John Legend - Nervous

How Controlling Musical Energy Keeps People Listening

There are some songs, when you compare the start of the song to the end of it, make it obvious what we mean by musical energy. “Stairway to Heaven” is a great example: it starts very quietly, uses subdued acoustic guitar and recorders, with a nostalgic, mid-range vocal approach. The hook is probably the most […]

Guitarist - songwriter

Getting the Energy Levels of Your Songs Working Properly

When it comes to the performance of a song, you’re probably very well aware of the importance of musical energy. Much of the time we might safely equate energy with loudness, though the true definition involves a lot more than just loudness. If all you need are tons of progressions to try out, you need “Essential Chord […]

Tom Petty

Creating Musical Energy When You Use the Same Melody For Verse and Chorus

“The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBook bundle includes “Writing a Song From a Chord Progression”. Learn how to write great songs by starting with the chords, and then avoiding all the potential pitfalls of the chords-first songwriting process. Recently I wrote about the importance of musical energy in all songs, whether they’re loud or soft, and that […]

George Harrison

Musical Energy is More Than High Volume and Fast Tempos

In my songwriting eBooks, particularly “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting”, I list eleven different principles of songwriting — aspects of music that seem to be present in practically all songs, regardless of genre or other performance-related characteristics. One of those principles is this: “In general, the energy at the end of a song should equal […]

Microphone

Creating Momentum (Forward Motion) in a Song

Momentum is not easy to identify in music, but you know you’re experiencing it when you feel the need to keep listening. As you listen, you get an impression of a kind of musical tension — tension that needs to find a release. And as the listener, you need to wait long enough to hear […]

John Newman

Using a typical Verse to Help Write a Bridge Section

In pop songwriting, a bridge (also called a middle-eight) usually occurs after the second chorus, or, in songs that don’t use a chorus, after the second verse. For songs in verse-chorus formats, this is the common position of a song’s bridge: Verse – Chorus – Verse – Chorus – BRIDGE – Verse – Chorus – […]