You’ve probably heard the many stories of famous singers and bands who struggled to get a recording contract at the start of their careers. The Beatles were famously turned down by Decca Records (“the Beatles have no future in show business”). There’s a funny thing that happens in our brains when we hear that someone […]
Great songwriting, from a listener’s point of view, flies under the radar, by which I mean that the best songs are great without making it obvious why they’re great. A song might have a gorgeous melody, but the average listener won’t know exactly why it’s so beautiful. It might have a really captivating sequence of chords, […]
One of the biggest challenges for songwriters is to write something that’s unique and innovative, but not so unique that it turns your target audience away. At the same time, if it’s not unique enough — if it’s too predictable — you’ll also turn audiences away because they’re bored: they can hear what’s coming before you […]
“The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 10-eBook Bundle” comes with an excellent Study Guide that’s meant to get your songwriting moving in the right direction. Also comes with a FREE eBook, “Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process.” For practically anything you do there are established ways to determine if you’ve been successful. For some projects, […]
All songs are about feelings. If you’ve written a song that doesn’t make the audience feel something, you’ve missed the point of what you should be doing. Generally when we talk about songs and feelings, we’re talking about the impact of the lyric. And that makes sense of course. It’s the lyric — the specific […]
If you’ve been reading my blog at all, you know that even though I love complexity in songwriting, I have a deep appreciation for musical simplicity. There’s something enticing about just letting a simple melody have its way. A perfect recent example of how a simple song can soar to the top of the charts […]
