In a recent blog post (“Moving from Minor to Major in a Pleasantly Abrupt Way: Valdy’s ‘Simple Life’“) I mentioned the common occurrence in songwriting of writing a minor verse that then moves to a major chorus. Juxtaposing minor and major is a really good way of creating that all-important aspect of contrast in songs. […]
It may surprise you to know that if you go back enough in time — the Medieval era, for example — most music was all about the melody, and that harmony definitely played a secondary role: harmonies were incidentally created as several melodies were played together. While today, most music is a melody with chords […]
It’s not unusual for songs to start in a minor key and then change key (“modulate”) to a major key. When you think of how songwriting has changed over the decades, that one aspect — the minor-to-major key change — has remained relatively common. The change from minor to major has a brightening affect, as […]
“The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 10-eBook Bundle” comes with an excellent Study Guide that’s meant to get your songwriting moving in the right direction. Also comes with a FREE eBook, “Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process.” If you’re a songwriter and you’re looking for ways to improve your skills, one of the best tools […]
Popular songwriting has a particular responsibility of being, quite literally, popular. There are many ways to measure popularity, but in the popular music world, it’s been typically measured in sales. These days, popularity is measured in additional ways: clicks, likes, and that sort of thing. But ultimately even clicks and likes are just a kind of […]
If you write purely by instinct, it’s time to guide those instincts with songwriting knowledge. “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Bundle shows you, with sound samples and other examples, why great songs sound great. Comes with a Study Guide. Most listeners to a song aren’t aware of many of the structural things that make […]
