As a writer of songs, you’ll probably notice that you’ve got two important qualities: Your ability to come up with good musical ideas; Your ability to work for longish periods of time to get the song finished. Good songwriters usually have both of those working for them when things are going well. But from time […]
All songs are a mixture of things that we find familiar and predictable, with a touch of innovation and newness tossed in. The familiar things, as far as a listener is concerned, start with the very sound of the music: the sound is often what gives the genre away. “Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting […]
It’s part of human natural ability to understand music, at least to some degree. People with absolutely no musical training can often tell when they’re hearing mistakes as their young child works on their weekly piano lesson. Humans have this musical ability through DNA, bolstered by whatever experiences they might have as a casual listener […]
There’s more to a song hook than meets the ear… a lot more. “Hooks and Riffs: How They Grab Attention, Make Songs Memorable, and Build Your Fan Base” is a vital manual for any serious songwriter. The issue of complexity and simplicity in songwriting is an important one. Songs that are too simple are usually […]
Lyrics become all the more powerful when they’re properly paired with a good melody. That’s what Chapter 5 is all about in the eBook “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting.” Polish your songwriting technique with the 10-eBook Bundle. Computers have been a part of the world of music and songwriting for a good forty years now. […]
I’ve always been interested in the tempo of music, and what effect that has on how we “hear” a song. We can measure tempo precisely, usually in bpm (beats per minute), but performers will often slightly alter tempo from one live performance to the next, which might indicate that the need for tempo precision is […]
