Blank paper
A hummed phrase, one line you still remember, a suspicion that the second chord is wrong. This half is everything that has not been written down yet: no rhyme, no bar count, no key.
Filled
"A chorus does not get louder. It gets narrower."
The gap between the two halves is the whole job.
Songwriting, taken apart
Songfinding is a working library of songwriting decisions. Each entry takes one stage of the job and shows the move you can make in it, with the structure, the rhyme scheme, the chord degrees and the bar counts written out so you can check them against your own song.
The pipeline
Four segments, in the order a song actually moves, each carrying the newest published entry for its stage. Bridge work has no segment of its own — it sits in the list below and in the tree at the left.
Most recent
- 18 Oct 2026Case: A Shout Chorus Rebuilt as a Sing-Along案例：一段「喊型」副歌被重建成「合唱型」Chorus
- 15 Oct 2026The Chorus Syllable Budget: Counting Before You Write副歌音节预算：动笔之前先数数Chorus
- 13 Oct 2026Changing One Line in the Final Chorus, and Only One在最后一遍副歌里只改一行，而且只改一处Chorus
- 11 Oct 2026Four Passes Out Loud: A Twelve-Minute Revision Drill出声读四遍：十二分钟的改稿练习Verse
- 8 Oct 2026Case: The Shrinking Verse — 8 Lines, Then 6, Then 4案例：递减的主歌——八行、六行、四行Verse
- 6 Oct 2026The Dynamics Map: Arrangement Decisions Made While Writing动态地图：在写作过程中做编曲决定Verse
- 4 Oct 2026Place-Name Verse: Rhyming With a Town You Have Actually Been To地名主歌：用一个你真去过的小镇来押韵Verse
- 1 Oct 2026Seven Ways to Vary One Chord Loop Without Changing a Chord在一个和弦都不改的前提下变化同一个循环的七种方法Verse
- 29 Sep 2026Two-Chord Seed: A Song Built on Em-C, and Where It Needed a Third两和弦种子：一首建立在 Em-C 上的歌，以及它在哪里需要第三个和弦Idea
- 27 Sep 2026Voice Memo Triage: Turning Four Hundred Fragments Into a Short List语音备忘分诊：把四百个碎片变成一张短清单Idea
- 24 Sep 2026Walk and Hum: A Forty-Minute Filter With No Phone边走边哼：四十分钟不带手机的筛选Idea
- 22 Sep 2026Melody Before Words: Writing a Tune on a Neutral Syllable先旋律后歌词：在中性音节上写一条旋律Idea
How to use the library
Start from the stage you are stuck in, not from the top. The tree on the left is the only taxonomy here: idea, verse, chorus, bridge, demo. Every entry prints its own key, rhyme scheme and bar structure, so you can carry the numbers straight back to your own song instead of carrying away a feeling.
Entries marked Exercise can be finished in one sitting. Entries marked Breakdown take one song apart bar by bar. Entries marked Technique are the reusable moves. Publication dates are printed on every entry: new ones go out a few at a time rather than arriving in a heap.
There are 29 entries published so far, spread across all 5 stages.
Every stage
- ChorusBreakdownCase: A Shout Chorus Rebuilt as a Sing-Along
案例：一段「喊型」副歌被重建成「合唱型」
D major, chorus melody deliberately kept below the verse's top note · AAAA with a repeated final phrase
- ChorusTechniqueThe Chorus Syllable Budget: Counting Before You Write
副歌音节预算：动笔之前先数数
C major (C–Am–F–G), chorus in the same octave as the verse · AABB with a two-syllable hook
- ChorusTechniqueChanging One Line in the Final Chorus, and Only One
在最后一遍副歌里只改一行，而且只改一处
B major (B–G#m–E–F#), chorus melody unchanged across all passes · ABAB, last line changes only in the final chorus
- VerseExerciseFour Passes Out Loud: A Twelve-Minute Revision Drill
出声读四遍：十二分钟的改稿练习
Read unaccompanied, then sing to the loop · your existing draft's scheme, unchanged
- VerseBreakdownCase: The Shrinking Verse — 8 Lines, Then 6, Then 4
案例：递减的主歌——八行、六行、四行
F# minor (F#m–D–A–E), drop D tuning · ABCB across both verses
- VerseTechniqueThe Dynamics Map: Arrangement Decisions Made While Writing
动态地图：在写作过程中做编曲决定
D major (D–A–Bm–G), drums enter at verse two · AABB in verse one, ABAB in verse two