Frank Sinatra - My Way

How Ballads Today Compare to a Sinatra-Style Ballad

You may not know the song “Comme d’habitude“, written by French songwriters Claude François and Jacques Revaux, but you’ll no doubt know “My Way,” a big hit for Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and others. Paul Anka acquired the rights to the melody (for $1), and then penned a new English lyric that brought the song to […]

Moving a Chorus Melody Higher For a Shot of Energy

Moving a chorus higher will solve many a boring song. ______________  Looking for good songwriting content for your iPad, Kindle, laptop, desktop, or other PDF-reading device? Gary Ewer’s eBook Bundle, “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting”, will show you why good songs are good, and how to apply those lessons to your own music. Get the […]

How Tempo Affects Chord Choice

It’s difficult to be specific about chord progressions in music, because the chords you choose will have a lot to do with the genre you are composing in. But across any and all genres, there are at least two generalizations that can be made: The faster the tempo of your song, the longer you should […]

How Note Length Affects a Lyric’s Emotional Punch

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle, and kick-start your songwriting career right now! ____________ You’ve probably noticed that songs that stir up deep-set emotions commonly use slower tempos. A slower tempo means that note-lengths, in real time, will be longer. Generally speaking, longer notes have the potential to generate more emotion than shorter […]

Nice Song, But Where Are the "Hooky Bits?"

Get FANTASTIC RESULTS! – Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle and START WRITING GREAT SONGS! __________________ A discussion on songwriting usually centers on the usual suspects of song structure, melodic shape, chord progression, and getting all those things to work together properly. Lately, however, I’ve found my mind focusing on the part of songwriting that […]