songwriting - unique instrumentation

5 Songwriting Tips to Make Your Songs Stand Out From the Rest

If you’re tired of writing songs that just don’t cut it, and you want the secrets to songwriting excellence, it’s time to check out “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBooks. Looking for a way to make heads turn with your songwriting? If you really want to establish yourself and rise above the pack, you need […]

David Bowie

Ideas For Controlling the Mood Of Your Song

One of the interesting qualities of music is its ability to affect our mood, perhaps even to generate certain moods. Politicians certainly know this; musical choice is an important consideration at rallies and speeches. There are some aspects of music that immediately come to mind when we think about controlling the mood a song portrays. […]

Performing singer-songwriter

Your Reasons For Being a Songwriter

Have you thought recently about why you write songs? Do you find that your reasons for being a songwriter today differ from whatever drove you to being a writer in the first place, however many years ago? Maybe you found songwriting to be a creative outlet, where the writing of melodies, chords and lyrics helped you […]

Daniel Powter

Can Songs Succeed With No Obvious Hook?

Songwriters use a variety of terms to describe various aspects of music. The definition of some of these terms are obvious, while others are hard to define, but “you know it when you see it”: groove, riff, pay-off line, the tune… these are words we just all seem to know instinctively what’s being referred to. “Hook” […]

Guitar and keyboard

How Chords Can Limit Your Melodic Ideas

Here’s a tip for you, especially if you’re a chords-first songwriter who works out songs on a guitar. And it may seem like a simple, no-brainer type of tip, but it’s an important one: revoice your chords. Each time you play through a chord progression, you’ll find that your ear gets drawn to the highest notes […]

Guitar and music paper

Good Chorus, Bad Verse: Some Ideas to Fix That Situation

It’s common with many songwriters to start the songwriting process by working out the chorus, if only because that’s the part that’s going to be most memorable to your audience. Once you’ve got a chorus that really works well, it acts as a kind of goal — a target, so to speak — for you to aim […]