Connecting Melodic Ideas Between a Verse and Chorus

How much of a connection should a listener hear between the verse and chorus? In other words, except for tempo, key and general feel, can a verse melody set up a chorus well if it bears little to no similarity to that chorus melody? Take the classic hit “Witchy Woman” (Don Henley, Bernie Leadon). Compare […]

Guitarist - Songwriter

The Problem With Stream of Consciousness Lyric-Writing

Let’s say that you’re working out a lyric that tries to explain to your listeners how you’re feeling about some aspect of your life. It might be that you’re going through a rough patch, let’s say, and you want the audience to feel something of what you’re facing. So the lyrics come to you quickly […]

Songwriting Tips and Tricks: Contouring a Melody

If your song melodies sound like random, aimless wanderings, here are some ideas for curing your problems. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and solve your songwriting problems TODAY. _____________ Take a look at any successful song melody from any era, and you’ll see almost universally that it has the following characteristics: A general sense […]

Giving Chord Progressions a Sense of Direction

Being imaginative with chord progressions is a good thing. But imaginative progressions need a harmonic goal. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10 e-book bundle, and build your audience base! Get today’s deal: A FREE copy of “Creative Chord Progressions” when you purchase the bundle. __________________ Imaginative chord progressions are wonderful to experiment with, because chords that […]

Using Opposite Ideas To Keep a Song Moving

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle. Become a top-level songwriter, starting now. _________ Whether audiences know it or not, what keeps people attracted and listening to a song is the successful blending together of opposite ideas within the same song. Called the contrast principle, presenting opposing musical shapes and elements within a song […]

Strengthening Song Structure by Reversing Melodic Direction

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle and learn all you need to know about how great melodies work. __________ Contrast is one of the most important elements of successful songs. You want to contrast one section (a verse, for example) with another (the chorus) enough so that they’re distinctive, but don’t differ […]