For those who don’t create (write or perform) songs, they’d probably have a simple answer to how you generate musical energy: turn up the volume! But if you’ve been a musician for a while, whether that’s writing songs, or being involved in producing or playing them, you likely know that there’s a lot more you […]
A good melody needs to be memorable and at least somewhat easy for the average listener to sing or hum. Someone singing and humming a tune as they walk down the street is one of the proofs that a melody has done its job. When you hear a problem with your song, but don’t know […]
When it comes to the performance of a song, you’re probably very well aware of the importance of musical energy. Much of the time we might safely equate energy with loudness, though the true definition involves a lot more than just loudness. If all you need are tons of progressions to try out, you need “Essential Chord […]
Not every song will have a notable melody. In general terms, the slower the song, the more important the melody becomes. Perhaps that’s because slower songs use melodies that use longer notes, making them more noticeable. With fast songs, melody notes typically fly by, and the basic groove of the song is probably more important. […]
Momentum is not easy to identify in music, but you know you’re experiencing it when you feel the need to keep listening. As you listen, you get an impression of a kind of musical tension — tension that needs to find a release. And as the listener, you need to wait long enough to hear […]
For most songs, a good melody is crucial because it gives the listener something to hum after they’ve heard it. There are all kinds of melodies — from the ones that use one phrase over and over again (“Free Fallin’” – Tom Petty), to the ones that move up and down and encompass much of […]
