How Melodic Shape Can Determine a Song's Success

by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: ______________ You would think that a beautiful melody is what we’re all after when we write songs. But you could make the case quite easily that the world’s most successful songs over the past five decades do not necessarily have melodies you’d call “beautiful.” Like […]

Invert Melodic Shapes: Create a Connection Between Verse and Chorus

by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” suite of 6 e-books shows you how to write great songs. (His newest e-book, “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting- Chord Progression Formulas” is being offered for free when you purchase any other of his songwriting e-books.) Let these six e-books […]

Want to Write a Great Melody? Draw a Picture

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website Follow Gary on Twitter If you want to write a killer song, it’s got to be something that people will remember easily, and one that they’ll walk down the street humming. That means it needs an interesting shape. One way to do that is […]

For Today's Songwriters, When it Comes to Melody Writing, Not a Lot Has Changed

by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: When you look at the history of melody writing, and I mean going back centuries, you might be surprised to know that verylittle has changed in what makes a good melody.Good melodies need certain things to keep them from feeling like aimless wandering. And whether […]

Your Song's Melody Needs Shape to Be Memorable

If your melody dwells mostly on one note, with only a few rises and dips, don’t be surprised if no one remembers it once the song is over.  In order for a song melody to be memorable, it needs to have shape. The issue of boring, forgettable melodies, occurs most frequently when you start the process […]