Normally, an Italian musical term from the classical music world would send any self-respecting songwriter running for cover. In this case, the daunting word “appoggiatura” can actually become your best friend if you’re trying to find a good way to inject some energy and interest into an otherwise boring melody. Here’s how it works. An […]
Why do so many songwriters swear by the power of the hook? It’s because the hook, by definition, can reel in a listener, and keep them humming your song all day long, for days, weeks and even years to come You can’t ignore the power of a well-placed, well-composed hook to drive your song into […]
Writing a good melody requires several things all working together; chief among them are lyric and harmonies. A melody is good if it seems to complement the emotion of the lyric. The harmonies, of course, need to support the melody. Beyond that, there is another important issue which is often overlooked: melodic shape. Melodies need countour. While there […]
Not all songs, you will know, use a verse melody that differs from the chorus melody. When you use the same melody for both, you need to be careful abouthow to make them somehow different. Songwriting Principle 4 dealt with that. But if your verse and chorus are different, what do you do to make […]
Many songwriters become fixated on one aspect of a song, to the detriment of the others. In my experience, more songwriters worry about their chord progressions than anything else. If you find chords hard to come up with, that fixation may make sense. But the most important element of a song may not actually be any […]
If your melody dwells mostly on one note, with only a few rises and dips, don’t be surprised if no one remembers it once the song is over. In order for a song melody to be memorable, it needs to have shape. The issue of boring, forgettable melodies, occurs most frequently when you start the process […]
