One of the most potent strengths of being human is the ability to be creative. There’s a wonderful sense of empowerment that comes from assembling something beautiful out of what seemed to be disorder. Songwriters know this; I’ve heard many describe their songwriting as a kind of therapy for the soul. Finishing a song feels […]
If you involve yourself in any sort of physical activity, there is no doubt that you’re familiar with the phrase “listen to your body.” It’s a phrase that is meant to caution you against overdoing it. If you’re a runner and you suddenly encounter some sort of injury, you’ll hear someone say, “Listen to your […]
For most songs in the pop genre, the bit that you really love will be some short, catchy fragment. That fragment — the hook — is the bit that you’ll remember forever about that song. Long after you’ve forgotten almost everything else, you’ll remember that hook. “Hooks and Riffs: How They Grab Attention, Make Songs Memorable, […]
As a songwriter, you do something that many people find difficult: you create new musical ideas and pull them all together into a final product called a song. You may be the kind of writer that finds it easy to do, so perhaps you’re writing a new song or two every week. But you might […]
Among other admirable qualities, the individual members of The Beatles were known for the astonishing diversity of their writing styles. For every song they wrote, they threw out the template and came up with a new song that bore little similarity to past ones. That meant that every new hit had a freshness. Every new […]
You’ll notice that when you’ve got a melody, the notes of that melody imply the chords you’re likely to use. That’s not to say that you’ve got no choice in the matter, of course. For every chord you might use, there is a list of chords that could serve as substitutes. Just as an example, […]
