Avoiding the V-Chord in Your Progressions

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. FOLLOW GARY ON TWITTER The second edition of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” is out! See the video here. _________________________________ The V-chord is the chord based on the fifth note of a scale. Traditionally, this chord has figured prominently in most progressions, being the […]

“The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” – 2nd Edition Released

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. ________________________________ At long last, the second edition of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” has finally been released. Song samples have been updated to more current examples, with more in-depth descriptions of certain songwriting concepts. Like the first edition, it examines the technique of the […]

The Killer Chord Progression? Just Give Me One That Works!

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. FOLLOW GARY ON TWITTER Purchase “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” bundle and get a free e-book. Make songwriting enjoyable again! ______________________________________________ When a song really works, everything seems to click together like an amazing lego sculpture. Non-musicians usually wonder: how did they come up […]

Can't Choose Between Two Melodies? Use Them Both

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. FOLLOW GARY ON TWITTER Clean up your songwriting technique. Purchase “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” bundle and get a free e-book. _________________ One way to compose a new song is to come up with a chord progression, improvise a melody above it, and then apply […]

Balancing Your Use of Major and Minor Chords

Finding the chords that could be used to harmonize your song is an easy process: you choose a key based on your melody’s range, write the scale for that key, and build a triad on each note. That gives you seven chords as a starting point. Before you start adding “altered” chords to your palette […]

The Fundamental Relationship Between Melody and Chords

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. FOLLOW GARY ON TWITTER The difference between a bad song and a good one is structure. Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” bundle of e-books to get your song structure working. _________________ If you’ve written a melody, or if you’ve got melodic ideas you […]