Otis Redding

Making Sense of Harmonic Rhythm In Your Songs

The perfect combination: “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 10-eBook Bundle” and a Study Guide! Dig into the songwriting manuals that thousands of songwriters are using to polish their technique, complete with a study guide to show you how to progress through the materials. Harmonic rhythm is the term we use to describe how frequently you […]

Rolling Stones

Using Songs That Have Passed the Test of Time as Models

On the face of it, it can seem a bit odd that hit songs from a previous generation can serve as good models for how we could or should be writing new songs. You’d think that if you do that, you’d wind up writing something that sounds dated or passé. But that doesn’t usually seem […]

Piano and guitar - songwriter

When Pretending Helps You Through a Creative Block

“Hooks and Riffs: How They Grab Attention, Make Songs Memorable, and Build Your Fan Base” shows you how a good hook can make the difference between songwriting success and failure. With great examples from pop music history. Trying to sound like your musical hero is a great way to blast through a bad case of writer’s […]

Songwriter writing lyrics

The Best Way to Critique Your Own Songs

The best songwriters are also the best analyzers of music. If you don’t have the ability to dig down into your own songs and assess them objectively before your audience hears them, you may not discover problems until it’s too late. There are lots of things you can do which, taken together, make it most […]

Rock Concert

The Necessity of a Powerful Chorus Hook

I don’t at all want to give the impression that the chorus hook is so important that it makes whatever you do in a verse unimportant. It most certainly is important that everything you write is something people want to listen to. But when it comes to standard pop song formats that use a series of […]

Bruce Springsteen

Simplicity Is Often the Main Ingredient in Songwriting Innovation

Back in 1982 Bruce Springsteen released “Nebraska,” his sixth studio album. It’s the perfect example of “barebones.” Springsteen played all the instruments himself: guitar, harmonica, mandolin, glockenspiel, tambourine, Hammond organ and synths. He even recorded the album himself at home on a small 4-track Teac cassette machine. Stuck with how to get chords that fit […]