You may be the kind of songwriter that works slowly, such that by the end of the year you’ve only written a small handful of songs. It may be your norm to take your time getting your initial ideas down, and then spend a lot of time honing and crafting what you’ve written. Getting melodies and chords working well together is vital knowledge for any songwriter. “How to Harmonize a Melody” shows you, step by step, how that works, and gives you sound samples to follow. Buy 'How to Harmonize a Melody' ($11.95 USD) or Read More If you find yourself worrying about the small number of songs you write ..read more

If you like the chords-first songwriting method, you’ll want to read “Writing a Song From a Chord Progression.” It deals with the common chords-first problem of how to write a great melody straight from the chords. It’s part of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Bundle. Buy 'Writing a Song From a Chord Progression' ($9.95 USD) or Read More Songwriters tend to work within specific genres, even though most songs can be reworked to exist in practically any genre you can name. As an example, Paul Simon wrote “The Sound of Silence” as a kind of folk tune, which was then tweaked to soun ..read more

For those who don’t create (write or perform) songs, they’d probably have a simple answer to how you generate musical energy: turn up the volume! But if you’ve been a musician for a while, whether that’s writing songs, or being involved in producing or playing them, you likely know that there’s a lot more you can do to generate musical energy. Making things louder means trying to make everything more energetic, but focusing on one particular component of a song — like the melody, for example — means you can be more subtle about it. Looking for lists of progressions you can use in your own song ..read more

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. Read More If you find yourself needing to write a lot of songs in a short period of time, it can take all of your creative energies. At those times, other creative activities (reading, drawing, listening) might take a backseat, at least for a while. And because of your complete focus on writing, you may find that your pool of ideas dries ..read more

Every time you write a song, you’re communicating something to your audience. When we think of that word communicating, we automatically think of lyrics, because communication and words go hand in hand. But in good songwriting, everything you write plays a role in communicating. For example, if you want to write a nostalgic song, you need nostalgic lyrics, but you also need for the instruments to be playing in a “nostalgic” way, and you need to sing it with a tone of voice that similarly sounds nostalgic. Even characteristics such as key choice, tempo and backing vocals can effe ..read more

As a songwriter, you could learn a lot from the companies that make and sell sports watches. These are devices that track the number of steps you take, or the distances you walk or run, as well as allowing you to set up and adhere to any number of specific sports training programs. The success of these devices is their ability to set a daily goal. So even if you aren’t specifically training in any particular sport, you can still aim for a certain particular goal, whether that be 10,000 steps per day, 3 miles per day, or some other specific objective. If you like the chords-first songwriting me ..read more

You are likely aware of the term “confirmation bias”. It describes this feeling we have to accept the facts that support or confirm a position we might take on an issue, and we reject facts that seem to challenge that position. We experience confirmation bias in practically every aspect of our normal lives, whether we’re talking about politics, our position on social issues, our favourite sports teams, or even our own children’s accomplishments. Songwriters are very familiar with the chorus hook, but there are other kinds to experiment with, and you will want to discover the power of layering ..read more

It never ceases to amaze me how music can add so much depth and meaning to the words you use. Or sometimes even without words the music itself can strike deep into the emotional core of the listener. A good example of that can be seen in this video… it shows the opening scene of “The Lion King”, with different background music. You can easily feel the difference in how you react to the scene based on the character of the music that accompanies it: We also witness the power of music when we hear a motivational speech where gradually some uplifting music fades in and powers up the message. Movi ..read more

The whole notion of songwriting without being inspired to write — it begs the question, “Why”? Why write if you’re not particularly inspired to do so? One reason you might write when not “feeling the muse” is that you’ve got a looming deadline. Perhaps you’re recording, and you need one more song. Maybe you’re taking part in a songwriting circle or workshop, and you need a song to contribute. “Hooks and Riffs: How They Grab Attention, Make Songs Memorable, and Build Your Fan Base” shows you how a good hook can make the difference between songwriting success and failure. With great example ..read more

Like so many things in the creative arts, imagery is a difficult thing to define with any kind of precision. Of course you could say that imagery in songwriting is, simply, anything that creates images in the mind of the listener. But to me, there’s more to it, because practically anything you write will create images. In “You Belong With Me”, Taylor Swift wrote: You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset She’s going off about something that you said ‘Cause she doesn’t get your humor like I do And you get images in your mind right away. But while there’s absolutely nothing wrong wit ..read more