Melodic repetition is a good thing, but works best if the chords are different with each repetition. Here’s an idea for achieving that. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-Ebook Bundle. 11 Songwriting Principles That Will Turn Your Writing Around – Guaranteed. _____________ Recently I wrote about creating chords and melodies in the dorian mode. It got me […]
A short primer on the creation and use of the dorian modal scale. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and learn the 11 principles crucial to any songwriter’s success. _____________ A discussion about modes can get very technical, so let’s look at a simple, immediately useful definition of modal scales. For our purposes, a scale […]
Chords need to do 2 things: 1- Support the melody, and 2- establish and reinforce the key. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and learn the 11 principles crucial to any songwriter’s success. _____________ This is a bit of a follow-up to a previous post, “Making Chord Progressions By Categorizing Them.” In that article, […]
By categorizing chords, you avoid the randomness that leads to chord muddle. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and learn the 11 principles crucial to any songwriter’s success. _____________ If it seems like a random occurrence to you when you finally get a chord progression to work, it’s going to help if you […]
A deceptive cadence temporarily “fools” the listener by pulling the chords in an unexpected direction. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and solve your songwriting problems TODAY. _____________ In music, a cadence is the end of a phrase. It’s easy to identify when a cadence happens in a song: you’ll hear the singer hold a […]
When chord roots move by 4ths and 5ths, your progressions suddenly gain direction and purpose _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and solve your songwriting problems TODAY. _____________ If you’re a chords-first kind of songwriter, you probably know the frustration of trying to put chords together that make sense. At times, the whole process can […]
