If you take a look back at the best performers and bands from the past six or seven decades of pop music, there’s one thing you’ll see that’s in common with all of them: they were all able to produce songs where uniqueness was a vital factor. Uniqueness, at least from a songwriting/performing standpoint, does not […]
If you’re trying to develop an innovative songwriting style, a major impediment is one that’s often unnoticeable: you’re listening only to music from your own genre of choice. So if you’re a country-folk songwriter, and you’re only listening to the latest and greatest country-folk singer-songwriters, it makes developing your own style immensely difficult. Innovation is almost […]
If you always give the audience what they’re expecting, that’s a recipe for losing a fan base. It’s true that your fans are going to expect a certain style of songwriting from you, but if you never venture outward — never explore the extremes — your fan base is going to get lulled into the […]
The best composers of music will tell you that they have a routine — a kind of daily schedule and creative process — that they stick to religiously. In practically all of the creative arts, a routine is seen to be beneficial. There are many reasons for this, but probably the best reason is this […]
Another year is coming to a close, and I sincerely hope that it was a good one for you. I’m not usually one for new year’s resolutions; I try to think positively about whatever is to come, simply striving to do my best on a daily basis. Sometimes I good at that, and at other […]
A bridge is the section of a song that typically comes after the second chorus in verse-chorus songs. In verse-only songs, like “I Should Have Known Better” (Lennon & McCartney), the bridge will usually come after the second verse. For many songwriters, the question of whether or not to use a bridge (or any other […]
