Writing Song Melodies That Use Pentatonic Scales

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” E-book Bundle, and become a top-level songwriter! __________________ Most songs are written in a major or minor key, and the scales for those keys use seven notes, not counting any altered tones. A pentatonic scale uses only five notes per octave. There’s a tendency to think of pentatonic scales as […]

Making a Complex Chord Progression Work

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle, and become a top-level songwriter! __________________ If you’re the kind of songwriter that likes to experiment with innovation, you’re probably always looking for ways to integrate abstract elements into your songs. You are probably already playing with complex lyrical metaphors, nonstandard formal design, and melodic/harmonic combinations that […]

Song Analysis: “Pumped Up Kicks” (Foster the People)

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle, and become a top-level songwriter! __________________ Foster The People’s current hit song, “Pumped Up Kicks” is a good model for a song that uses one set of chord changes that serves as the progression for the entirety of the song. Our instincts usually tell us that using […]

Some Thoughts on Beethoven and The Beatles

Get “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle, and become a top-level songwriter! __________________ There’s a fascinating parallel between the evolution of “Classical” music and the development of rock music. Studying those two genres can give you really interesting insights into songwriting. It’s a bit difficult to consider the Beatles to be the progenitor of all […]

Getting Power from Melodies that Match Bass Lines

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle, and become a top-level songwriter! __________________ It may not occur to you as a songwriter to think all that much about how your melody line compares with your bass line. We tend to think of those two elements as being separate entities, with not much in common. […]

Why Some Chord Progressions Sound Aimless

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle, and become a top-level songwriter! __________________ Writers of music have known, quite literally for centuries, that some chord progressions will unambiguously point to one note as being the tonic note. Such progressions are the kind that we refer to as strong. Strong progressions leave little doubt regarding […]