If Your Song Lacks Excitement, Here's What to Do

From “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website:   If you find that some aspect of your new song bores you, don’t toss it out. The solution may be easier than you think. Take a look at these tips and see if one of them does the trick: 1- Take another look at the basic rhythm of […]

Breathe Life Into Your Chord Progressions – With Pedal Tones

A bad chord progression can kill a song, but don’t assume that a good chord progression must grab your attention. Many of the best songs in the world use very basic chords which, by themselves, are probably a bit boring. That’s because a chord progression must work with your melody and lyrics without pulling focus. […]

Billboard Top Ten Pop and Country – August 23

From Billboards Top 100 List, here are the current top ten From the issue dated August 30, 2008: Rihanna: Disturbia David Archuleta: Crush Chris Brown: Forever Katy Perry: I Kissed a Girl Coldplay: Viva La Vida M.I.A.: Paper Planes Kardinal Offishall Featuring Akon: Dangerous Rihanna: Take a Bow Ne-Yo: Closer Taylor Swift: Change   From […]

Guest Article – "Where Do I Go From Here?"

This is a guest article for “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website, written by songwriter Luc Brisson. Luc would appreciate any feedback to his comments or music, so please feel free to leave a comment below. ______________   Hello everyone, fellow songwriters. I’m a relatively new singer/ songwriter/ arranger/ instrumentalist- about 3 years in the process, […]

Songwriting Software

Occasionally I’m asked about software for songwriters. It’s tricky to recommend one over the other, because by the time you’ve been using one piece of software for years, other programs become irrelevant to you. It’s best to do your research, read online forums, and gather as many opinions as you can before buying. But that […]

Chord Progressions that Change Key

It’s relatively commonplace to change key in the middle of a song. It happens for various reasons, but probably the reason that stands out over the others is the need to increase the song’s overall energy. In that regard, you’ll find that raising the key by a half-step (semitone) or a whole step (whole tone) […]