Focusing on Pitch Plateaus Ensures Well-Crafted Melodies

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Here’s how to get your songs working right away! ____________________ There is a particular kind of melodic contour that allows melody notes to sit mainly in and around one particular pitch. Pink’s song “Raise Your Glass” is a good demonstration of this. The beginning of each […]

Tips & Tricks: Writing a Song that Doesn't Use a Chorus

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Here’s how to get your songs working right away! ______________ It may be your normal way of writing to automatically go for a verse-chorus design, possibly  because the chorus (particularly the title) offers great potential for a hook. For many songs, the hook is a crucial aspect […]

Lyrical Emotion: There's a Time and a Place

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Here’s how to get your songs working right away! ______________ The simple “I’d do anything for you” lyric is usually a winner in the pop song world. Because you want your lyrics to make a personal connection with the listener, story lines that have to do […]

Connecting A Verse to a Chorus, and Back Again

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-ebook bundle, and discover why great songs are great! ____________ The way we describe the successful relationship between verse and chorus in songwriting is to say that a good verse “begs for” a chorus. In other words, it’s not enough to simply work out a nice verse melody and […]

Which Chords Work Well in a Song's Bridge?

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-ebook bundle, and learn the difference between STRONG and FRAGILE progressions. ____________ The bridge is the part of the song that typically follows the second chorus, and it has a few reasons for existing. Chief among those reasons is the chance to leave the verse and chorus melodies and […]

Chord Progression Formulas: Good. Songwriting Formulas: Bad.

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle and learn all you need to know about how great melodies work. A formula is simply a predictable procedure for writing music. In other words, you’re following a formula if you say, “Once I’ve done this, I need to do that…” For songwriters, there are two […]