by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: You’ve got a great melody and a chord progression that works. So what can you do to add life to your song? Activate the bass line. Making the bass line do something other than just sitting on the chord root gives life to that aspect […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: Looking to write a song, but stuck at the chord progression stage? Here are some you can try: i) Asus A Bm E F#m D Bm7 C# This one has a few interesting twists. We’re used to starting progressions on the tonic chord, but this […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: Years ago, when I was studying at university to become a music teacher, it was a requirement to visit many different schools and observe the teachers of music programs in action. I kept a journal of those visits so that I could read about my […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: When writing songs, the most important aspect of energy to realize is that it isn’t a constant force; it changes from moment to moment. It’s a bit like the wind in that respect. On a windy day, we usually can notice that the wind speed […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: Did you know that chord progressions are not protected by copyright? That’s mainly because, try as you might, you can’t find an original progression. And if you can, it probably stinks. 😉 Not because you can’t write good progressions, but the good ones have likely […]
___________________________ I wish more songwriters would do the melody-first method. Coming up with the melody after endless strumming of chords can often result in a tune that is directionless and uninspiring. What probably scares writers off of writing a melody first is… how do you harmonize it? Getting a bit of understanding with regard to […]
