Songwriting - Piano and guitar

Songwriting and Chord Choices – 7 Articles That Will Advise You

Over the past twelve years of me doing this blog I’ve written probably hundreds of articles that focus on chord progressions – how to create them, how to partner them up with a melody, how they impact the mood of music, and so on. If you’ve had problems with the chord aspect of your songwriting, […]

Sting

Colouring Your Music By Replacing a Major Tonic Chord With a Minor Chord

Lyrics become all the more powerful when they’re properly paired with a good melody. That’s what Chapter 5 is all about in the eBook “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting.” Polish your songwriting technique with the 10-eBook Bundle. If you’re looking for a way to create some very subtle mood shifts in the songs that you […]

Guitar - altered chords

Minor Key Chord Progressions, With 15 Examples

If you’ve written a melody and you want to explore the many ways there are to add chords to it, you need to get “How to Harmonize a Melody.” It shows you step by step, with sound samples, how to create the chords that will bring your melodies to life. There are two ways to […]

Peter Frampton

Switching From Major to Minor in a Song Isn’t Common, But Has a Powerful Effect

Songs are our best teachers, but what if you can’t tell WHY some songs work so well? “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Bundle reveals eleven important principles of songwriting, and how they show up in practically every song ever written. Immediate download. If you’re planning to write a song that contrasts major and minor […]

Van Halen - Jump

What a Strong Chord Progression Does For Your Chorus

There are many ways to categorize chord progressions, but the best way system for songwriters is to classify them as being either fragile or strong. These two words, fragile and strong, pertain to the key of your song, and specifically refer to whether a progression makes the key very obvious or somewhat ambiguous. Getting melodies […]

singer - songwriter

Getting Creative with Chord Inversions

Inverted chords, often called “slash chords” because of the way they’re notated (C/G: “C slash G”) can add a very useful sense of creativity to an otherwise ordinary chord progression. In fact, if you’re looking to make your progressions sound a bit more inventive, exploring ways to use inversions should be your first step. Here’s […]