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."
"Thanks to Pat Pattison for listening to all those songs and helping me hone the craft."
"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."
"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."
Pat's News
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.
Pat introduces the only "rule" in songwriting -- prosody. See the Pat's newest video here.
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.
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.





