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Songwriting Tip #7 – Using Unconventional Song Forms In songwriting, it’s common practice for most of us to adhere to common or popular song forms such ABAB or AABA. However, this doesn’t mean that these are the only song forms we should ever use. Through analysing Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, we’ll discuss how using…
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Step #5 of Writing Great Melodies – Repeat the Phrase As most songwriters know, repetition is important when trying to write great melodies. After all, an earworm can only be formed if a melodic motif is drilled into a listener’s mind. However, we can’t just duplicate phrases note for note. We have to create variation…
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Songwriter Habit #2 – Revise Your Songs The media often portrays great songwriters as simply having inspiration strike them, then magically writing inspiring songs on their first try. In reality, a lot of revision is done between the song’s first draft and the version that the listener hears. Here, we’ll discuss how revising your songs…
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Part 1 of The Songwriting Formula – The Concept A common complaint that many songwriters have is that they’re unable to finish their songs. You can easily avoid this by ensuring that you have a clear concept before trying to develop your song idea. In this article, we’ll talk about how having a concept is…
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Chord Tips to Learn from “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is one of the Beatles most popular and well-known songs. Buried within this masterpiece are some truly amazing chord sequences! In this article, we’ll break down those chord sequences so that we can learn from them and use…
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Songwriting Tip #6 – Keep It Short A common issue that songwriters often struggle with, is how to determine the length of their song. In this blog post, we’ll learn the importance of song length, by studying Queen’s famous rock anthem, “We Will Rock You”. This article is a summarised transcript of the sixth part…
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Step #4 of Writing Great Melodies – Create Rhythmic Interest Although the notes that you choose for your melody are important, that’s not the only thing that matters. We also need to think about the rhythmic variation of our melodic phrases. In this blog post, we’ll discuss creating rhythmic interest in our melodies. This article…
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Songwriter Habit #3 – Collecting Everything We’ve all been there before: You get a sudden idea for a song, and you tell yourself that it’s alright, you’ll remember it later. But let’s be honest, most of the time, we won’t be able to accurately recall what it is later. In this article, we’ll teach you…
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An Easy 3-Part Songwriting Formula Do you have folders full of half-finished songs? This is a common problem and you’re definitely not alone. In this article, we’ll go through a songwriting formula I’ve learnt that has allowed me to know whether a song idea will work, and write better songs faster. This article is a…
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Learn to Turn Basic Chords Beautiful There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using basic chords. After all, they’re safe, reliable and well-known. However, to truly make the most out of your basic chords, you have to learn how to make them interesting. In this article, we’ll take some of the most common chords on guitar and…