Imogen Heap

Developing a Sense of Logical Progression in Your Songwriting

As you probably know, I use the term “musical journey” to describe a good song. I like the term mainly because it applies to pop songs that are typically short (3-4 minutes), longer, more intricate songs (5-8 minutes) or even longer prog rock-style song cycles. So describing any song as a journey is a reminder that there […]

8 Tips for Making Melodies and Lyrics Your Songs’ Best Features

Songs are vehicles that take a listener on a 3-4 minute journey. However interesting and captivating that journey is, that’s the measure of a song’s success. Since songs are partnerships of many different elements all working together — melodies, lyrics, chords, instrumentation/production, tempo, time signature and more — it can seem to be a daunting task […]

Piano

Creating Melodies When You Use the Chords-First Method

One of the biggest drawbacks to starting your songs by working out a chord progression is that melodies can get a bit neglected. Historically, composers in the Classical realm rarely if ever started compositions with just chords. They’d practically always start with something hummable (a melody), or something otherwise memorable (the lyrics, perhaps). And since […]

Father & son singing

All You Have to Offer

As a songwriter, you possess a skill that can make someone’s mood a little brighter, and someone’s day a little better. You could argue that practically everyone, no matter what they do in life, has the same ability. One way or another, we all have the chance to make someone’s day better, even if it’s just […]

Songwriter with paper and guitar

The Power of Setting Small Songwriting Goals

Do you find frustration building practically every time you sit down to write a song? Sometimes you find that a song’s first ideas will come to you quickly, but what to do with those ideas… That’s when the frustration kicks in, and everything starts to feel hopeless. One of the most common causes of songwriting frustration […]

8 Top Tips For Lyrics and Melodies

Good songwriting means creating a strong partnership between all the various elements of your song. You know you’ve got a good song when your lyrics, melodies, chords, rhythms, instrumentation/production and formal design all support each other. It’s not easy to troubleshoot a song that has problems. You can tell just by listening that something’s not […]