetween sectionsin your music.
It's perfectly fine to use a six-line outline in a verse. Then a four line scheme in a chorus and another four line scheme in the bridge.
Tip #4"Life isn't always balanced either.
Expand (especially at the end of a section) or add a line to create a five-line or seven-line section. This imbalance creates alarge source of tensionYou can let go in the chorus.
George Harrison uses this technique in his five-line text.AXAbbverse fromSomething about the way she moves. It really highlighted the non-rhyming X line.
Something of their kindmovements
Attracts me like no other Lover
Something of their kindDishes Mein
I don't want to leave herNow
you know i believe in itif
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
Tip #5 – You can also work with different schemesbetween your songsto expand the breadth of your repertoire.
It's similar to working with a new onechord progression.Change your rhyme schemecan really update your material.
Tip #6 - You can mix and match different layouts in sections of your songBuild longer verses.
Here is the second verse of Eminem's songlose yourselfdo exactly that. A heady mix ofAAbb,CDCD, and XAXArhyme schemes. To enjoy!
The souls that escape through this holewide open
This world is mine for themtake
Make me king as we move towards a new worldcommand
Normal life is boring, but fame is closeTod
It's only getting harder, it's only growingheisser
He blows us away, these bitches are everything in him
Shows from coast to coast, he's known as the GlobusJogger
Lonely roads, God knows he grew taller From home
He's not a father, he goes home and hardly knows hisDaughter
But hold your nose, because this is where the cold startsWater
His heels don't want him at all, he's freezingProducts
They moved on to the next jerk that flows, he dived in and soldanything
That's how the novel is told and unfolds, I suppose it's oldPartner
but the beat goes on da da idiot da idiotAnd and
A solid rhyme scheme is a surefire way to grab a listener's attention. Audiences love it, and rap and hip-hop are taking it to new heights and making great rhymes look easy. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the right rhyme. Every songwriter knows that familiar feeling of floundering at the end of a line. no december
Conclusion: rhyme schemes
The main thing to remember is that there isa whole range of optionsto structure your rhymes so that they work for you. Instead of feeling compelled to use words in a way that sounds, well, silly.
There are many songs that deliberately leave out ending rhymes at certain points, and they sound great.
You can mix schemes between verses and choruses. Try layouts you've never used before for your latest song.
So if you're having trouble, take a look at some of the options available. This can free you from the rhyme of creating your best lines every time.
And don't forget to grab the FREE Break My Heart songwriting e-book.
It's an invaluable tool for anyone looking to write music with a strong, emotional message.
You can get it here:
Charlotte Yates
Charlotte Yates is independentNew Zealand singer and songwriterwith a growing catalog of seven solo releases and thirteen collaborative projects. they alsoto compose musicfor TV, theater and short films and offers composition coaching,Song doctor.