Songwriting journal with lyric pages, chord lines and song maps, 60 pages

Songwriting journal pages for anyone who wants to catch ideas, build them into verses and choruses and finally finish the lyric. The 60 undated pages hold a bank for song ideas, structure maps, worksheets on rhyme schemes, a rhyme family word bank, 14 drafting pages where every lyric line has a chord line above it, notes for co-writing, a catalog and a tracker for your songs. It comes in US Letter and A4 as an instant PDF download.

No package is shipped. Print the pages, open to a fresh lyric sheet and start writing tonight.

How this songwriting journal gets songs finished

Gather up to 40 song ideas, stray lines and possible titles in one spot, then shape the strongest into a hook with the hook builder and a theme with the mind map. Choose a verse, chorus, bridge layout, a map with a pre-chorus or the AABA form, plan what every section should say and test your rhymes against 24 original rhyme families that include near rhymes.

Write on lyric pages where a dotted line for chords sits above every solid line for words. Edit with an 18 point checklist, then copy out a clean final lyric sheet. A catalog index, a song tracker and 30 original prompts keep each song moving from idea to draft to demo to done.

Who this lyric workbook is for

• Singer-songwriters who want ideas, drafts, chords and finished songs together in one place
• New writers learning hooks, rhyme and song structure one step at a time
• Players of guitar, piano or ukulele who write at home and want chords sitting over the words
• Co-writers who need clear records of who contributed what
• Teens and adults who love putting lyrics, poems or rap verses on paper

Calm, clean pages

• Minimal white pages with soft blush pink touches that use very little ink
• Wide margins, so a home printer will not crop the edges
• Portrait pages in US Letter (8.5 x 11 in) and A4 (210 x 297 mm)
• Undated, so you can open it any day and reuse it for every new song
• Fits a binder or clipboard, or can be spiral bound at a print shop

Inside the songwriting journal: 60 pages

1. 1The cover, with a list of contents
2. 2Using this journal in four steps, healthy songwriting habits, the way you usually begin a song and a promise to yourself as a writer
3. 3Me as a songwriter, why you write, sounds you love, your instruments and tools, skills you want to grow, where your ideas come from, your goal and counts of songs started and finished
4. 4 to 5Song catalog index, 60 numbered lines for title, start date, key, status and page
5. 6Song tracker, 17 lines with idea, draft, demo and done circles plus a next step column, and boxes for the song closest to done and the one you will finish this month
6. 7 to 8Song idea bank holding 40 ideas, each with circles to tag it as story, feeling, title, hook or melody
7. 9Lyric scraps, for favorite lines, phrases you overheard, images and moments, pairs of rhymes and melody notes
8. 10Hook and title brainstorm, ways to find a title, what makes a hook strong and a 14 line table of title and hook ideas rated 1 to 5
9. 11Hook builder, one idea phrased six ways (statement, question, command, image, turned around, double meaning), where the hook sits and a repeat test
10. 12Theme and imagery mind map, a center bubble for the theme, six branches and lists of words
11. 13Imagery bank sorted by see, hear, touch, smell and taste, plus objects, actions and an exercise in showing rather than telling
12. 14Song structure guide, five common forms, every part of a song from intro to tag and the usual length of each section
13. 15Verse, chorus, bridge map, the order of sections and room for verse 1, the chorus, verse 2, the bridge, changes for the last chorus and ideas for intro and outro
14. 16Pre-chorus map, verses, two pre-choruses, the chorus, the bridge and a plan for energy
15. 17AABA map, three A sections, one B section and the title line
16. 18Custom structure builder, 12 blocks for sections, a details table (bars, chords, lyric idea, energy) and the total length
17. 19Section jobs, what each part (verse 1, chorus, verse 2, bridge, final chorus) needs to say
18. 20Rhyme scheme guide, six types of rhyme and four common schemes (AABB, ABAB, XAXA, AAAX) shown with original sample lines
19. 21 to 22Rhyme scheme worksheets, four stanzas with a letter box and an end word on every line, then the same stanza rewritten in a new scheme
20. 23 to 26Rhyme families word bank, 24 families running from day to town, each with 13 to 18 perfect rhymes, some near rhymes and a line for words you find
21. 27My rhyme families, six empty families for your own lists
22. 28Syllable match for verse 1, verse 2 and the chorus, with boxes to count syllables, practice with stress and lines to fix
23. 29 to 3030 original songwriting prompts, each with a line for the date and a circle to tick, plus room for prompts to revisit and ones you invent
24. 31Song at a glance, working title, what it is about, hook line, central image, point of view, mood, tempo, key, structure blocks and the message of each section
25. 32Chords and melody, key, capo, tempo and time signature, an 8 bar progression row per section, six chord boxes, notes on melody and rhythm
26. 33Blank chord boxes, 30 diagrams for six strings, each with a line for the chord name
27. 34 to 47Lyric drafting pages, 17 lines for lyrics on every page, a dotted chord line above each one and a margin to label the section
28. 48 to 49Final lyric sheet, a neat copy with chord lines plus written by, key, capo, tempo, finished on, recorded and where the files are kept
29. 50Lyric edit checklist, 18 checks grouped under message and structure, words and images, and sound and singability, with weak lines to rewrite and a plan for revision
30. 51 to 52Co-writing session notes, who is writing, the starting idea, a parking lot for ideas, who brought what, splits agreed, next steps and the next session
31. 53Co-writes log, a 16 line table for date, song, co-writers, agreed splits and where files are saved
32. 54Demo and recording notes, settings, parts to record, a table of takes, arrangement ideas and notes for the mix
33. 55Feedback log, notes from listeners, comments you hear more than once and the changes you plan
34. 56 to 57Staff paper, 11 empty staves a page for melody ideas
35. 58Monthly songwriting check-in, a 31 day tracker of writing days, songs started and finished, your best line and a reflection
36. 59Lined notes
37. 60Dot grid notes

Files included

• Songwriting Journal in US Letter, a 60 page PDF
• Songwriting Journal in A4, a 60 page PDF
• Read Me First, a short PDF printing guide

How to download and print

• Check out with PayPal, a debit or credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Your download page opens as soon as the payment goes through.
• We email the same private download links to you, so you can download your files again later.
• Open the PDF in a free reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader and print at 100% or Actual size.
• Print only the pages you need, as often as you like, for your own personal use.

Good to know

• This is a PDF made for printing, not a hyperlinked digital planner. Most note taking apps can still open it so you can write on the pages.
• It is a digital download only. Nothing is mailed out.
• Colors may look slightly different on paper and on screen.
• Personal use only. The files may not be shared, resold or redistributed.
• Digital files cannot be returned. If a file will not open or print correctly, email us and we will help right away.
• Every prompt, rhyme list and example line was written fresh for this journal. It contains no song titles, artists or published lyrics.
• The co-writing pages are only for notes. They are not a legal agreement and not legal advice.

How this was made

Designed and written by PetiteDiary. AI tools helped draft parts of the text, and some background scenes in the preview images were created with AI. Every page was designed, reviewed and checked before release.

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