by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: When writing songs, the most important aspect of energy to realize is that it isn’t a constant force; it changes from moment to moment. It’s a bit like the wind in that respect. On a windy day, we usually can notice that the wind speed […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: You can spend a lot of time wondering if the song you’re writing works better in a major or minor key. So why not use both? Having a song that uses chords from a major key, then abuptly switching to minor (or vice versa), can […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: According to CNN, Don Henley, one of the founding members of The Eagles, has filed a lawsuit against Senator Charles DeVore for using one of his songs for a political campaign. How much protection does copyright offer in these cases? The whole issue of copyright […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: Did you know that chord progressions are not protected by copyright? That’s mainly because, try as you might, you can’t find an original progression. And if you can, it probably stinks. 😉 Not because you can’t write good progressions, but the good ones have likely […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: MIDI orchestration can sound wonderful if it’s done properly. But if your orchestrations sound lousy, there are usually good reasons that are easily solved by understanding real orchestras. If you are emulating real orchestral instruments with MIDI, the whole thing can sound really bad really […]
___________________________ I wish more songwriters would do the melody-first method. Coming up with the melody after endless strumming of chords can often result in a tune that is directionless and uninspiring. What probably scares writers off of writing a melody first is… how do you harmonize it? Getting a bit of understanding with regard to […]
