Finding Alternatives to the IV-Chord in Your Song

Replacing a IV-chord with something different: How that’s done. _____________ “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Deluxe Bundle, which includes “From Amateur to Ace: Writing Songs Like a Pro”, is written by Gary Ewer, designed to straighten out your technique and get you writing better songs. ______________________ Spending time experimenting with substituting chords as you work out […]

Looking Backward to Get Melodies Working

One way to work out song melodies is to identify the basic range as a starting point. “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Bundle is written by Gary Ewer, designed to straighten out your technique and get you writing better songs. In the previous post, we looked at the value of working backwards in songwriting, starting […]

Goal-Oriented Songwriting: Chord Progressions

You can strengthen chord progressions by defining a goal and then working backwards. ___________ Buy “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBook Bundle, and get back to songwriting excellence. ___________ Yesterday, we looked at how to work backwards with lyrics. We saw that getting the chorus lyrics working first made it easier to work out verse ideas. […]

How and Why Goal-Oriented Songwriting Works: Lyrics

How working backwards in the creation of lyrics helps to intensify anticipation. “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBook Bundle (plus a FREE copy of “Creative Chord Progressions”) is written by Gary Ewer, designed to straighten out your technique and get you writing better songs.   Goal-oriented songwriting means doing a lot of working backwards as you compose. By writing […]

Getting a Grip on Song Melodies

If you’ve learned one thing as a songwriter, it’s that song melodies change as a song progresses. What often passes as a good verse melody won’t necessarily do the trick for a chorus melody. If writing melodies has been the part of your technique that needs the most help, it might be best to stop […]

5 Tips For the Song That Just Won't Fix Itself

Here are some ideas for fixing that song that just never seems finished. Do you have a song in your own personal catalogue that’s finished but just doesn’t sound right? Every once in a while you dig it out and sing through it, but it just lies there like yesterday’s porridge. Everything seems right, but you can […]