It's easy to say that there is nothing original left in the music world. But just with a couple of simple observations, one can see the infinite potential that lies in songwriting. Things like arranging two different melodies together, writing different lyrics to similar melodies, or simply modifying a single note can add a wo

Read More...

In your music writing or creative work, there are probably many little routine things that you do all the time that happen to be slow and inefficient. Often you won't bother to fix these things because it doesn't seem worth it. Well, seriously, by eliminating annoyances you may be opening up more energy than you think for you

Read More...

Everyone loves listening to music, and folks usually listen to favorites to a point where they've memorized not merely the song, but each individual part as well. But by listening intelligently, you can understand the difference between a well made song and a mediocre one, or a well-produced album from an amateur one. You'll

Read More...

So you’ve written a great song, made a fabulous demo and now you’ll live happily ever after, right? Well, kind of. This article is the official “chapter after” you’ve written and recorded your song. There’s no doubt that being a great songwriter and having beautifully recorded versions of your songs is an admirable goal in and

Read More...

Instead of worrying about making a polished song whenever you write music, why not simply work on whatever comes to your mind instead? This article describes the benefit of simply writing music every day as a creative exercise. If you simply don't care about what you are writing, you can write all sorts of new stuff and become

Read More...

In the Nashville music industry there is one position that is arguably the most crucial to the success of the business as a whole: the songplugger. Most songwriters and publishers depend on the plugger to pitch their songs, and the artists and record labels look to the plugger to bring them the hits they need for their artists.

Read More...

There are many, many approaches to writing a song, and please, don’t let yourself be told that you “have” to start with a “title” or a “chord progression” or anything like that. You can start with a chord progression, if you like. You can start with a title, if you like. Maybe you already have music and you are singing along to

Read More...

If you're a composer, it is likely that you think a lot about the expectations of the genre you're writing for. Stop that! If you stop trying to fit your music into a genre, you can easily open up all new worlds of musical possibility. Any truly great artist will do some branching into multiple genres. You can even move throu

Read More...

I write music somewhat differently than most. I've been doing it now for 8 years, so I have the process down to a somewhat well established routine. This article first covers the composing; coming up with melodies, practicing them, recording them, and implementing them with chords. It then deals with the post-production of tw

Read More...

I often have a hard time coming up with ideas for new songs. I'll mess around with the same chords and rhythms too much and everything will start sounding the same. I've been trying to come up with a list of things to do to keep things fresh. Everything I've come up with so far mainly has to do with forcing yourself to see n

Read More...

A superb list of ways to get over the hump and start writing songs and being creative. Writer’s block is the nemesis of songwriters - and even non songwriters. There are tons of suggestions and songwriting tips out there for what might work, and various suggestions on overcoming. These are the top 5 that consistently work for m

Read More...

The book opens with some songwriting basics, which include - covering the different parts that make up songs, certain common chord progressions, and some basic movable chord dictionaries. Where the author spent a considerable amount of time was in finding popular and classic songs that utilize the examples he is talking about.

Read More...

Many songwriters begin their work with an acoustic guitar. If you’re like me, you’ll probably record most things with acoustic guitar first. I like acoustic guitar because it’s full sounding, has great percussive qualities for banging out a pulse while strumming, and it doesn’t need anything else for it to make sound, like cabl

Read More...

My favorite quote from David Lynch: "It’s like there’s a man in another room with the whole film together, but they’re in puzzle parts. And he’s flipping one piece at a time into me. At first it’s very abstract I don’t have a clue. More pieces come, more ideas are caught, it starts forming a thing. Then one day there it is. It

Read More...

There are a number of reasons including high quality microphones, pre-amps, an experienced engineer and a well-designed studio space. But one of the single most important elements in a great-sounding, professional recording is the performance of the session musicians. There is a reason that the job of the session musician exist

Read More...

Recording a great sounding bass track is not hard, nor is it a black science. By following a few simple rules you can get excellent results from your home studio. Before you begin to track a bass line, you should have a good idea of the tone you are trying to achieve as it relates to the particular song. Some of the factors you

Read More...