Nice Song, But Where Are the "Hooky Bits?"

Get FANTASTIC RESULTS! – Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle and START WRITING GREAT SONGS! __________________ A discussion on songwriting usually centers on the usual suspects of song structure, melodic shape, chord progression, and getting all those things to work together properly. Lately, however, I’ve found my mind focusing on the part of songwriting that […]

Avoiding the 7 Most Common Songwriting Problems

• Your songs missing something? Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle, and get back to writing great songs! Believe me, there’s much that can go wrong in the creating of music. But over my years of studying and analyzing music by both professionals and students, I noticed that the same errors and […]

What Else "Progresses" Besides Chords?

• Your songs missing something? Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle, and get back to writing great songs! _______________________ When you add chords to a melody, you’re really doing two things: 1) you are assigning chords that properly harmonize a small group of melody notes before moving on to the next small […]

Time to Check the Songwriters' Checklist Again

Your songs missing something? Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle, and get back to writing great songs! _______________________ It’s important to remember that successful songs don’t usually achieve that status by accident. There are reasons why songs work, and there’s usually a logic behind those reasons. When your songs are floundering, it’s […]

Creating Good Chord Progressions: See the Big Picture

Your songs missing something? Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle, and get back to writing great songs! _______________________ When you’ve got a melody that you’re wanting to harmonize, the usual way to proceed is to first establish a pulse (i.e., get your foot tapping). For most hit songs (more than 90%), that […]

Good Key Changes that Startle the Listener

Your songs missing something? Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle, and get back to writing great songs! _______________________ If you know Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla”, you know that it contains a key change between the chorus and verse that comes out of left field and surprises the listener. After all, you’d […]