From the latest issue of Acoustic Guitar: "I’ve also learned a lot from a few books on writing. Pat Pattison’s Writing Better Lyrics was recommended to me by Gillian Welch a few years ago and I understood why as soon as I dove in..." Read More
2nd Edition of Writing Better Lyrics is out!
It’s out - the 2nd edition of Pat Pattison’s groundbreaking “Writing Better Lyrics,” featuring a foreword by three-time Grammy winner Gillian Welch and almost 100 new pages, including several new chapters plus expansion and reworking of most of the original chapters. "
[This book] is a priceless map through the minefields of cliché, boredom and laziness that often destroy even the best efforts...
I would not be the writer I am today without [Pat’s] teaching and his unique and comprehensive understanding of language, rhyme, rhythm, and structure. To this day, when I struggle with a lyric and find myself falling short, I am usually ignoring some very sound advice contained in these pages. And I read it again." -- 3-time Grammy winner Gillian Welch
Read Writer's Digest article about the book here
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,389 in ALL Book CATEGORIES
#1 in Music - Theory, Composition & Performance - Songwriting
#2 in Biographies & Memoirs - Arts & Literature - Composers & Musicians - Country & Folk
#13 in Music - Theory, Composition & Performance - Techniques
Kudos for Pat
"I count myself lucky and proud to have studied with Mr. Pattison. I would not be the writer I am today without his teaching and his unique and comprehensive understanding of language, rhyme, rhythm, and structure."
- 3-time Grammy winner Gillian Welch
"Thanks to Pat Pattison for listening to all those songs and helping me hone the craft."
- David Wilcox
"I took a class with a great teacher named Pat Pattison... I learned a lot in that class...and I still read that book, Writing Better Lyrics. I think it's great."
- John Mayer
"This was the best 2 days a songwriter could spend. By lunchtime Saturday, after two and a half hours, I learned more than I had in 35 years of playing and writing music. And it just kept getting better."
- Brian Ralston Byron Bay, Australia
Pat's News
More kudos for Writing Better Lyrics
More new videos
Pat talks about writing from a title, writing lyrics to music and, of course, writing fearlessly in these interviews. Check out the latest Pat Pattison videos here.
Introduction to Prosody video
Pat introduces the only "rule" in songwriting -- prosody. See the Pat's newest video here.
New Interview with Phil Young
Learn about Pat's precocious beginnings - teaching at Berklee College of Music starting at the age of 11 - and his early influences including Wittgenstein, Frege and Russell. Oh, and of course, more about prosody, balance and other songwriting tools. Listen to the interview here.
New video - Advance Lyrics Class Rap
One of Pat's students, Justin Schwenk, wrote this rap to explore the use of in-rhyming and vowel sounds. Definitely a must-see! Watch the Advanced Lyrics Class Rap here.
New Songwriting Seminar
Pat introduced his newest seminar, Point of View: Choosing the Best Lens, to Austin-area songwriters last weekend. In this workshop, Pat shows you how to illuminate your songwriting: Involve your audience more deeply in your song by creating the most potent lens for them to look through. For more details about the workshop - and to read the rave reviews, click here. Pat will be teaching this workshop again in New Zealand and Austalia - check out the Schedule for specific dates and locations.
New Pat's Parlour: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
Learn how to use repetition effectively, creating a song whose ideas build upon each other in Pat's new article, Repetition, Repetition, Repetition.
New Interview
Pat discusses different aspects of songwriting from prosody and co-writing to writing from a title and the importance of reading in this new interview for Bandleader Interviews.com. Listen to the interview here.
