by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: A non-diationic chord is one which does not normally belong to your key of choice. In the key of A major, the seven naturally-occuring chords are: A, Bm, C#m, D, E, F#m, and G#dim. Of those chords, there are countless ways of modifying them by adding tones (Aadd9, […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: I’ve devoted considerable space in my e-book “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting“ to describing the differences between verse melodies and chorus melodies. Nothing in the arts is exact; it’s not a science. If it were, I don’t believe we’d have a lot of interest in it. Songwriting would […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” Website: Once you know what key your new song is going to be in, it’s a fairly simple process to figure out the triads (chords) that easily work in that key. You’ll find that the I (key) chord, the IV chord (based on the 4th note) […]
There are two important ways that songwriters can improve. The first way is to learn whatever you can about why successful songs work, andwhy they sell millions. That’s been my particular area of interest – analyzing and dissecting great songs, and helping songwriters learn from the success of others. My five e-books are designed to show in […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: When you look at the history of melody writing, and I mean going back centuries, you might be surprised to know that verylittle has changed in what makes a good melody.Good melodies need certain things to keep them from feeling like aimless wandering. And whether […]
by Gary Ewer, From “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: Songwriters often go looking for the elusive “killer chord progression”. It doesn’t really exist. Not because there aren’t great chord progressions out there, but more because chords don’t just work on their own. How good a set of changes is depends on what else is […]
