Song melodies

3 Tips For Generating Melodic Ideas

Some songwriters have a flair for coming up with just the right tune. Most of the time, the best melodies are good because they partner so well with the lyric, and of course with the chord progression. But even with those elements in place, it can still be hard to write a great tune. So […]

songwriting technique

What is Songwriting Technique, and How Do You Improve It?

Every time you create something, whether writing a song, painting a landscape, or writing a novel, you are pulling two vital aspects of artistic creation together: your technical abilities and knowledge, and your creative imagination. In songwriting, we refer to technical abilities by using the word technique, and we summarize the phrase creative imagination by simply referring […]

songwriting session

7 Tips For a More Productive Songwriting Session

“Writing a Song From a Chord Progression”: Discover the secrets of the chords-first songwriting process. It’s part of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 10-eBook Bundle” Songwriting should be, at least on some level, fun. It’s not something you’d do unless you were getting a certain level of enjoyment from it. But if lately your songwriting sessions are frustrating […]

Peter Gabriel - My Body is a Cage

Making Imagery An Important Part of Your Lyrics

At its heart, imagery is a simple concept. When you write something that causes images in the mind of the listener, you’ve just made use of imagery. You could argue that imagery, therefore, happens all the time. I could say “I went to a baseball game this afternoon,” and you likely will get images in your […]

songwriter at synthesizer

Moving Beyond Imagination: Creating a Powerful Song

This is a common situation in the creative arts. You get some good ideas that get the ball rolling, and then everything seems to fizzle, and you’re left with an incomplete song. At those times, it seems easier to start a new song than finish an old one. So that means you’ve got a box-full […]

Nickelback

Five Songwriting Ponderables

Do you ever find that when you’re talking to other musicians about music in general, there’s a list of “the things you’re most likely to say” guiding your conversations? Everyone has their big issues in music. Their pet peeves. Their guiding principles. Their “why do people think this way!?” kind of rants. There are many […]