Whenever anyone asks me how long it takes for the average song to be written, I usually tell them that it takes as long as it takes. That’s my way of saying that there is no norm. A song might come together in fifteen minutes, and it might take weeks or even months or more. […]
Chapter 5 of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” shows how melody and lyric need to work together. Learn how to do it right! Get the entire 10-eBook Bundle along with a free copy of “Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process.” An earworm is a tune (often a fragment of a tune) that gets […]
It’s hard to talk about songs as being “good” or “bad”, since those terms refer so much to the taste and experience of the listener. What’s good for one listener might sound pretty bad to someone else. And that’s to be expected in the world of songwriting, or, frankly, anything in the creative arts. On track […]
If you’re ready to take your songwriting to its highest level possible, you need “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 10-eBook Bundle.” Get the manuals that thousands of songwriters are using. You might think that most of the time, songwriters work forward through a song as they’re writing it, but in fact, there’s a case to be […]
I always avoid doing the “old man rant” on this blog, but this may stray into that category… forgive me! One of the biggest problems I have with top-rated Billboard Hot 100 songs these days is that the chords are usually pretty simple and, frankly, uninspiring. Don’t get me wrong, a simple progression that works […]
Many songs will use the same chord progression throughout, and with such songs, the implied key isn’t going to change. So if the progression you’re using is C-G-Am-F, the key is C major, throughout the entirety of the song. Trying to get the chords-first songwriting process working? Your main concern with chords-first songwriting will usually […]
