Sometimes it’s the case that you’ve written a song, played it for yourself a few times, realized it sounds bad, and your instincts are to trash it and go do something else. The truth is that somewhere between many and most songs start out as something that just doesn’t work. In other words, most songs […]
I’ve written a fair bit about chord progressions lately, because it’s the most popular topic on my blog. When I take a look at the stats, it’s normal to see that 8 out of the 10 most popular posts deal with some aspect of chords. Recently I received an email from someone who asked me […]
We often speak of writer’s block as being a state of mind that keeps you from coming up with anything useful despite all your best efforts to write. A creative block usually means staring at a blank sheet of paper, watching every good idea fizzle away. But there’s another kind of frustration that occurs: the […]
Take a listen to the following songs, and pay particular attention to the verse melodies: My Little Town (Paul Simon) Don’t Stop Believin’ (Jonathan Cain, Steve Perry, Neal Schon) Roxanne (Sting) Jam (Michael Jackson, René Moore, Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley) Rumour Has It (Adele, Ryan Tedder) These songs were all hit songs in their own time, and […]
We know that songs work when they connect on an emotional level to listeners. But some topics are the kind for which the emotions are deep and extraordinarily powerful. More than simply singing about love, I’m talking about songs that deal with life-changing circumstances: A tragic, unexpected death of a close friend or family member (Eric […]
It’s common to come up with a chorus before you come up with a verse. That’s because the chorus is the section with the hook, the catchy bit that you hope brings your audience back time and time again. They’re repetitive and of relatively simple construction, so they’re often easier than other sections to write. It’s […]
