Most songs use several distinct melodies. If your song has a pre-chorus and bridge, that means that you might need to come up with at least four different melodies. Each one of those melodies will likely use a different chord progression, and they might also use very different rhythms. “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting”Lyrics become […]
It’s not unusual to have times when the music just seems to flow out of your creative mind, and then times when you can’t seem to come up with anything that sounds good at all. It’s the up and down of what it means to be a songwriter, and it’s normal. If you’re stuck trying […]
If you’re looking to become a better songwriter, don’t forget about improving your ear. Being able to identify chords, rhythms and melodies by ear is helpful in two major ways: It speeds up the songwriting process. You may have a certain chord or melody note in your mind but may not have the ability to […]
If you look at an article from a newspaper, the first thing you see is the headline. Headlines are written to grab a reader’s attention. It’s fair to say that newspapers will gain or lose readers based on the quality, accuracy and attractiveness of a headline. In the news world, the headline gives a summation […]
Of all the various elements that go together to make a song, a chord progression can get away with being less than imaginative. Your melody and lyric both need to be new and interesting, or else you haven’t written an original song. But the chords might be as mundane as a standard I-IV-V-I type of […]
The best lyrics, whether they’re straight-forward (“Somebody That I Used to Know” (Gotye), for example), or complex (“Roundabout” – Jon Anderson/Steve Howe), share an important feature: they typically use words that you’d find in casual conversation. Take some time to look at the lyric sheets of your favourite songs, and no matter what genre you […]
