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The idea to offer access to a songwriting group to others comes directly from my own experience in my songwriting group, which I have talked about here on the YouTube Channel. My own songwriting group is the primary reason I wrote more than 20 songs last year, and have written almost 10 songs this year (we’re in May 2022 right now!).…
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I’m compiling here a list of my favourite books, websites, blogs, and other resources for those pursuing study, growth, upskilling, and knowledge in songwriting. This list might change over time, but represents a curated list of some of the most useful content that I have collected over the past 15 years, songwriting, and teaching songwriting.…
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We’d love to hear from you! If you have requests for videos, tutorials, or topics on songwriting, please head to this facebook post, and request in the comments. Thanks!
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The pre-chorus is NOT just the bit before the chorus – it is the bit before the chorus that creates TENSION! Building up and releasing this tension is one of the most effective ways of writing big, beautiful and impactful CHORUSES! In this video, Part 1 of a 3-part series, we examine how to use…
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Break out of predictable patterns and inject some colour into your craft with this chromatic approach to writing killer riffs and memorable melodies! In Part 1 of the CHROMATIC MAGIC mini-series – we look at a simple yet effective way of breaking old patterns and introducing new sounds to your repertoire. Starting with some warm-up…
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As songwriters we often start with a chord progression, using it as a framework to add lyrics, melodies, textures and embellishments. But one question that continually pops up is ‘what chord do I choose next?’ In this video, my musical compadre Ben Romalis looks at the functions and relationships of chords in a diatonic system,…
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It’s a question that haunts me. According Maslow, art should be something that we only bother with once we have secure housing, food supply, love, care, and support…and yet. And yet—there is something so patently untrue about this. Art is made despite a lack of these things; often because of that lack. John Green, discussing…
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One of the best ways to learn how to write great songs is to learn from great songs and songwriters. In this video, songwriter Ben Romalis and I take 6 songs that each taught us a crucial principle or technique about writing great songs. Drawing from a range of inspirations from Radiohead, Tom Waits, to…
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Top 3 Fiction A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik I snuck this one in in the last week of 2021, and was overwhelmingly grateful to have the sequel, ‘The Last Graduate’ waiting next to my bed. I would have been devastated to have read something SO GOOD, and not be able to keep reading. What I…
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The first exercise I run in any lyric writing class is called ‘Sense Writing,’ which is essentially the same as Pat Pattison’s Object Writing (which you can find out more about here). I’ve written before about Sense Writing, and recently put out a YouTube video that explains it, which you can watch here: It’s one…