Every artist sketches. In most artistic fields, the idea of sketching — of scribbling down ideas and working on them separate from a larger work — is common. Before creating a larger work, an artist will typically sketch out the ideas, work on angles and perspective, and generally try to get it right in sketch form before committing […]
If you’re a guitarist and you’re looking for some free material, you may want to head over to the Open Heart Teaching website. Site founder Tim Woosley has recently written a new ebook entitled “Guitar Hacks & Input Jacks: Stuff Every Guitarist Should Know.” I’m pleased to have been asked to contribute an article to […]
For many songwriters, writing a chorus is a logical first step. It’s the part with the hook, and you can make great use of repetition to come up with something that’s catchy and memorable. If you’ve started your song with the chorus, the next section you’ll work on is verse 1. That’s because whatever emotions […]
As a student of music composition a number of years ago, I never wrote a piece of music for which somebody didn’t express an intense dislike. Those were pre-internet days, so I didn’t have to deal with online trolls, who can demolish your confidence if you let them. The key phrase there is “if you let them.” It […]
I use the word “fragile” when talking about certain kinds of chord progressions. “Fragile” usually means that the tonic chord less than obvious. In that context, here’s a list of chord progression characteristics that might result in a “fragile” progression: “Fragile” may mean that it uses a lot of chords that don’t exist naturally in the song’s key. For […]
Everyone knows that if you want to improve, you need to know what the masters know. And that applies to every area of endeavour. If you want to be a better painter, baseball player, plumber, politician, teacher, musician… you need to study the masters. We have what might be called an embarrassment of riches in […]
