Today’s world of pop music can be a very insular one, in the sense that many “discoveries” pop musicians make about what people like aren’t really new after all. I’ve posted an article from the New Yorker recently, called “The Sound Machine,” about how hits are written today. In that article, Jay Brown (president of Roc Nation) said: “You’ve […]
Many songwriters love starting the writing process by generating ideas from a chord progression. That’s a legitimate way to write, and it’s very popular. By starting with chords, you lay down what is in effect a landscape upon which you can place other items. I’ve been working on a new short manual for songwriters who […]
This month (February 2016) is Country Month at Toontrack, online maker of sample-based software and other songwriting tools. I’m honoured to have been asked to write an article for their Country Month launch, and they’ve posted Part 1 over on their site. Here’s a short excerpt: Has Technology Changed the Nature of Music? PART 1 Only […]
If you have a friend who’s going through tough times, you might say to them, “Everything’s going to be all right.” You hope your words will show your care and concern that friend. But sing those words to them, and you’ve got a much better chance of getting through. That’s the nature of music, and everyone seems […]
When we talk about a song’s key, we’re usually talking about the key of the chorus. That’s because it’s not that unusual for various parts of songs to have different key centres. The chorus, the part that gets the most attention, is the section we usually think of when assigning an overall key to a song. […]
Have you ever been in a position where you’ve got a great line of lyric for your verse or chorus, but you simply can’t come up with anything that follows it? It can be a great frustration. In this video, you hear George Harrison trying to come up with a second line for his hit […]
