Avoiding the V-Chord in Your Progressions

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. FOLLOW GARY ON TWITTER The second edition of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” is out! See the video here. _________________________________ The V-chord is the chord based on the fifth note of a scale. Traditionally, this chord has figured prominently in most progressions, being the […]

“The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” – 2nd Edition Released

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. ________________________________ At long last, the second edition of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” has finally been released. Song samples have been updated to more current examples, with more in-depth descriptions of certain songwriting concepts. Like the first edition, it examines the technique of the […]

The Creative Power of Improvisation in the Songwriting Process

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. FOLLOW GARY ON TWITTER Make songwriting enjoyable again. Purchase “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” bundle and get a free e-book. ______________________________________________ It’s not easy to keep churning out songwriting ideas, especially if writing songs is something you’re trying to do on a daily basis. […]

Balancing Your Use of Major and Minor Chords

Finding the chords that could be used to harmonize your song is an easy process: you choose a key based on your melody’s range, write the scale for that key, and build a triad on each note. That gives you seven chords as a starting point. Before you start adding “altered” chords to your palette […]

Make a Chord Progression Longer With Passing Chords

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. FOLLOW GARY ON TWITTER Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” e-book bundle, and save a bundle! 50% off! ________________ On a music forum recently I noticed a comment that went something like, “I don’t like the word ‘progression’ to describe the way chords move in a […]

The Fundamental Relationship Between Melody and Chords

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. FOLLOW GARY ON TWITTER The difference between a bad song and a good one is structure. Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” bundle of e-books to get your song structure working. _________________ If you’ve written a melody, or if you’ve got melodic ideas you […]