George Harrison

From a Minor Key Verse to Its Parallel Major

You may be familiar with the term relative major — that’s the major key that uses the same key signature as a particular minor key. It’s a very common key relationship in pop songs, because if you’ve written a song that uses a minor key verse, and you decide to switch to major for the chorus, […]

Guitarist - Songwriter

Chord Progression Basics for Songwriters

Sometimes when I write a blog post that deals with chord progressions, I realize, usually by emails I receive, that the terminology or symbols that I’m using might be confusing or misunderstood. Because chords are such an important part of music in any genre, different ways to describe and name them have developed more or […]

Getting Power from Melodies that Match Bass Lines

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle, and become a top-level songwriter! __________________ It may not occur to you as a songwriter to think all that much about how your melody line compares with your bass line. We tend to think of those two elements as being separate entities, with not much in common. […]

Chord Progression Dilemma: When Roots Move By Step

Written by Gary Ewer, Senior Instructor, Dalhousie University, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. • Follow Gary on Twitter • “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle is available now at a 50% savings! ________________________________ If you’re looking for chord progressions that really work well, you’ll discover that the strongest ones feature a majority […]

Melody and Bass: They Need to Work Together

Written by Gary Ewer, Senior Instructor, Dalhousie University, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. • Follow Gary on Twitter • Check out “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle ______________________ It is a very useful exercise to sing through your latest song, accompanying yourself with just the bass line. How melodies and bass lines […]