Songwriter, Recording Artist, and Blogging Musician
“Hear commentator Rob Kapilow demonstrate how Mozart sets up our expectations but takes us in unpredictable directions in the String Quintet in G minor. His music, like a hologram, flashes back and forth between the simple and the complicated.”
It’s time to dig into the second issue of Samurai Songwriting. If you’re not a subscriber, join now. If you want to purchase just this issue, you can do that here:
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Here’s what we cover in this issue:
The Samurai Songwriter Code. How [...]
If you’re interested in subscribing to Samurai Songwriting, today is the best day to do it. Tomorrow, Issue 2 will be released and if you subscribe now, you’ll have access to both Issue 1 and Issue 2. After tomorrow, Issue 1 will cost extra.
So if you want great songwriting advice from Academy award winning songwriter, [...]
Topics covered: Advice to developing songwriters, the art and craft of songwriting, strategies for writing hooks and melodies, a 7-step process to writing hit songs, and much more.
Music, much like life, is fundamentally a swinging pendulum between tension and release. Fortunately, with music, this is easy to represent objectively and to utilize in your music composition.
At this moment, you’re just a $20 click away from discovering the Hit Songwriting Secrets of John Lennon… even if you’re starting from scratch.
I’ll stand by you to the end.
I’ll never desert you.
I’ll be the one you depend on.
The one you can talk to.
I’m finding more and more that what stops songwriters from finishing songs isn’t a lack of good ideas but a misdirection of songwriting focus. Based on the comments I receive, musicians are spending more time on tasks that do little to move the song closer to completion.
For example, if you just spent 15 minutes on [...]
One of the most common challenges I hear about songwriting is not knowing where to begin. With the lyrics? With the music? Or something completely different? It’s a rather simple challenge to find a solution to, really.
Start with a single note or single word
Play a single random note and just listen to your imagination. Does [...]
I’m settling on this melody for now. I might play with the second half of the verse to give it a lift.
It’s a pop triplet feel in the key of B at 90bpm.
ToWrite verse chorus melody
This is a continuation of 12-07-06b. I’m working out different ideas for the melody to see which one flows better.
It’s a pop triplet feel in the key of B at 90bpm.
ToWrite verse chorus melody
Place Your Song Title At Key Points In The Chorus
Your song title is more likely to be remembered if it is placed in the first or last line of the chorus.
Place Emphasis On Your Song Title In The Chorus
Support your song title by giving it a rhythm, melody, and harmony that sounds natural and intuitive. [...]
Topics covered: Chord progressions, I-IV-V, The blues, classical music, mashups, melody, modal progressions, music software, rhythm…
Topics covered: Top 10 Lyric Writing Insights, line length, contrasting ideas, melody, metaphor, prosody, rhyme schemes, rhythm, song forms, spotlights…
Melody added. I came back from the pub after a couple of… ahem… a few pints with a melody inspired by the divine feminine. Awww yeah.
This is me composing a ballad on the piano with a beautiful haunting melody in the key of G. I might put lyrics to this one.
Cleaned up 120bpm electronic groove in Dmin. It’s multiple takes of me playing over top of everything else.
120bpm electronic groove in Dmin. It’s multiple takes of me playing over top of everything else. Very much a scratch first run through.
Very slow. 64 bpm. I’m moving around A minor. Natural minor scale (Aeolian). I like the vibe. Very dark but hopeful. Dualistic. Kinda sounds drunk.
I’m playing with C and F. Not finding anything on that first try for contrast.
I'm a songwriter and recording artist who sings, plays keyboards, and explores the vast world of sound hoping to find some magical moments along the way. I'm also a Mac geek.
If Heroes needed a new superhero, it would be Montage Man. He can speed things up and add a catchy tune. 3 hrs ago
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