No matter what genre you write in, there’s one thing that all songs have in common: they take listeners on a musical journey. That means that for every given moment within a song (assuming it’s well-written), listeners eagerly anticipate what’s going to happen next. In other words, just like a real journey, where you are always […]
If you take a look at a photograph that’s been reversed, or look through your car’s rear view mirror, you’ll probably not see anything that looks weird, unless there’s a road sign or something else with words on it. Most of the time, you can look at things that are “backwards”, and they still make […]
Innovation in pop songwriting is a tricky balancing act: you want your songs to be enough like other songs out there that you don’t scare your audience a way. But at the same time, you want your songs to move off into new and unpredictable directions, to excite your audience. Being successfully innovative is also […]
Chapter 5 of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” shows how melody and lyric need to work together. Learn how to do it right! Get the entire 10-eBook Bundle along with a free copy of “Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process.” A good song has a lot to do with the emotion it creates […]
One way I like to think of good songwriting, or good anything in the creative arts, is that it always makes me think something even better is about to happen; a good song keeps me hooked and listening for the next moment. Chord progressions are the most obvious example of this concept. If you take […]
Writing a good song means creating an enticing musical journey for your listeners. Like most “real” journeys, it involves a place of rest and repose (often the end of a chorus), a journey outward (the verse and optional pre-chorus), and then the journey back home (the main chorus). It might also involve little side trips […]
