Turning a Musical Fragment Into a Completed Song

You’ve written a great musical line, but can’t seem to expand on it? Try these ideas. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ There’s probably nothing that drives a songwriter crazier than coming up with a great musical line – a hook, a piece of melody, a […]

Creating a Powerful Chorus With a Key Change

Sometimes the best key changes are the startling ones, the ones that make you blink and shake your head. Someone wrote me a while back to ask what was going on harmonically in the song “Your Dark Side” by The Morning Benders (now known as POP ETC), specifically between the verse and the chorus. It’s […]

How Tempo Can Affect a Song’s Impact and Feel

Experimenting with the tempo of your songs may reveal hidden gems. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ We don’t often talk about issues like tempo or performance style when focusing on songwriting itself, because they really are two different worlds; a song can be great, but […]

A 10-Step Process For Adding Melody To Your Lyrics

If you find lyrics easy to write but melodies hard, here are some ideas for making your words singable. “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBook has been updated for August, 2017. Get it as part of the 10-eBook Bundle package. Discover the secrets of great songwriting — writing killer melodies, lyrics, and making chords really […]

Creating Good Progressions: It’s All About Chord Function

Considering a chord’s function makes it easy to create tons of progressions, almost instantly __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10 e-book bundle. Write smarter – Tap into your creative mind. __________________ Go on almost any forum that answers music questions, and you’ll find an enormous number of questions relating to chord progressions and how they work: What […]

Songwriting Challenge: Can You Write a Melody That Uses Only 2 Notes?

Putting a limit on one song element forces you to think hard – about everything else. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ Here’s an interesting challenge. Can you write a song melody that uses only 2 pitches? A few years ago, while I was teaching a […]