Songwriter - guitarist

Dealing With Songwriter’s Fear of Failure

We tend to get judged in life by the last thing we did. In the creative arts like songwriting, that means that the last song or two that we write are what people tend to use to assess our efforts. There’s not much you can do about that. You do the same thing: if your […]

Wilco

“Impossible Germany” (Wilco)- Why It Works

American band Wilco has been around for a good long time now, since 1994. Their lineup has changed over the years, but has remained the same since 2004: Jeff Tweedy (singer), John Stirratt (bass), Glenn Kotche (drums), Mikael Jorgensen (keyboards), Nels Cline (guitar) and Pat Sansone (keyboards, guitar, etc.) If you listen to much Wilco […]

Tom Petty

Creating Musical Energy When You Use the Same Melody For Verse and Chorus

“The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBook bundle includes “Writing a Song From a Chord Progression”. Learn how to write great songs by starting with the chords, and then avoiding all the potential pitfalls of the chords-first songwriting process. Recently I wrote about the importance of musical energy in all songs, whether they’re loud or soft, and that […]

Instrumental Melodies

Why Instrumental Music Absolutely Needs a Good Melody

If you’ve written a melody and you want to explore the many ways there are to add chords to it, you need to get “How to Harmonize a Melody.” It shows you step by step, with sound samples, how to create the chords that will bring your melodies to life. Here’s a bit of a […]

George Harrison

Musical Energy is More Than High Volume and Fast Tempos

In my songwriting eBooks, particularly “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting”, I list eleven different principles of songwriting — aspects of music that seem to be present in practically all songs, regardless of genre or other performance-related characteristics. One of those principles is this: “In general, the energy at the end of a song should equal […]

guitar - songwriting

5 Tips for Editing Songs That Practically Always Work

“The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 10-eBook Bundle” covers every aspect of how to write great songs. Contains a Study Guide that keeps you focused on becoming a consistently better songwriter. Get today’s FREE DEAL when you make your purchase. Click below for details. Here’s the scenario: You’ve just written a song, but you know that it’s not […]