Guitarist - songwriter

When Song Similarity Turns Into Writer’s Block

Give your songwriting talents their best shot – Check out “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBooks. There are many causes of songwriter’s block, but regardless of its origins, it all manifests itself as being a fear of failure. It’s an unpleasant mix of distress and panic. As you pick up your guitar to get to work […]

Band in concert

Getting the Most Out of a Bridge Lyric

If you’ve been writing songs for a while, you’ll know that lyrics change in character as a song progresses. To generalize, you’ll notice the following: VERSE LYRICS: Verse lyrics set the stage, recount details of a story, describe characters, etc. It lays out the narrative, the storyline or general song topic. “Hooks and Riffs: How They […]

Classical musicians

What Songwriters Can Learn from Classical Music

Because classical and pop music usually sound so completely different, you might wonder if there’s anything from classical music a pop songwriter could apply to their songs. There are some obvious things that transfer easily from classical to pop: Chord progressions work the same way. There may be progressions that are more popular in pop than classical, but how […]

Keyboard & Guitar

How to Change Key in Mid-Stream

Songs, especially in the pop genres, normally end in the same key they start in. But every once in a while you’ll come across songs that feature key changes in various spots. This is called modulation in music theory circles. One of the most common key changes happens in the final chorus repeats, when the key […]

Songwriter at piano

Songwriting eBook Bundle with Full Theory Course Now Available

Sorry it’s taken a while to get this done… As you may know, recent purchasers of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Deluxe Bundle have been given the 12-lesson Songwriter’s Edition of my Easy Music Theory video-based course. I had said that I would create a discount for those who wanted the eBooks along with a full […]

Music - thumbs down

Can Being Opinionated Go Too Far In the Music World?

As a songwriter, you no doubt come across musicians that are passionately opinionated with regard to some musical subject, to the point where it gets under your skin and drives you crazy. You know the arguments I’m talking about: Gibson or Fender? Digital or vinyl? And then what would seem like countless other unanswerables: the best lyricist? […]