5 Tips for Making a Song Melody Singable

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle. Become a top-level songwriter, starting now. _________ When we talk about a song’s melody as being “singable”, we usually mean easily singable. In most cases, it’s what you should be pursuing as a songwriter. And it’s tricky, because the melodies that are the easiest to sing are the ones […]

Why the Contrast Principle is Crucial in Songwriting

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle. Become a top-level songwriter, starting now. _________ Contrast is a feature of music that puts opposite ideas in fairly close proximity to each other. A quiet verse becoming a loud chorus, a low melody moving higher, a minor section moving to a major one… these are all typical […]

Why Are Songs Easy to Start, But Hard to Finish?

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle. Become a top-level songwriter, starting now. _________ My experience is that most songwriters can start a new song at the drop of a hat. That’s almost never a problem. The difficulty is finishing it. Those initial ideas that coalesce into something of a musical embryo represent, for most […]

Creating Beauty in a Verse Melody

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle, and build your audience base, starting right now. _________ Songwriters often find that chorus melodies are easier to write than verse melodies. The chorus is often comprised of a hook, or even a series of hooks tied together, and this can be an important part of making […]

When Successful Songs Defy Explanation

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle. Become a top-level songwriter, starting now. _________ America’s first big hit, “A Horse With No Name” (1972), written by Dewey Bunnell, seems to defy all “rules” for creating a successful chart-topping song. Melodic contour is almost non-existent, and the entire song is built on a 2-chord progression: […]

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 […]