Guitar, Pencil & Paper

Would a Bridge Add Something Important to Your Song?

A bridge section, in a verse-chorus song, is the section that happens usually after the second chorus: Verse 1 – Chorus – Verse 2 – Chorus – Bridge… You also get bridge sections in songs that use one of the designs that don’t use a chorus, or perhaps use a short refrain instead of a […]

Earworm melodies

Earworm Melodies: More Info About What They Are and Why They Plague Us

Chapter 5 of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” shows how melody and lyric need to work together. Learn how to do it right! Get the entire 10-eBook Bundle along with a free copy of “Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process.” An earworm is a tune (often a fragment of a tune) that gets […]

Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter: “…a central force…”

The music world lost another great yesterday: saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter. My first experience with Shorter’s playing was through my love of the fusion jazz group Weather Report, but he played with a huge number of well known artists from so many different genres: Miles Davis, Maynard Ferguson, Joni Mitchell, Carlos Santana and others. […]

Songwriting tools

Establishing “Landmarks” Within Your Songs, Then Working Backwards

If you’re ready to take your songwriting to its highest level possible, you need “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 10-eBook Bundle.” Get the manuals that thousands of songwriters are using. You might think that most of the time, songwriters work forward through a song as they’re writing it, but in fact, there’s a case to be […]

Guitars

When Art Turns to Craft: Songs That Are Too Similar to Every Other One

As a songwriter, being unique is a vital part of your success. If you’re not giving the world something that’s singular and distinctive — in some way different from all the other songs out there — then you’re simply copying someone else’s success. Songwriters are very familiar with the chorus hook, but there are other kinds […]

guitar and music paper

Is Writing Quickly a Help or a Hindrance?

Everyone’s got their own comfort zone when it comes to how quickly they can write music. Some need time to assess as they write, while others are okay with writing quickly, leaving the evaluating of musical ideas until much later in the songwriting process. Comfort level aside, there could be something to be said for […]