by Gary Ewer, from”The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: It’s a peculiar thing about music, but many listeners, even completely “unmusical” ones, can tell that there’s something wrong with your song, even if they can’t pinpoint what the actual problem is. More often than not, it’s how the melody and chords relate to each other. […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: You might say that songwriting is a study in energy. Most songs feature fluctuating energy levels, with higher intensity occurring more toward the end of a song than the beginning. So how does chord choice help? When we think of increasing or decreasing a song’s […]
by Gary Ewer, from”The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: You know, we could learn a lot from the famous artists out there, like Da Vinci, Rembrandt or Monet. We look at their paintings and just assume they sat down and just started to paint. But in reality, most artists sketch out many preparatory attempts, before […]
by Gary Ewer, from”The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: I think it’s too bad when a pop song writer shields him/herself from listening to other styles of music. You’d be surprised what you can learn from listening to other genres. And there is good music being written in every style you can think of. In […]
by Gary Ewer, from”The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: Pedal tones in chord progressions can be very useful, particularly if you’re looking to use more chromatically complicated chords. That constant pedal (i.e., a low note that stays the same while the chords above it are changing) acts as a kind of anchor, helping the listener […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: Chord progressions are not covered by copyright. So if you find that your brain freezes up just trying to come up with something that can get the creative juices going, surf on over to EssentialChords.com for a daily fix. You’ll find a new chord progression […]
