I was taught to organize rhythms into increments of two measures at a time. Some beats/pulses get a natural emphasis in relation to their placement in the measure. I put together this illustration of the most natural points of relative emphasis in a … [Read more...]
The Perfect Song Title – 5 Things To Remember
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 … [Read more...]
Hit Songwriting Tips Podcast 08-22-06
Topics covered: Chord progressions, I-IV-V, The blues, classical music, mashups, melody, modal progressions, music software, rhythm... Download: Hit Songwriting Tips Podcast 08-22-06 … [Read more...]
How To Master Musical Textures
If you need more compositional choices or your music needs more depth, you might want to play with the textural qualities of music. This won't be difficult because I've prepared a textural dictionary for you. Polyphonic, while literally meaning … [Read more...]
Hit Songwriting Tips Podcast 08-09-06
Topics covered: Top 10 Lyric Writing Insights, line length, contrasting ideas, melody, metaphor, prosody, rhyme schemes, rhythm, song forms, spotlights... Download: Hit Songwriting Tips Podcast 08-09-06 … [Read more...]
Get Your Creative Juices Flowing
Give me 5 minutes and I'll show you how to instantly find unique and interesting details to put into your lyrics. The technique is called Object Writing and it's so ridiculously easy that you'll be pissed you didn't know about it sooner. I learned … [Read more...]
Don’t Forget Square One…
I've noticed a lot of resistance to "songwriting rules". Most of the criticism falls in the Craft vs. Inspiration camp. And my defense is always that it isn't an either-or argument. From Don't forget square one...: Horse trainer Linda Parelli … [Read more...]
Songwriting For Busy People
Mind Hacks posted how choice is demotivating when there are too many options. "Offer students a choice of 6 essays, rather than 30 essays, for extra-credit and more will take up the opportunity if there is less choice of essay titles - and, what … [Read more...]
How Do You Develop New And Interesting Chord Changes?
Here's a handful of my top techniques that I use to develop new and interesting chord changes. 1. Stick with I-IV-V I know, it's not new, but I-IV-V doesn't have to be uninteresting. There's a reason why these chords are so fundamental to our … [Read more...]
Top 10 Lyric Writing Insights
*Before I continue, and I'll say this many times, I operate under the assumption that the opposite of everything I say is equally true. Including the opposite of what I just said. :) Here's my top 10 lyric writing insights: 1. The rhythm of … [Read more...]