How do you make people think something with music? It’s amazing that simply hearing the air vibrate can do that, but such is the strength of being a member of the human race. I’ve mentioned on this blog before that some songwriters, like Paul Simon, like to compose music (melody and chords) and then decide […]
I remember once reading a criticism of jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, that he made too many albums. True, Peterson made more than 200 albums, and the criticism seemed to be that if someone recorded that much, surely musical ideas would get watered down and eventually become simply ineffective. In Peterson’s case, I don’t think there would […]
As a songwriter, your hope is usually that once people have heard your song, they want to hear it again. That usually translates into sales, so the more clicks your songs generate, the more potential there is for monetary reward. It’s unlikely that anyone will want to listen to your song again if there’s nothing […]
An important first step to being a successful songwriter is to finish songs. If all you have are bits of ideas, with nothing resembling a completed song, you’ve got a huge psychological hurdle to get over. Just finishing something — even if it isn’t what you think of as “good” — gives you a positive shot in […]
Yes, there is a trio called “The Three Basses“, created on the coattails of the much more famous “Three Tenors.” The bass voice appears less able to generate the kind of wow-factor that the tenor voice is able to create. The three tenors were able to have audiences on their feet even before the music was finished. […]
I often get emails asking me some variation on the following: How can chords, which contain only 3 or 4 notes, be used to accompany melodies that contain so many notes? The question relates to the fact that you might strum a chord for two full bars (8 beats) or even more, and in those […]
