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Creating a Melody by Getting a Jump-Start From An Existing Song |
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| Recently posted on “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting" Blog. |
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Songwriter's block can leave you feeling that nothing you do is worth listening to. It can hit especially hard when trying to write melodies. If you find that everything you try sounds like aimless wandering, here's a cool way to take an existing melody and borrow its direction - nothing else. It should result in a brand new melody that's easy to write, and no one will ever know you borrowed from an existing tune. [READ FULL ARTICLE... ] |
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If you struggle with writing a great song, and you can't seem to finish any song you start, Gary Ewer has written a set of songwriting ebooks designed to get you doing the thing you love. Let those e-books be your guide. They'll show you how to improve your writing skills by showing you how lyrics, melodies, hooks, chord progressions, and every other aspect of good music works. The books take a look at hit songs from the past, showing how and why they became winners.
Along with tons of chord progressions and formulas you can use, you'll be writing the songs that you always knew you could write! The instructional e-books come with sound samples and a glossary of musical terms, so even if you don't read music, these e-books will clear up the muddle and get you enjoying songwriting again.
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A Quick Look at Chord Inversions |
There's not much worse than a chord progression that's got inversions thrown in randomly. An inversion simply means that the bass note is not the letter name of the chord - it's one of the other two notes. An inverted chord can add a breath of fresh air to a well-worn chord progression, but you've got to be careful how you use them. Inversions need to have a reason for being there.. Read more |
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Moving From Amateur to Pro in the Songwriting World |
Ior the past several months I've been busy working on two separate writing projects. One, a book about writer's block which will be published by Backbeat Press, is nearing completion. The other, an eBook that helps songwriters enter the world of professional songwriting, has just been finished, and is in its "pre-release stage." It's being offered free right now to purchasers of the 6 eBook Bundle. |
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Building a Song Around a Chorus Hook |
A hook is that little bit of melody/lyric/rhythm that is immediately recognizeable to listeners. It's the bit that they'll keep humming long after they've forgotten other details about the song. The chorus hook is arguably the most common type. It wraps words and melody in a catchy rhythm, and serves as the backbone for the entire song. There are many ways to write a chorus hook, but here's a really simple one.. Read more |
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Creating Word Lists: Helps You Write Better Lyrics |
There's no one right way to write lyrics for a song. Sometimes the words just "happen", but more often than not, you've got to start with a topic/title, and then start brainstorming ideas for putting it all together. One great way to develop a lyric is to create word lists. I've written articles about creating "positive/negative" lists, but here's another idea that can especially help getting lyrics into a verse/chorus format. |
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Writing a Song Where the Verse and Chorus Melodies are the Same |
It's fair to say that most of the songs written today use some variation of the verse-chorus format. When you use that design, it usually means that the chorus is the same every time, and it's the verse that changes. And it's normal that the verse melody will be unique, and different from the chorus melody. But there are times when verse and chorus melodies are the same. Here's how to write that kind of melody.. |
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What’s More Important to a Successful Song – Hook or Motif? |
Most songwriters know what a hook is, and you could make the case for saying that it's hard to make it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 without writing something "hooky." But it could be argued that songs that stand the test of time are ones that make good use of a motif. While a hook works in the foreground and is immediately noticeable, a motif does its main work in the background, but is crucial to a song's longterm success.. |
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Guiding Principles for Writing Good Backing Vocals |
There's no denying that good background vocals can give your song a real professional polish. But like anything in music, when they're done badly they can make your songs sound amateur. If you've been struggling lately trying to get your background vocals to sound right, it could be that you're violating a couple of very important principles. This article will hopefully help you get on the right track. |
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Swapping the IV-Chord For a ii-Chord |
The Eagles’ first hit single, “Take It Easy“, nicely demonstrates how replacing one chord with another can subtly change the character of a chord progression. The song is in the key of G major, and the chord progression of the opening line is: G D C. Harmonically speaking, that’s a very strong way to start: tonic chord (I) followed by dominant chord (V), followed by subdominant... |
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Isolating Important Pitches Helps Add Structure to Song Melodies |
Many songwriters find melodies hard to write — not an intuitive, natural thing at all. I know from emails I get that many of you find the tune to be the toughest part of the songwriting process. The most common complaint I hear is that many of you find that your melodies sound aimless and unstructured. And the problem with aimless, unstructured melodies is that they are difficult... |
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How Tempo Affects Chord Choice |
It’s difficult to be specific about chord progressions in music, because the chords you choose will have a lot to do with the genre you are composing in. But across any and all genres, there are at least two generalizations that can be made: 1- The faster the tempo of your song, the longer you should hold on to a chord before changing. 2- The faster the tempo, the stronger (tonally... Read more |
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5 Improvisation Activities That Generate Song Ideas |
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| I applaud the songwriter who spends as much or more time working out small songwriting challenges than they do actually writing songs. So here are some ideas for improvising your way to a great song. Read more |
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ESSENTIAL SECRETS EXTRAS: -LISTEN TO SOUND SAMPLES from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” |
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Through his high school years, Gary’s main interest was in pop music; Genesis, Yes, and Chicago were his main influences. His university training was largely Classical, but far from abandoning his interest in pop, he saw how, on many levels, pop songwriters and Classical composers were all attempting to do the same thing: compose musical works (though in very different styles) that takes listeners on a coherent musical journey. His interest in the relationship between the pop and Classical worlds eventually led him to write a text for songwriters (“The Essential Secrets of Songwriting”) that analyzes hit songs in much the same way a Classical musician would analyze a symphony: by showing writers what works, why it works, and how to use those same kinds of ideas in their own music.
Gary is has recently finished a senior instructorship at Dalhousie University to devote himself to composition and trumpet playing, and to do more writing, including maintaining the Essential Secrets of Songwriting Blog.
