Singer - Songwriter

Afraid That Your New Song Might Sound Like Someone Else’s Song?

You can spend a lot of time worrying about the song you’ve just written, wondering if it accidentally sounds like someone else’s song. Unintentional plagiarism does happen. But what’s the best way to deal with it? I’m talking about those times that the song you’ve written is striking you as sounding uncomfortably familiar, whether it’s […]

Beach Boys - Vocals

Creating Connections Between Verse and Chorus Chord Progressions in Your Song

There’s no particular songwriting principle that says that there needs to be a noticeable connection between the various chord progressions within a song. If you’ve got a song that uses a verse-chorus design, you can use a completely different progression in each section, progressions that have absolutely no obvious similarity. Having said that, there is a benefit […]

Keyboard

Starting Your Progressions on Something Other Than the I-Chord

If you want to know what key a song is in, it’s typically the chorus you should be looking at. That’s because verse progressions might wander about, making identification of the actual key a bit difficult. But by the time you get to the chorus, things usually become clearer. It’s not unusual, for example, for […]

Sting

Colouring Your Music By Replacing a Major Tonic Chord With a Minor Chord

Lyrics become all the more powerful when they’re properly paired with a good melody. That’s what Chapter 5 is all about in the eBook “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting.” Polish your songwriting technique with the 10-eBook Bundle. If you’re looking for a way to create some very subtle mood shifts in the songs that you […]

Folk singer-songwriter

When You Lack Family Support For Your Songwriting

If you write purely by instincts, it’s time to guide those instincts with songwriting knowledge. “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Bundle shows you, with sound samples and other examples, why great songs sound great. Comes with a Study Guide. When I was just finishing university back in the 80s, I got a dream project: […]

Genesis - 1978

Changing Key from Introduction to First Verse

Changing the key of a song is not all that common. Most of the time a song will end in the same key that it started in. When a song does change key it’s often the case where the verse is in a minor key, and then switches to the relative major key for the […]