Piano and guitar - chords

What To Do With a Song Chorus That Isn’t Working

Let’s say you’ve come up with a hook that you think should be something that works well as the main flag-waving part of your chorus. So then you set about to write a verse that leads into that chorus. But once that’s done, and you play the verse and chorus in sequence, you find that the […]

songwriting

If All Your Songs Sound Similar: Some Fixes For That

Everyone has a songwriting style, and if you listen to enough of someone’s music you’ll start to hear those similarities, assuming it’s not immediately obvious. Similarity between songs is not a horrible wrong that must be corrected. It’s unavoidable. And it’s a part of being creative in the sense that creativity usually builds on things […]

Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process

New eBook: “Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process”

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve just completed a new eBook for songwriters entitled “Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process.” It’s available right now at the online store as a free add-on to the 10-eBook Bundle. VIEW IT IN THE ONLINE STORE For a limited time, this ebook is being offered free to purchasers […]

“The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” - 4th ed.

Essential Secrets of Songwriting eBook: New 4th Edition Now Available

I’m excited to announce that the newest edition of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBook is complete and now available at the Online Store. As with previous new editions that I’ve released, this 4th Edition contains some new sections (“The Pay-Off Line”, “The Songwriting Process”, for example), as well as the typical rewording and including […]

Keyboard & Guitar

How Do You Settle On a Songwriting Process?

When you ask songwriters to describe their songwriting process, the answer you invariably get is, “It depends…” That’s the answer we tend to expect, and of course it really does depend, doesn’t it? If you are like most songwriters, you’ll find that a short fragment of music will plant itself in your brain, and that […]

Gary Ewer

Welcome to the New Essential Secrets of Songwriting!

After almost 8 years of doing a blog, I’ve decided to take the plunge and switch to a new self-hosted version. For many of you, you likely got to this page by being redirected from an old WordPress link. And if you’re new here, welcome! My new blog address is https://www.secretsofsongwriting.com. So if you have […]