If you find yourself fixated on improving your lyrics, you’re right to be. Over the long term, the quality of your lyrics is probably going to take you further than the quality of almost everything else you write. If you find everything else about songwriting relatively easy (the melodies and chords), but struggle with lyrics, […]
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In songwriting, a principle is a statement that attempts to explain why some aspect or element of music works the way it does. Principles are not rules, because a rule implies that it must (or at least should) be done a certain way in order for the music to be successful. But a principle makes […]
I’m really pleased to notice (or at least I think I notice) that the quality of lyrics has been becoming an important sought-after aspect of good mainstream songwriting. It seems only a few years back that everyone was talking about chord progressions. The term “killer chord progression” was one I’d hear in many musical conversations. Trying […]
The best songs pull you in by making you wonder what’s going to happen. You hear a nice crescendo in the instrumentation… where’s it leading? You hear a captivating twist in the chord progression… Why? Where’s it going? The lyric describes a circumstance or situation… what’s going to happen next? Good music keeps us riveted […]
There’s so much about songwriting that seems random. You could choose practically any chord progression, any melodic shape, any hook, any combination of words for the lyric. So when you look at it that way, it seems that randomness is a key feature of songs. The success of a pop song often comes down to […]
