The Special Charm of V7: With the 7th in the Bass

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle, and kick-start your songwriting career! ____________ Most of the time, we use chords in root position, which means that the root of the chord is the lowest sounding note. An inverted chord is one in which the root of the chord is not at the bottom: some other […]

Songwriter’s Experiment: Try This Evaluation Method

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle, and kick-start your songwriting career! ____________ Here’s an interesting and useful experiment that songwriters can try, one that will help get a clear picture of song energy. It works whether you’re simply at the guitar-vocal demo stage, or if you’ve got a more-or-less finished product: Listen to […]

Five Ways to Make a Distinction Between Verses 1 and 2

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle, and open your mind! Become the songwriter you’ve always wanted to be! ____________________ In general, listeners should perceive a build in energy over the length of  your song. That energy build is what keeps them interested, and keeps them listening. There can be a problem with […]

Generating Song Energy With Delayed Gratification

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting”. It’s supposed to be FUN to become the best songwriter you can be! ___________________ Most of the time when we think about song energy we think about fast tempos, loud dynamics, and busy rhythms. Any single one, or combination, of those elements will usually pump up the power of […]

Connecting A Verse to a Chorus, and Back Again

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-ebook bundle, and discover why great songs are great! ____________ The way we describe the successful relationship between verse and chorus in songwriting is to say that a good verse “begs for” a chorus. In other words, it’s not enough to simply work out a nice verse melody and […]

Which Chords Work Well in a Song's Bridge?

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-ebook bundle, and learn the difference between STRONG and FRAGILE progressions. ____________ The bridge is the part of the song that typically follows the second chorus, and it has a few reasons for existing. Chief among those reasons is the chance to leave the verse and chorus melodies and […]