Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website Follow Gary on Twitter In the pop music world, songs need a groove, and that usually means that you need to limit the number of chords you use. A groove chiefly happens when the tonic (key) chord happens over and over again. Our musical instincts […]
Written by Gary Ewer Follow Gary on Twitter When all is said and done, if you want people to really get into your song, you have to make sure that by the end of it, they really understood what was going on in it. If your song uses complex chords that don’t move forward in […]
Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. Follow Gary on Twitter There are many ways to add a bit of variety to your chord choices. The problem is, the more you stray from the tried and true, the more confusing it can be to the listener. A pedal point is a great […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. Follow Gary on Twitter If you’re one of the melody-first writers out there, I applaud you. Writers who work on getting the melody right first have a greater chance of coming up with something that will stay in the listeners’ minds. But how do […]
Written by Gary Ewer Follow Gary on Twitter First, let me start by saying that most songwriters worry too much about their chord progressions. It’s actually not as important to get an interesting chord progression as it is to get one that actually works. But if you are looking for ways to get a bit […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. (Follow Gary on Twitter) With chord progressions in general, simple is better than complicated. And you’d be surprised by how simplesimple can be. A good chorus melody doesn’t need to be anything more than one or two notes, as long as the progression underneath it […]
