Guitar - chords - songwriter

Minor Verse to Major Chorus – the Easy Way

If you like the sound of a minor verse moving to a major chorus, you’re in good company. Many songs move from minor to major. That natural “brightening” of the sound just seems to work really well. To hear this in action, you might listen to Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors”, or […]

Songwriter

How Many Songs Are You Working On Today?

Songwriters are very familiar with the chorus hook, but there are other kinds to experiment with, and you will want to discover the power of layering various kinds of hooks in the same song. “Hooks and Riffs: How They Grab Attention, Make Songs Memorable, and Build Your Fan Base“ shows you how it’s done. When […]

Music Theory - Songwriting

An Idea For Practicing Lyric Writing: Creating Second Lines

If you find yourself fixated on improving your lyrics, you’re right to be. Over the long term, the quality of your lyrics is probably going to take you further than the quality of almost everything else you write. If you find everything else about songwriting relatively easy (the melodies and chords), but struggle with lyrics, […]

Emotional audience

What Does a Songwriter Need to Know About Musical Structure?

There’s nothing like the word “structure” to turn off an artistically-minded musician. When a song sounds good, we don’t necessarily think about its structure. We just revel in the fact that it just sounds great. But when songs sound good, it’s at least in part due to its structure. So what exactly do we mean […]

Guitarist - Songwriter

The 7 Best Things You Can Do to Improve Your Songwriting Abilities

Get the manuals that thousands of songwriters are using to polish their technique: “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 10-eBook Bundle.” And download a FREE copy of “Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process.” No matter what musical genre you call your own, there are certain things you can and should be doing to see […]