Most songwriters I know are well able to keep two, and often more, songs on the front burner at any one time. Working on several songs simultaneously isn’t really all that hard to do, as long as you follow a few basic tips. “Hooks and Riffs: How They Grab Attention, Make Songs Memorable, and Build […]
Writer’s block is lousy when it happens, but most of the time it’s either mild or moderate, and given time, it will usually solve itself. Severe writer’s block is a more worrying creative block, because it can sometimes be very long term, or even permanent. But you likely don’t have that, so don’t worry about it. […]
I was asked by the folks over at Songwriting.net to write an article for their website. They posted it yesterday, entitled “7 Ideas for Creating Chord Progressions.” I hope you’ll take a look. I’ve put a short excerpt below: There are basic principles about the way chords work that aren’t much affected by genre. What […]
I talk a lot about the concept of “fragile” versus “strong” in songwriting, and particularly when I’m talking about chord progressions. In that regard, “strong” means “clearly indicating the key with a short, unambiguous set of chord changes.” With chords, “fragile” means the opposite: making the key less clear — less obvious, by creating a […]
Writing melodies may not be the part of songwriting you find easy at all. You may find it easy to create chord progressions that you like, and you may even be a decent lyricist. But if you’re finding that your melodies sound like aimless wandering — a disorganized collection of notes — that’s a problem […]
It makes sense that if you want good feedback on your songs, you’ll want to run them by good, experienced songwriters. After all, they’ve been there; they know the struggles it takes to get a song working, and can (hopefully) pass their experience on to you. But have you considered musicians other than songwriters as […]
