Willy Minnix: June 2019

Saturday, June 29, 2019

5 More Ways to End A Song

Last time we talked about five different ways to end a song, and we threw in a sixth way just for the fun of it. Today we are going to talk about five more ways, and probably throw in a bonus as well.

1. A Capella - One of my favorite ways of ending a song is when the band does an a capella thing at the end. I always liked the ending of "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" by Journey. I feel like this gives a song a timeless sing a long feel that everyone loves.

2. Drop-Outs - I also like when the band drops from a full band, powerful sound, down to a really simple just piano or soft guitar and vocal ending. I think this, especially coupled with a similar intro, brings the journey back home and completes the Hero's Quest so to speak.

3. Segue - I think of a song like "Layla" where the song ends and then the band continues on into a new section that eventually fades out. I think segue's like this are really cool. Also there were several albums I remember from the late 70's and early 80's where the band would bleed into the next song on the album. I can specifically remember Genesis, Chicago and Elton John all doing this at one point or another. I don't think you hear it much anymore.

4. Intro as Outro - Another really cool thing is to repeat the intro of the song as an outro. A really talented composer might also rearrange the outro, developing it a little bit, to make a much more powerful statement at the end of the song. This again is a type of Hero's Quest type of ending.

5. Repeat another Section of the Song - Something you don't see very often, but could be really interesting is to play another part of the song, say a section of the bridge reworked as an ending, to be the ending of the song. This would take a little creative composing, but I think done right it could go over very well.

Bonus:

6. Song Weaving - This is a cool thing that I heard the band Antigone Rising do once when I was running sound for them. They took the choruses of three different songs and wove them together to be a fugue at the end of their show. I thought it was so cool and powerful. I think an artist could take the choruses from some of their more popular songs and weave them together to come up with an ending. Sting does this sometimes when he quotes from some of his older songs, but if you could use the actual melodies it would be awesome.

I hope these help you when you try to finish off your next song. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and trick in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble.

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5 Ways to Write Song Endings

Today we are going to be taking a look at five different ways in which you can end a song. Every song, no matter how much we love it, has to come to an end. Hopefully we can come up with a few that will actually add to your song, and help set it apart from other songs on the market.

1. Fade Out - Ok, I had to start here, because it's probably the most popular one out there. This is the gradual fade. The song becomes quieter and quieter until it is no more. Now some bands have used this to a humorous effect, by having the song begin to fade, and then turning it back up, maybe having someone tell the audio engineer to turn it back up. But basically the fade will always be a go to way to end a song. I always liked fades that seemed like the harmonies of the vocals could keep going forever.

2. Radio Bar Ending - I don't know what to call this ending, but I heard it the other day on a Fountains of Wayne song called "Radio Bar," and instantly recognized it as one that Billy Joel has used, and that show tunes sometimes use. It's where the last chorus is basically the same as the other choruses, but an extra line is added in to delay the ending just a little bit, and then the whole song comes to a dramatic end, but then the music starts back up, and I can imagine actors leaving the stage in a play while the band continues to play. I believe this ending comes from the theater, but you can hear it in "Radio Bar."

3. Fugue - I LOVE fugues. Especially vocal fugues. I don't know what it is about them, but there is something awesome about getting lost in the dizzying mingle of voices at the end of a song. One of my favorite songs to do this is "God Only Knows," by the Beach Boys. I would have been happy if Brian Wilson had extended the fugal part at the end a couple more minutes, but he probably knew it was better to cut it off short. But any song that goes into a complex fugue is well worth listening to. The only problem is very few songwriters do it. I wish it would become a popular thing, because I love it.

4. Key Change - Some songs over did this, and this is where the "truck driver" key change has become a bit of a joke, but a well done key change can be really awesome. Think about the ending of "Good Vibrations." That's a series of key changes done right.

5. Abrupt Stop - Nothing says you can't just end your song. It can stop and then start up again, as mentioned in the second point, but it can also just plain stop.

Bonus

6. Picardy Third - I figured I would leave you with one more way to end a song, that you almost never hear. If you have a song in a minor key, a way to end it to make it sound really classical would be to end on a Picardy Third. A Picardy Third is when you end on the minor i chord, but then you raise it to a major I chord. So if you are in Am, you would end the song on Am and then raise it to an A major. Elton John did this on the song "I Need You to Turn To," on his 1970 Elton John album. It could be a bit cheesy if not done well, but Elton really did a good job using it there.

If you can't figure out how to end your song, hopefully these tips will give you something to think about. And if you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble.

5 More Songwriting Ideas to overcome writers block

Last time we talked about five ideas that can help get your writing ideas flowing and help you overcome writers block. Here are five more ideas that should help you blast right through that writing block and get onto writing great songs.

1. Rewrite a Movie - Rewrite your favorite movie (or not so favorite movie if you think it can be better as a song) into a song. Maybe you went out to a movie and was totally inspired by it. Sit down and try to figure out what it would be like if it were a song. Maybe one particular scene in the movie would make the perfect song. Give it a shot, I know that there were several songs that came about this way.

2. Style Imitation - Imitate a style of music you like or try to write a song that you think your favorite artist would have sung or written. This can be a vast area of inspiration. I know that one of my favorite bands, Fountains of Wayne, wrote a lot of songs that sort of imitated popular hits from the past. Maybe they used a keyboard or guitar riff that reminded people of earlier pop songs, or maybe they mentioned one of their heroes in a song, but they were always pointing people back to the music that they loved and listened to growing up. I think this is a cool thing to do. But it can go further than that and you can literally try to write a song in an historic style, maybe you could write a dixieland song, or a hymn, or a 40's swing tune. There are so many different styles of music, and maybe something you write will encapsulate that time period perfectly. Or perhaps you might just take flavors of those time periods and sprinkle them into to give your modern song a little flavor.

3. Rewrite an Old Ballad - I am currently working on a book about the Child Ballads. There are over 300 songs in five volumes, with a multitude of variations per song, that one could use to rewrite and come up with a new song. Dylan did this with his song "The Man in the Long Black Coat." The Child Ballad was called "The Deamon Lover," and Dylan was recreating the "House Carpenter" version of that ballad in his song. If you don't know the Child Ballads, you really should get to know them. If you want to be a good story teller, they are a great place to start.

4. Write a Hymn - I'm all for writing a good old time Jesus Loves You gospel song, but in this case, I mean write a song that has a hymn-like structure that evokes a sense of calm. Elton John's "Skyline Pigeon," is an example of this. It's a beautiful song that is ambiguous enough to not really know what the lyrics are about, but they speak to the human feeling of being trapped. Everyone has felt that way at time, be it in a dead end job, or in a broken relationship. So the hymn structure of the song helps you to focus on those feelings, and maybe even resolve to take steps to fix it. Classical religious hymns worked the same way. They help us focus on an aspect of God and help us resolve to draw closer in some way to whatever aspect of God the hymn is talking about. This is different than what I would term a Gospel Song. A Gospel Song, tells the story of the Gospel, and is meant for people outside the faith to hear it and understand the basic doctrine of the "good news." But a hymn is designed for people within the faith who already know the basics and are going deeper.

5. Turn Your Favorite Poem Into A Song - Now again, this might be a song that you can't actually record and spread to the world, depending on copyright, but if you have a favorite poem from a long dead author then feel free turning it into a song. Or take a few poems by the same author and use the verses of one for your verse, and the verse of another as a chorus or a bridge.

So if you have been stuck for songwriting ideas, hopefully something here will launch you into a new season of productivity. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble.

5 Ideas for Generating Song Ideas

Stuck in a rut, but know you need to write something soon? Every songwriter gets there eventually. Perhaps you are coming off of a massive living room tour, or are so discouraged that no one is buying your songs, or feel like you have nothing left to say to the world. These things happen to the best writers out there. Even Dylan had a sparse spot from time to time. So, don't give up! Here are five tried and true ideas for getting your songwriting brain juices flowing.

1. Rewrite Your Favorite Songs - This might not lead you to a song that you can record and sell, as depending on how much you change it around it might still be recognizable as your favorite song. However, rewriting songs that you love by giving them new lyrics, or changing the melody, or changing the chords, or whatever can be a springboard into writing something original that will help you grow. I think of this exercise as akin to an art student learning to draw a still life. The still life will probably not be that artist's "Last Supper," but it is a starting point that might lead to something more meaningful to come.

2. Write about a Past Tragedy - This could be a personal tragedy, or something you read about. It doesn't really matter. If it is a personal tragedy, it might be a big cork in your life that's plugging up your creative flow. Maybe by hitting it head on it'll unlock a great deal of your emotional power. If it is a past tragedy that you read about, then something about what you read, or heard, tugs at some part of your humanity that connects you to other people. So if you are moved by the event, then other people will be moved by it as well.

3. Write about a Past Struggle You Overcame - Everyone likes the underdog story. What did you have to experience that you rose above? Maybe even couch the story of your life event in poetic language. What if the event took place in medieval times? What if it takes place in that weird quasi timeless netherworld that Dylan's songs evoke? What if it takes place in Tom Waits' dive bar at the end of the universe? Anyway, working on a past struggle and then placing it into a different context is always a cool way to approach writing a song.

4. Write about your Dream - What is it you dream about? What do you want to achieve? Maybe other people can relate too, and want to be inspired. If you write an anthem song that millions of people will relate to, then maybe you will have a song that will be played over and over at every ball game or political rally from now until the end of time! Or you could take this point another way, what weird dreams have you had that would make a cool song? Either way, this point can get you working on a song in no time at all!

5. Tell A Story - Maybe personal delving is what got you into this mess in the first place. Maybe you've written all of your personal details out there for the world to see and you don't have anything else left to give. Well, then make it up. Tell a story in your song that entertains you. "Lawyers, Guns and Money," "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" or "Werewolves of London," all by Warren Zevon were songs like this, and they were very entertaining. Maybe you have some crazy story rolling around in your head that we need to hear.

Hopefully these five points will give you something to spring off of until the next time. Until then, get writing! If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble.

5 More Reasons Your Songs Suck

Last time we talked about some of the reasons you might feel your songs are not as good as the songs you have heard on the radio in the past (let's face it, whatever you write can't suck nearly as bad as half the garbage they put on the radio these days, so at least you have that going for you!). But I digress, anyway, today we are going to explore five more reasons that your songs might not be living up to your expectations. Hopefully, you will find something here that will help you bolster the work you are already doing, and push your song over the top into something spectacular!

1. No Hook - Perhaps your song is missing a key element like a hook. Or perhaps your hook just isn't catchy enough. You will know you have a catchy hook if you play it for someone and they come back the next day, or next week and say "that chorus of your song was stuck in my head all day," or "for THREE DAYS," or "I had to have brain surgery to remove that song from my head!" These are all good things to hear, but if you are not hearing that from your friends and family, then you are not writing strong enough hooks. Take a look at my article on writing a better melody, and perhaps it will give you some ideas you can try to make your hook just a little more catchy.

2. Jarring Changes - Some songs seem to flow from one section to the next as if by magic. Some songwriters can even change keys, or even change multiple keys, and a trained musician might be hard pressed to catch they changed key on the first listen (think Brian Wilson here). But there are some songwriters who no matter how good each part is they just can't seem to connect their sections in a way that isn't disturbing in some way. A good songwriter can build connecting bridges between parts, and that's where the term bridge came from originally. It was a section of music that helped lead the song in a different direction. Today a lot of songwriters use a bridge as a type of C section, but they use Pre-Choruses to be what a bridge was originally back in the day. Whatever you need to do to help your song move to the next section without causing the listeners to have a brain hemorrhage would be time well spent.

3. Story Doesn't Make Sense - So your lyrics have a story to tell. But does the story make sense? I know that in a previous post I talked about how to add ambiguity into your lyrics to give them room for people to interpret them how they want, but they still have to make some sort of sense if people are to respond to them at all. Now there is room for waaay out there lyrics like "I am the Walrus," where the fact that the lyrics are so strange actually makes the song cool, in a way that "Jabberwocky" is so strange. But with both of these examples, there is still a semblance of story that the listener can follow. And some songs like "A Simple Twist of Fate," by Bob Dylan also don't make a lot of sense, but there is a feeling of time travel or timelessness that Dylan creates in this song, that he brings in several of his songs ("Changing of the Guards," "Desolation Row," to name a couple other examples) that really makes this song work. It's almost like the weirdness of the lyrics just serves to draw us further into the song in a way that we wouldn't have been drawn otherwise. But taken as a whole the story still makes sense. One of the best bands that could tell a whole story in a few short lines was Fountains of Wayne. Songs like "Someone to Love," or "Mexican Wine," tell a complete story with each verse, and in such simple down to earth lyrics that their simplicity is deceptive.

4. Unnecessary Details - Too many unnecessary details in the lyrics will throw your song off for the listener. We do not need a laundry list of everything the heroin or hero does in the story. Hit the high points and move on. Again Fountains of Wayne are masters of this; learn from them.

5. Poor Chord Choices - One of the most common reasons that a song falls short is related to our first point in the last article, the chords that you choose are poorly conceived. Sometimes songwriters get tired of using the same four chords (this is a good sign, it means you are growing) but instead of picking chords that actually make sense, they jump to weird chords that really break up the flow of the song, or worse, clash with the melody they are singing. If you find that this is happening to you, reconsider the chords you chose and see what happens if you try out a chord that is a little closer related to your melody.

So there are a few more ideas to consider if you feel your songs are deeply in need of help. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble.

Friday, June 28, 2019

5 Reasons Your Songs Suck

Have you ever felt like no matter what you do your songs just suck? We've all been there. Here are a few things you can check out that might be able to help fix your songs. Hopefully, some tip here will be just the magic that you've been missing.

1. Boring Chord Progressions - Some songs can play the same simple chord progression over and over and for some reason it's magical. Think Joe Cocker's version of "Feelin' Alright," or "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu." These songs have just two chords but for some reason they do not get boring. Yet sometimes as songwriters we find ourselves reverting back to the same trite chord progressions that we use all the time. Try something new, and maybe your song will find the spark it needs.

2. Bad Production - This is something I have been guilty of myself, bad production can ruin a pretty decent song. Maybe the vocals are just a little bit off, or maybe you could go back and do the guitar line over just one more time. It might be the thing that really fixes a poorly produced sounding track.

3. Simplistic Lyrics - I don't know how many songs I've heard where the writer went for the simple lyric. And it isn't just with amateurs, there are a lot of songs that artists just consider "filler" that could have had a better lyric. Don't settle for a lyrics written at the kindergarten level. Dig deep and come up with something better. Here's a hint, your first rhyme probably isn't the best one.

4. Repetitive Melody - This is almost as bad as the monotone melody that has taken over the airwaves today. A repetitive melody that sounds like it could have been a good hook, but instead of writing supplemental material, just gets used over and over through the entire song, is something that you really want to avoid. Even the above mentioned simple songs, change it up from the verse to the chorus even though the chords don't change.

5. Whiny Melody - I don't know how to describe this, but you will recognize it when you hear it. Some songs just make the singer sound like a whiner. I mean when you think about it, all blues songs are basically sung by whiners. But you never, ever think they are really whiners the way they sing them. But there are some songs out there that just sound like you want to punch the singer in the face instead of sympathizing with them. Don't be one of those songwriters.

So there are a few more ideas to consider if you feel your songs are lacking some of the sparkle they need. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble.

Thursday, June 27, 2019

5 More Tips for Recording Vocals

Last time we talked about some tips that you can try when recording your vocals. This article I have a few more ideas for you.

1. Try a variety of microphones - When I was first starting out I was enamored with the idea of using a certain microphone for the vocals I needed. But after years of recording people, what I have learned is that each situation is unique, and certain situations call for different microphones to capture the situation the best. Sometimes that one special mic that you think is so amazing, just doesn't capture the sound for this particular performance like you think it should. So don't be afraid to try out different mics to see what they do for your recording.

2. Harmonies - When you are writing your harmonies, try using varying numbers of vocals. Maybe the harmony section only needs one voice. Maybe it needs 200. Who knows, and you won't until you try out a few different approaches.

3. Compression - Compression can do a lot for your vocal, but it can also be an interesting effect in and of itself. So experiment with varying levels of compression to see what works the best for the vocal you are recording.

4. Reverb - Almost everyone uses a little reverb on a vocal, but there are so many different styles and types of reverb, it would be beneficial to any budding artist to try out various types of reverb to see which one you like the best, and which works the best on the vocal you are recording.

5. Effects - Compression and Reverb aren't the only effects. Try out various effects on the vocals to see what makes them pop or what makes them blend in the way you want. They can all bring a different sound to the table and make your song unique.

So there are a few more ideas to try out when recording your vocals. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble.

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

5 Tips for Recording Vocals

Now that you have your song written and a good start on figuring out how you want to arrange it, you need to figure out how to how you are going to record your vocals. Here are five tips that will help you with your vocals.

1. Vocal Doubling - This technique has been used on thousands of recordings. This is one of the easiest technique to add some depth to your vocal lines. A cool trick is to use slightly different adjustments for each vocal. Perhaps make one version with the lows a little higher and the other with the highs bumped up just a bit. If you want you can also slightly panned left and right.

2. EQ - Speaking of EQ settings, don't be afraid to mess around with the EQ settings on your vocals. Adjusting the Highs all the way and everything else down will make it sound like an old transistor radio. Whereas, if you do the opposite and turn the lows up but the other settings down, it'll sound like you're in a very dead room or a hole in the ground.

3. Mic Placement - Feel free to experiment with mic placement. Sometimes putting your mic in a different place, or using more than one mic can give you an interesting sound.

4. Larger than Life Vocal - Double or Triple your vocal, then trim off a bit from one, and then increase the length of the other, just a tiny little bit, then pan one Left and the other Right, and leave one center. The resulting effect gives you a larger than life vocal, and if you add effects to each track, you can get some really interesting effects.

5. Accent - Try a different accent. You might move your voice closer to the front of your face, or back further into your chest. Using a slightly different accent can make your vocal pop when you need it to. Also, thinning out a vocal can help blend harmonies and other vocals that seem to stick out too much in a mix. By thinning out the vocal, I mean holding back on vibrato or other resonating techniques.

So there are a few more ideas to try out when recording your vocals. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble..

Monday, June 24, 2019

5 More Tips for Arranging Your Songs

In the last article we discussed the important process of arrangement of your songs as a way of finishing them for the recording process. In this article there are five more tips for arranging your songs.

1. DAW Set up - Some songwriters like to use their recording software to pre-plan each part of the song prior to recording. Using a DAW you can layout how many bars you want your into, verse adn chorus to be, and can even be used to give you a metronome or a basic drum beat.

2. Rhythm - While you are arranging your DAW for recording, you can spend a great deal of time creating and arranging different rhythms for various parts of the song. With just a click of a button, you can combine complex rhythms and make your song take on new heights.

3. Time Periods - Understand various time periods and styles of music to give your piece a certain bygone flare. A good exercise is to try to write and arrange songs from a wide variety of time periods. Make a version of a 20's jazz classic, or try a 60's psychedelic song. Maybe you might find that the 1950's is the time period for you and you will have a knack at that type of song.

4. Mix and Match - Once you get a good feel for a variety of time periods and styles, don't be afraid to mix and match various styles to see what you come up with. One of the fun things about writing songs is the experimental process that songwriters go through while creating and arranging them. Don't forget that playful experimentation can lead to greatness.

5. Effects - Experiment with arrangement effects like vocal doubling, lush string arrangements and other techniques to make your song sound over the top.

So there are a few more ideas to help improve your songs at the arrangement stage. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble..

5 Tips for Arranging Your Songs

So you've written a few songs and you want to record some demos. What do you do next. The important job of learning to arrange your song is the next part of the song creating process. So here are several important things you can do to help you get started arranging your song.

1. Intro - Create an amazing intro. A really catchy, interesting into will be very useful for you when you are beginning to arrange your song. If your song starts with the perfect into then it will grab the listener's attention and propel them to listen to the next section of the song. It doesn't have to have relation to other parts of the song, and can stand on it's own. Elton John's song "Your Song," is a great example of this. The intro stands alone, apart from the song, and was added in the arrangement process in the recording studio. However, it establishes the greatness of the song to follow, and is hard to imagine "Your Song" without the intro.

2. Sonic Treats - Plan for Sonic Treats throughout the song. The idea is that certain sounds will be used as ear candy just to grab the listener's attention for just a moment and also propel them to listen to the rest of the song.

3. Try various types of song forms - When you are finished writing your song, you might feel that you are finished and your song is in it's final form. But you might find that when you are recording it that you might want to rearrange the form of your song. Maybe it is better to start with the chorus, or to move the bridge to another part of the song. Keep an open mind and see what pops up in the arrangement process.

4. Song Parts - This brings up another topic, song parts. When you are working on your song, determine which parts of the song are really needed. Maybe you don't need a bridge, maybe you should add a pre-chorus. You won't know until you experiment a little.

5. Buildups and Dropouts - Plan buildups and dropouts for various parts of the song in order to give the song more dynamic range. By building up more and more instruments to a song, you create a larger sonic pallet, but when you drop out to just a couple instruments or voices, you change dynamics greatly and give something exciting for the listener to experience.

Arrangement is an important part of finishing a song, and a good arrangement can really help improve your songs. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble..

5 More Tips for Better Rhythm in Your Songs

5 More Tips for Better Rhythm In Your Songs

Today we are going to be looking at five more tips that will help your songwriting. As mentioned in the previous article starting with rhythm when writing a song is fairly unusual but can help you if you are stuck in a rut and need something to help give you inspiration. Here are five more tips that should help you use rhythm to break out of your songwriting slump.

1. Swing It! - If you have written a piece of music that has a relatively straight beat. You might give some consideration to adding a swung rhythm to it. Maybe it should be a little more bluesy or jazzy? If you try adjusting the rhythm by swinging it and it doesn't quite seem right, perhaps instead try anticipating the rhythm more like Reggae or some Caribbean styles.

2. Ramp Up the Tempo - One thing that you don't hear much on recordings is an advancing tempo. One example is "Changing of the Guards" by Bob Dylan. This song gradually increases tempo which coincides with the increase of apocalyptic nature of the lyrics. In the modern age of computer quantization, it is possible to work in a tempo increase, or decrease, in a song when you are recording it.

3. Compound Rhythms - If you want to experiment with poly-rhythms, but do not want the percussion of your song to sound to "busy" you might experiment with compound and poly rhythms within the various instruments of the song. By giving the guitar and the piano conflicting rhythms, or two guitars, or what have you, you can come up with some interesting fun combos.

4. Unusual Rhythm Instruments - You might want to try adding some unusual rhythm instruments to your song. Maybe try tapping on a glass of water, or recording the water dripping from a spout. Maybe when you make the recording of your song, you can use natural rhythmic sounds like crickets, or songbirds, as a back beat to your song.

5. Split the Rhythm - You can make a simple rhythm sound a little more complex by splitting the rhythm across a sampling of various instruments. Even the most complex rhythm can be split up using several instruments (and even non-traditional rhythmic instruments) to give it an interesting feel. Perhaps a repeated piano note, or a guitar note trading off with a bass note creates a cross rhythm that is interesting in the final recording. Experiment and see what you can come up with.

So there are a few more ideas to help improve the rhythmic aspect of your songs. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble..

5 Tips for Better Rhythm In Your Songs

Today we are going to be discussing how to improve the rhythmic aspects of your song. Rhythm is one of the parts of the song that songwriters often do not give a lot of thought when working on their songs. But if you decide to start with rhythm as a springboard for launching into a new song, it can help you break out of a rut and give you melodic ideas based on the origin of the rhythm that you might not have thought about. So here are five tips for using rhythm to help you with your songwriting.

1. Rhythmic Change - Don't be afraid to try a rhythmic change for different parts of a song. Maybe the bridge switches to 3/4 then back to 4/4 for the chorus.

2. Rhythmic Switch Within a Phrase - Don't forget you can switch rhythm within a phrase. Think about the Beatles "All You Need Is Love," for an example of this technique.

3. Irish Dance Rhythms - World rhythms can add a lot to your songwriting skills. One of my favorite is to use Irish dance rhythms. Lauren Daigle's recent song "Look Up Child," sounds like it was influenced by African rhythms, but when it gets to the bridge, the bridge is reminiscent of either Scottish or Irish dance tunes. I think this is such a good example of using world rhythms to inspire and grow a simple song.

4. African Rhythms - And that brings us to using African Rhythms. There are so many beautiful and interesting poly-rhythms that come out of Africa, and any songwriter that will spend the time to learn and be inspired by African rhythms will find a well of inspiration that will never run dry.

5. Cuban Rhythms - Another interesting world rhythm that is worth studying is Cuban or Spanish rhythms. Traditional Spanish rhythms were heavily influenced by North African rhythms, and Cuban rhythms are a beautiful mixing of the Spanish rhythms that grew from the North African line, and the rhythms that came to Cuba from further south in Africa during the slave trade. This mixing of two beautiful world rhythms led to all sorts of awesome Cuban Jazz rhythms. These jazz rhythms can greatly shape and transform your songs, so they are worth giving a listen and seeing if they work for you.

So there are a few more ideas to help improve the rhythms of your songs. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble..

5 More Tips for Writing Better Chord Progressions

Last time we talked about five tips for writing better chord progressions, and in this article we will take a look at a few more tips to help your chord progressions become much better.

1. Don't be afraid to change keys - All of the great songwriters have experimented (and in Brian Wilson's case mastered) changing keys within a song. There are hundreds of ways to do so, and as a budding songwriter you should give it a shot too. Don't worry if it doesn't sound good when you are done, the nice thing about a key change is they are easy to get rid of if you don't like them.

2. Try changing keys modally - The simplest form of a modal change is going from major to minor, or from minor to major. But you can also go from major to Dorian, or to any of the other modes. Changing a song modally is a really good way of introducing some exotic flavor to your sound.

3. Consecutive Key Changes - You might find that one key change just isn't enough. Maybe your song needs to work upwards or downwards through a series of key changes. This is one of the things that makes "Good Vibrations" such a classic. Brian Wilson wasn't content to just repeat "Good, Good, Good, Good Vibrations" but with each repeat the song shifted up to a new key. It was a great way of making the song build.

4. Colorful Chords - Use more colorful chords to decorate a more simple progression. Try using sus2 or sus4 chords. Or instead of just playing a V make it a V7. If you really want to branch out start teaching yourself how to make some of the more jazzy sounding chords like 9, 11, or 13 chords. Then use the added notes to guide you to new chords that use those included notes.

5. Cadences - Finally, try various cadences for ending phrases. If you have a basic progression, try experimenting with the sound of your chord progression by tweaking the way the phrases end. Does it go straight from V to I. Perhaps try a cadence where you go V IV to I. Or V iii I. Anyway to expand or tweak the cadence might make it sound a little more appealing to your ear.

So there are a few more ideas to help improve your songs. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble..

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

5 Tips for Writing Better Chord Progressions

This post we are turning our attention to another important part of songwriting: Chord Progressions.

1. I, vi, IV, V is a good starting point - A lot of songs rely heavily on the use of the BIG FOUR, the I, vi, IV, and V (for those of you who are unfamiliar with those Roman Numerals think C, Am, F and G.) These chords are a great place to start writing a song that sounds "popular," because so many songs use these chords. And there's nothing wrong with starting there, but a really striking song will progress beyond these songs doing something to break out of the mold and make the listener more interested in the song.

2. Falling Chords - One of the quickest and most Beatles-y ways of breaking this mold is to use falling chords. The most popular falling chords are from the major V to the minor v. Or from the major IV to the minor IV. You can hear both of these in the songs "To Make You Feel My Love" by Bob Dylan, and the major to minor IV fall in the song "Don't Look Back in Anger," by Oasis. Other ways to fall include going from the I to the minor i. You can do the same if you borrow a chord, such as a major II and then dropping down to the minor ii, or the major VI to the minor vi.

3. Rising Chords - If you get bored with that technique, why don't you try raising the chords from minor to major? Easy choices are the ii to the II, or the iii to the III, or the vi to the VI.

4. Modal Borrowing - Now you're getting to be a pro at modifying your chord progressions, now try some modal borrowing. Throw in a bVII or a bVI or a bIII.

5. Copy the Classics - So now that you've learned how to do all of this, you might find yourself stuck for new inspiration. Why not go back and study some of the chord progressions that some of the classical composers used? Perhaps you will find a progression that does something unique and unusual that fits perfect with your song. John Popper did this with "Hook" by copying the chord progression from Pacabel's Canon. Oasis also did it on "Don't Look Back in Anger."

So there are a few more ideas to help improve your songs. If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble..

5 More Tips for Writing A Better Melody

This post we are going to get into some less heard of techniques for developing a melody. I have adapted the following techniques from a discipline of melodic writing called counterpoint. These definitions have other meanings to true counterpoint devotees, but I find they help suit my purposes, so I like to use them.

1. Try using Retrograde motion - So let's say you have half of a melody. Maybe you only have two measures. You want to do something else, but you're not sure what to do. Maybe just flip it backwards and play it in the opposite direction.

2. Try using Contrary motion - A variation on the above is what I like to call contrary motion where as retrograde motion is the reverse of a melodic piece, I like to think of contrary as the mirror image of what you originally wrote. So if the piece goes up, you bring it back down, if it goes down you bring it back up. If you write a line that goes up a third and then plays that note three times. Repeat it by going back to the original note, then going down a third and repeating it three times.

3. Oblique Motion - Oblique motion requires another melody line that you are working against. Perhaps it's the guitar line, or the piano line, but basically while the one line remains mono-tonal (that dreaded word from last post), the other melody will rise or fall against it. This works great with harmony lines of a song.

4. Melodic Doubling - A similar but different technique is to double what another instrument is playing. So if the guitar has a really cool riff, then sing the riff with lyrics over it. Maybe stack up a few instruments playing the same riff and it becomes a really ear catching section of the song.

5. Use Chords to Derive Your Melody - Chords can be used to help you out of a jam. If you are playing a progression that you've written, and you start to decorate up your chords with sus2's and sus4's and 7ths and other interesting ways to doctor up the chords, you can add some of those chord voicings to your melody as well.

Bonus:

6. Hooks - Instead of just concentrating on writing one major hook for the chorus, take the time and craft hooks for each section of the song. If you listen to a song like "Bohemian Rhapsody," every part of the song if taken on it's own, could have been the hook of a song. It's a cool way of approaching your songwriting, and it makes your song strong on every single part.

If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble..

5 Tips for Writing A Better Melody

In the spirit of continuation of our series on songwriting, we need to now turn our attention to how to write better melodies. In this article I will give you five tips on how to make your melodies a little better.

1. Falling Melodies Tend To Remain Popular - When you examine the vast history of popular music from the dawn of the recording age until today, and even when you include popular classical and romantic melodies that have remained popular throughout the years, you will find that melodies that fall (in other words melodies that start high and drop low) tend to get more attention. If you seem to have melodies that are static, or do the opposite (start low and end high) then give the opposite a try and see how it works for you.

2. Mono-tonal Melodies Must DIE!!!!! - Ok, so maybe I'm a bit dramatic here, but I am so sick of rap type melodies in pop songs. They have four to eight bars to impress me, but instead they just blast off a rap style melody and then launch into the "hook." Well, I for one refuse to stick around for the hook, because I HATE mono-tonal melodies. Take the time to actually write a song, not just a catchy chorus, hint hint Taylor Swift, your early stuff was so much better than the crap you've been peddling lately. I digress. Mono-tonal melodies are all the rage these days, but they are really a waste of talent, and my thinking is that there are very few, if any, of these songs will actually stick around past the fad age where they live.

3. Learn How To Develop A Melody - So what do you do if you don't want a mono-tonal melody? You learn how to develop a melody. There are a lot of motions that you can try to make your melody more interesting. Read on and find out about a couple of them.

4. Try Ascending Motion - So if you are stuck and you want your melody to go somewhere, try writing an ascending passage. Ascending melodies rise from a lower pitch. They don't have to rise dramatically or jump up to a high note, they can take their time and gradually get there, but they rise none the less.

5. Try Descending Motion - Well, what if your melody is already up in the rafters? Try doing the opposite. You don't have to keep the melody all the way up there, bring it down and let it drop in pitch. It could also drop in volume and make some dynamic change while you're at it.

So that's it for this post. Check out the next post where we will continue this exciting topic! And if you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble..

5 More Tips for Witing Better Lyrics

Last time we looked at five tips for improving your lyrics writing, and today we are going to go over a few more tips to help with your lyric writing.

1. Describe the Indescribable - I know it sounds crazy, but you should always be on the lookout for things that seem impossible to describe, and then go about figuring out how to describe them. Been abducted by aliens? What was that experience like? Smash your thumb with a hammer? Can you explain how it feels like you are trying to give birth to a buffalo out the tip of your thumb?

2. Practice Rhyming Daily - This is something that should be a part of your daily life. Everyday work at thinking of words that rhyme and put them into practice. Try to keep track of words that rhyme when you hear them, and whenever you hear an interesting word, try to think of other words that rhyme with it.

3. Read Books - Read a lot of books, and when you find lines that you really enjoy, try rhyming a new line that works with the line in the book. It doesn't even have to complete the thought of the author of the book, but it might launch you into a new idea for a song. I hear that Bob Dylan likes to use this method to help inspire him to write songs.

4. Read a Thesaurus - The Thesaurus is your friend. Put it to good use, and eventually it will start to stick in your head. Eventually you won't need to use a thesaurus because you'll have so many good words in your brain that they will just pop out whenever you need a good word.

5. Learn the proper names of things - This is a really useful technique when you want to be incredibly descriptive in your songs. By including the real name of something, it evokes all of the surroundings of that particular object that you are referencing, and you create a visual impact on your listeners.

Bonus Tip:

6. Make up Names for things: Of course you don't have to always have the proper name. You can always be like Lewis Carroll and invent new names for things and create a spirit of whimsy in your listeners.

If you found these tips helpful, you can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble..

5 Tips for Writing Better Lyrics

A lot of people want to write songs these days, but unfortunately a lot of what you hear on the radio isn't worth listening to. So what's an aspiring songwriter to do when there isn't much to inspire. Well, fortunately, there have been generations of great songs and songwriters of the past that we can look back on and explore some of their techniques. By bringing these old school techniques and looking at them afresh with modern eyes we will be able to add them to our songwriting tool box and make our songs much better. So here are five tips for writing better lyrics.

1. Read Poetry - I know, I know, conventional wisdom states that songs are not poems. Well, sadly conventional wisdom (and a lot of popular modern songwriters) are wrong. Songs are poems set to music. The best songwriters of all time were great poets: Bob Dylan, Sting, Paul Simon, Bernie Taupin. All of these guys knew how to make a great poem, and thus their songs were great because of it.

2. Get Out Into Nature - Whenever I am in nature, listening to the sound of waterfalls, or birds tweeting or crickets chirping, I can't help but be inspired. There's something about the restfulness of the wilderness that gets my mind in a songwriting mood. Maybe it'll work for you as well. Give it a try.

3. Practice Using Sensory Words - Sensory Words are words that turn on the senses. By using them they immediately make you feel something, or they illicit the memory of a feeling. These types of words tug at people's emotions and give the song you are writing real impact.

4. Read Songs As Poems - Go online, or get a book of lyrics from your favorite songwriter, and read their songs as if they were poetry. Strip them away from the music, and see what makes the lyrics tick. Maybe by doing so you will get some inspiration that you would not have noticed otherwise from just listening to the song as a whole.

5. Be Ambiguous - You don't need to spell everything out. You can allude to things without actually describing every detail. Also, by being ambiguous you leave room for the listener to insert their own ideas and feelings into the song, so that where you might have meant the song to mean one thing, to them it might mean something totally different. And that's ok, because it ministers to you both.

Bonus Tip:

6. Use Metaphors - Get good at using metaphors to describe other concrete things. Are you looking at a cat? Or would it be better to describe it as a "vestigial lion?" Is it an apple, or is it "Eve's Downfall?"

You can find out more about songwriting tips and tricks in my new book: "Lyrics and Music: Music Theory for Aspiring Songwriters" available now at Amazon.com, or with several additional Appendices at Barnes and Noble..