The purpose of a payoff line is to provide a point of focus for your lyric, and, by extension, a purpose for your song. It’s a kind of hook that is delivered by the lyric. When a listener hears a good payoff line, their subconscious reaction is, so that’s what the song’s really about. (Example: […]
The composer Mozart almost always composed by finding a catchy melody as a first step, and then finding a bass line that supported it. Filling in all the missing instruments was, for him, something closer to a final step in composition. We can infer two things from this kind of compositional process: He considered melody […]
A line drawing of your melody gives you a valuable graphic tool to diagnose melodic problems _______________ As a songwriter, you’re always looking for a way to make your melodies easily sung and easily remembered. It’s a crucial part of hit songwriting. One of the most important qualities of good melodies is the presence of […]
Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website Follow Gary on Twitter If you want to write a killer song, it’s got to be something that people will remember easily, and one that they’ll walk down the street humming. That means it needs an interesting shape. One way to do that is […]
