The Possible Reason for Today’s Repeated-Note Melodies

Repeated-note melodies seem to be all the rage these days, and there may be a good reason for it. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-Ebook Bundle. 11 Songwriting Principles That Will Turn Your Writing Around – Guaranteed. _____________ The song sitting atop Billboard’s Hot 100 for the past couple of weeks is Maroon 5’s “One More […]

Bach Would Have Been a Killer Songwriter

J.S. Bach’s ideas of how good music works still apply today, and (believe it or not) work amazingly well for today’s pop music. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-Ebook Bundle. 11 Songwriting Principles That Will Turn Your Writing Around – Guaranteed. _____________ For all intents and purposes, it’s easy to think of a melody as a […]

3 Powerful Activities Guaranteed to Improve Your Musical Ear

If you’ve got a bit of a tin ear, it doesn’t mean you’re unmusical. Try these tips for improving your aural skills. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and solve your songwriting problems TODAY. _____________ The ability to identify and label musical sounds is a very sophisticated activity. Just think about it: you listen to […]

Successful Songwriting: A Partnership of Song Components

No one song component lives in a vacuum — how well they work together determines the success of your song. _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and solve your songwriting problems TODAY. _____________ When you glimpsed the word “partnership” in the title of this article, you might have thought that this would be another post […]

The Dominant and Tonic Notes: Creating Forward Motion in Melodies

Designing melodies that use the dominant and tonic notes to create forward motion _____________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and solve your songwriting problems TODAY. _____________ Back a couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about Taylor Swift’s current No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together“. […]

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 […]