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What You Listen to Informs How You Write

It’s easy to think that the great classical composers — Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, etc. — were born with an innate ability to compose — that they were born with what some might call a “God-given talent.” There’s probably something genetic about musical ability, to be sure, but I truly believe that the great composers were […]

Violin section of an orchestra

Changing Instrumentation May Be All the Innovation Your Song Needs

Chapter 5 of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” shows how melody and lyric need to work together. Learn how to do it right! Get the entire 10-eBook Bundle along with a free copy of “Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process.” Most songwriters will, from time to time, worry about their songs all sounding […]

Songwriting imagery

Creating a More Effective Song Lyric With Imagery

I like to think of imagery as any lyric that seems to create more pictures in the mind than what you’d normally expect from so few words. A quick example: “The trees glowed as the moon shone brightly” describes a scene in a literal way, but… “The trees, bathed in moonlight…” gives us the same […]

ROOMFUL OF TEETH

Adding Colours to Your Musical Palette: Roomful of Teeth

Trying to get a handle on writing song lyrics? Discover the benefits of making a lyrics-first method your new go-to process with”Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process. It’s FREE right now when you purchase the 10-eBook Bundle. Hopefully you don’t need to be convinced, as a songwriter, of the importance of daily listening […]

piano keyboard

Preventing Your Songs From All Sounding the Same

It’s not unusual to notice similarities when you take a close look at the songs you’ve written over the years. You want your songs to be unique, of course, but you should be expecting those similarities. It’s all part of developing a writing style. And it’s always been that way in the writing of music, even […]

Rock band in concert

Dissatisfaction With Your Own Songs is an Important First Step to Improvement

If you find that every song you write these days is leaving you feeling a bit disappointed, you may be on the verge of a significant leap forward in your songwriting abilities — if you approach that disappointment the right way. The problem with dissatisfaction is that it quickly leads to frustration. Frustration is a […]