The essential secrets of songwriting pdf free download

There are many published books that feature progressions that you can use. Creating a chord progression is where things can get interesting, but remember this: chord progressions have all been discovered. There are no chord progressions left to discover. Just choose or build a chord progression, and get on with the next step.

The main focus of this manual is to generate ideas for melodies, starting with a chord progression. It automatically begs the question: What is a good melody? But certainly, we have to have at least some idea of what would make an acceptable melody.

Sometimes, to find the answer to tough questions, it helps to reverse the picture and ask the question in a different way: What is a bad melody? A bad melody keeps emotional lyrics from their fullest potential. A bad melody strains the relationship between itself and the chords. Generally, music is an alternating pattern of strong beats and weak beats. Most of the time, you want melody notes on the strong beats to belong to the chord of the moment. But it all sounds effortless and natural.

A bad melody fails to draw important distinctions between song sections. This means that all sections of the song verse, pre- chorus, chorus, bridge, and any other optional parts all feature a melody that sits in the same range — not a good scenario. The audience hears all melodies using the same few notes, with little or nothing to distinguish themselves. The verse and chorus use the same notes, but the chorus places them an octave higher, making a very obvious change from the verse.

Practically any melody you can name will use repetition — either exact or approximate. Repetition taps into the human desire to find patterns. Even the third line, which is a bit different, has a similar feel to the opening line. Repetition works like musical glue.

You can have too much of it, so you have to know when to break away from simply repeating the same thing over and over. As you might gather then, a melody is good not because it follows a set of rules, but rather because it adheres to certain principles. That gives you a very large palette upon which you can design a melody. What do you like about your favourite songs? It helps if you have a song in mind that you can use as a model to help you work through the process. What makes it a good choice as a song model is the simplicity of the melodies, as well as the simplicity of the chord progression and the clear and obvious song form.

Almost always, simplicity trumps complexity. In fact, the entire song is built on various arrangements of just those four chords. Then the two melodic phrases repeat. Those four phrases form the complete verse. That idea of starting higher, and then moving lower, is something we want to replicate in this exercise.

The same goes for phrases 3 and 4. The last two chords of the first phrase Db Gb just has Mendes holding a note, or resting. In good music, silence from the singer can be as important as the actual singing. The chorus is also four short phrases long, but it works a little differently from the verse. Second, notice that the first short phrase is repeated, then a 3rd different phrase happens, and then repeats.

You get this as a form: AABB. May be useful. Save - NLP Success is a blog for readers, book enthusiasts. The contents of this blog include simple links in the public domain to contents hosted on other servers on the network, such as box. The material is made available for educational, criticism, discussion and teaching purposes only as required by Article 70 of the L. If it is necessary to request the removal of one or more contents you can use the Contact page or the page dedicated to the DMCA.

Please share with us. The Lyrics: to the Present Vol. Sellout Dan Ozzi. The Heroin Diaries Nikki Sixx. BMF Mara Shalhoup. Meet Me in the Bathroom Lizzy Goodman. Popular eBooks. Think of a public domain song as a songwriting partner who is providing you with a melody you can srcrets. No instruments, no vocal harmonies, and no clear obvious rhythmic patterns.

Those songwriring at least three characteristics the essential secrets of songwriting verses that most people subconsciously listen for in their favourite songs. Notation consisted of lines and squiggles that imitated the melodic shape. Of course, it begs the question: Music written according to rules will be dull — lacking in imagination.

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Start by pressing the button below! Author: Gary Ewer B. Printed in Canada. This book is protected by Copyright. Permission must be obtained in writing from Pantomime Music Publications for the use of any original text or musical materials contained within this publication. Permission must be obtained from the publisher prior to any reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise.

If you purchased or received it elsewhere, you should be aware that you are in possession of stolen property; it has been given away illegally and the author has not received payment. What Makes Good Form? What Makes a Good Melody? What Makes Good Harmony? What Makes a Good Lyric? What Makes a Good Hook? Make a Demo Recording — Yes, already! Expanding Your Chord Vocabulary i. Adding a 7th to a V-Chord ii. Modal Mixtures iii.

Secondary Dominant Chords iv. Suspensions v. Half-step-upward modulation ii. It is the culmination of years of thinking, researching and writing. I am a composer, arranger, orchestrator, trumpet player, conductor and adjudicator, as well as, of course, a teacher. I believe that such a diverse job description has given me a unique perspective for understanding and communicating musical concepts.

Through the process of writing this book, my CD and song file collection has grown somewhat, as I have sought to study and compare popular music from the s through to the music of today.

I need to remind you kindly, I hope! If you would like to make a hard copy of portions of it to aid your own personal study, please do so. But the book cannot be given or sold to anyone else, in any format. If you would like to write me to comment on this book, or to ask a question, please write me directly at [email protected] I will do my best to reply, though during the school year my teaching duties may keep me from being as prompt as I would like.

I can at least guarantee that I read every email that comes to me, and will eventually reply. Thank you for purchasing this book. Best wishes to you in all your musical endeavors! If you acquired this ebook through channels other than via the website secretsofsongwriting.

You can be a songwriter. You want to be able not only to write songs, but also to do it well. There are some really fine musicians out there, trying to make it, trying to unlock the secrets of how to move forward in the music business. And they are being thwarted by circumstances within and without of their sphere of influence. I wonder if I just described you?

Amateur songwriters tend to look at the entire business of songwriting as a single-dimensional activity. The marketing end of the business will not happen unless you have created a good song.

The songwriting business is actually a multidimensional world, involving two major areas: creating and marketing. Creating a good song is where the process comes to a grinding halt for most people. The biggest and best hits in the songwriting business are songs with simple melodies using a simple form, songs that are easy for people to remember.

Most songs in the popular music realm use no more than five chords, often fewer. And their melodies usually encompass only seven or eight notes, if that! So what are the secrets? This book will refer to dozens of songs and albums, all listed at the back. Listen all the time, and not just to one style of music.

Let yourself become influenced by different styles — pop, rock, jazz, country, blues, or classical. Open your mind — let it grow! Victimless Crime? Always remember that getting the song written takes time, requiring many steps to finally get it pressed on to a CD for the awaiting pubic.

Big mistake! Have you ever had that nagging fear that everything you write is something that sounds familiar? And you wonder if you are simply plagiarizing music already written by someone else?

But that fear is more common in songwriters who limit their listening experience to only one or two favourite performers. If you are a pop songwriter, listen to classical music. Listen to blues, or country, or bluegrass. Great songs are great because they work, and we need to learn why they work. Creativity ensures that you are writing things that no one has heard before. Predictability ensures that you are using conventional elements that make your song hum-able and memorable.

Coming up with the perfect balance and blend is what the successful songwriters do. This book is for you, whether you are already a songwriter who wants to make your songs better, or if all you have are fragments of ideas that you want to learn how to fuse into great songs. And you are going to love the process! Fixate on writing good songs. If you get into a system of writing good music, talent becomes a side issue.

Who knows? And frankly, who cares?! If it's good you don't mess about it; you just enjoy it. For the s erious songw riter, t his can not be accep table. Enj oyment mu st be the Louis Armstrong ove rridin g char acteri stic o n whi ch we judge our mu sic.

I n 17 oth er wor ds, if you w rite m usic t hat sh ows a high l evel o f int ellige nce in its c onstru ction, but t hat co nstruc tion d oes not resul t in s omethi ng ple asing to lis ten to , who cares about the const ruction? Magical music never leaves the memory. So what i s good music? It i s imp ossibl e for one pe rson t o say that thi s pi ece of music is goo d whil e another is bad, if by good a nd bad we me an Without form, music tends to end up a shapeless, directionless blob.

Sir Thomas Beecham whe ther o r not we lik e the pie ce. On e pers on may like cou ntry mu sic, w hile a nother fin ds it revolt ing. O ne may lik e a me lody be cause it is rem inisce nt of a melo dy hea rd in childh ood, w hile f or 18 ano ther t he sam e melo dy mak es no real i mpact.

For m ost lis teners , the qualit y of a piece of mu sic de pends in lar ge par t upon con text. I n pop mu sic, w e are more l ikely to enj oy a p iece i f a mu sician or gr oup we happe n to l ike per forms it. Whe n crea ting m usic, there is so much t o talk about. But any discu ssion withou t men tionin g the fiv e basi c asp ects of songwr iting is jus t a wa ste of time. Paul Simon Ess ential ly, th ey are what thi s enti re boo k is a ll abo ut.

For example, verse-chorus-verse-chorus, etc. Form helps to lend an aspect of predictability of design that is somewhat necessary in most styles of music.

All other aspects of music melody, harmony, lyric, etc. Without form, music tends to end up a Form adds just the right balance of predictability and innovation. Form gives hints to the listener of what might happen in a song, and keeps it from simply being an aimless random walk through the woods. Predictability does not necessarily mean boredom. Melody needs to be fairly predictable while also being inventive and spontaneous.

The harmony within a song also needs to be structured, while allowing for something impulsive and creative. Lyrics should be an artistic attempt to draw the listener into 20 a topic. And the hook is that vitally important, repetitious element that reels your audience in and keeps them there. Notwithstanding the various important aspects of musical composition just listed, we can come up with a rather large list of songs that seems to violate the importance of one or more of those features.

But essentially all songs, to be successful, need a perceivable, somewhat simplistic form. But there are songs that did become huge hits for groups, where the lyric was weak and the melody uninspiring. Partly because of the person who sang it, but also because of that simplicity of form that I just mentioned.

Never underestimate simplicity! A good melody takes us on a journey. Making certain that you are consistent with your choice of brick ensures that your house has that pleasant feel of predictability. The energy builds, then dissipates. Most songs start in a very understated way, gathering power as they go, finishing at a much higher energy level. What makes the energy level rise is a mixture of things: instrumentation — in this case, starting with a simple piano accompaniment, then finishing with string orchestra, drums, electric bass, etc.

In the verse, each line begins with a rhythmic idea consisting of two short notes followed by a long one. This repeating rhythm helps to move the song along. Choosing the brick for your house Constructing and using a rhythmic motif is like trying to decide what colour brick to use for your house. Motifs, whether rhythmic or melodic, are the repetitious elements that make music feel organized. Introductions to songs will set us up for the kind of encounter in the song.

If the song starts with a single chord vamped a simple rhythm, we know that the piece will likely not venture too far afield in its use of chords. Keep in mind that the people you are writing for are unpredictable in what they like and dislike.

By being careful in your approach, you can create songs that appeal to many people, and increase your audience base.

If you already read music, consider purchasing a good music notation program. Their full versions are quite expensive, but worth it. They also have less expensive options see below. A good lyric is usually one that says what it needs to in the most succinct way. The importance of a weighty lyric, though, depends on the purpose of the song.

There are individuals and groups that produce songs with deep, insightful lyrics that can profoundly impress an audience. There are other composers writing songs where the main purpose is to get the listener dancing, and the lyric about is as deep as a mud puddle. Often you will encounter writers of lyrics whose ability as a wordsmith is astounding, but whose use of melody and chords is quite simplistic by comparison. Leonard Cohen might be a good example of this.

The composer Beethoven probably can lay claim to the most wellknown hook in the music world. A songwriter creating a motif is the same as an architect deciding on a particular pattern of brick on a wall. Some great hooks? Not all songs use hooks, but for those that do, it is by definition their most easily remembered feature. Yes, there most certainly is. Will you write songs, and make millions of dollars, and retire on the French Riviera?

That depends on many factors, the main one of which is finding out who your efforts are marketable to. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly As was stated earlier, humans are creative animals. We have an innate ability to make something beautiful out of stuff in our minds. Some are better at it than others, and this book will help you determine where you are in the scale of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

What I want to do is to provide you with the principles necessary for good composition. What you now need guidelines to manage the creativity that is lurking in the depths of your mind.

The journey to being a successful composer is an interesting one, and can pay dividends at its conclusion. And in fact, if you rely on the same way of thinking all the time, you run the danger of simply writing the same song over and over again! Being creative means not just trying to come up with a unique tune.

It also means coming up with a unique way of composing. Be creative. Try starting with a hook. Or a chord. Or a rhythm. The best songwriters out there are the ones who are innovative from the very beginning of the process.

You need to be able to write your music down in some way, even if that means just to write down the chords and lyrics. Does this mean you must be able to read music? It is not absolutely essential, but I strongly recommend it, for many reasons. Learning to read and write music on a musical staff is easy to learn, and gives you a level of literacy that will eventually pay off for you.

The first six lessons of that course will give you the basics you need, and can be done in mere days. I am a strong believer that music theory can help your songwriting in many, many ways. The basics are easy to learn. You never know when a great idea will hit you. You need to keep a notepad, or a small digital voice recorder in your pocket with you. Be prepared! Just something to get your thoughts down so you can work on them at a more convenient time.

Here are some manufacturers of digital recorders. Why, you may be asking, am I making a demo already? They spend a lot of time bent over their guitar, strumming away at musical ideas, and putting songs together.

But the end result is that you only ever get to hear the song from your own very personal viewpoint. And the audience for your songs at this stage may only be very well-meaning friends and family, who may not feel free to give you an honest adjudication. You need to be able to listen to your music from a more objective position — from the speakers of a tape machine.

Hearing yourself in this way is dramatically different from singing to yourself. We are often our own worse critics. Just keep reading. If you can, use some good players — not just you on the guitar or piano. If you have a band that you regularly play with, use them on the recording. You may not have the technical equipment to do that level of recording, but get it to sound as good as you can.

At this point, do not rent time at a local studio. No need to spend that kind of money yet. The great thing is that making high quality sound recordings is much easier and less expensive now than it was even just ten years ago.

The quality of your microphone will be the biggest factor in the quality of your recording. So if you can, borrow a good microphone. There should be no need to go back and do overdubs unless they are really necessary for the song to work. The point here is to get the song into a shape and format that allows you to hear it the same way an audience will hear it. This ability will help you communicate your musical ideas to others, as well as increase the likelihood that you will be able to expand on your ideas.

Listening to your song coming through headphones or speakers gives you important distance that can allow you to be more objective about your musical efforts. You need to feel a real love for the music you do. It may not be what you want yet, but be patient…. They try to duplicate that car by creating a different one that offers the same popular features. The music industry is no different. Study the greats, learn what makes their music work, and then do it in your own way.

The Success of Great Writers There are great songs out there, so great that they have changed the way we think about music. Certainly that is true of albums.

In other words, people write differently because of the music on the Thriller album. There are great songwriters out there, from every genre and every era, and what you need to do now is to learn from their success. The same is true for any great song.

Before we do, lets look at one feature that probably gets ignored more than any other: form. Form How Important is Form? Over my career, I have examined literally hundreds of songs and other compositions, mostly written by my own students. And I make the following statement based on all that research: Bad form is the reason for most of the bad music out there. If you think your music is bad, or at least needs some serious improvement, you may need to look no further than its basic structure.

The formal decisions you make when 39 composing will be the most important reasons why your music succeeds or fails.

But here is the crucial point: most lousy-looking backyards are not lousy because of the plants that are there. Landscape designers are experts at telling you not just what plants you should have, but far more importantly, where they Form is what we talk about when we wonder how many verses to write, whether we need a bridge or not, should there be an intro, an outro, or some other element. Form is the basic design of your song.

Always give some thought to how you plan to get your audience from the beginning to the end in an interesting way. Form may very likely be the most important, least mentioned feature of good songwriting. In other words, if you think your music needs help, you may be surprised to know that all the elements of good composition are probably already there! What is probably lacking is form and direction. If you have composed a song without much consideration for form, your song probably has formal problems.

It can be hard to figure out if your music has formal problems. The more you examine the topic of form, as we will in the next chapter, the more you will understand that form has many levels. Yes, some famous songs use that form, but some flops use it too. So there must be more. And there is. To assume that the verse — chorus — verse — chorus — bridge — chorus form will result in a great tune is like saying that your living room is fantastic because it has a sofa and two chairs, a coffee table and a couple of end tables.

So what? You need to examine your music from the macro to the micro level with regard to form. If you were thinking of building a house, the thought of doing that without a blueprint would be preposterous. Try this: Take a song, whether written by you, or by a songwriter you like, and draw a diagram of the song. Use a line to show the general shape and direction of the overall energy.

Make note of where the verses, choruses, bridge, etc. You may find that you understand much more about that song once you see it written out in this way. Up to the first entry of the vocals is generally considered the intro. This is where you set the stage for what is to come. The intro will usually set up the essential harmonic language, the rhythms and the basic beat. A good intro pulls the listener into the song, and makes them want to hear more.

Verse: Usually the beginning of the poem. A verse will often be a narrative or other form of story, whether straightforward or in the abstract. The music tends to pull back dynamically after the intro, allowing the text to come forward without being upstaged by another aspect of the song.

Chorus: More often than not, choruses will use a different melody than the verse. By and large, the text for a chorus tends to be more like a commentary, more reflective and less narrative than the text for a verse. A bridge will provide a new melody, with text that is usually commentary in format, designed to expand on the text of the chorus. It helps the song by allowing the songwriter to avoid being too repetitious. It helps build energy. The bridge is usually a time where overall energy increases, and sets things up beautifully for a final verse or chorus.

Outro: The end of the piece. An outro can simply be the final verse repeated until faded, or can be original music. When trying to decide what form your song should take, try not to obsess. Bring it out again once your head is cleared, and the answer may be obvious. If you recorded a demo as suggested at the end of the previous chapter, try answering the following questions: 1.

What is the basic overall design of your song i. Which chords does your song use consistently? How many key changes does your song go through? If one or more key changes, which verse s or chorus es feature the key change? What do you like about the melody? How many verses exhibit a unique text i. A hook is a short, repetitious feature that you believe listeners will fixate on, an aspect that reels your listener in and keeps them interested in your song.

It may seem counter-intuitive to say so, but creativity can be learned and practiced. If you want to write better songs, write lots of songs!

This means that you should try not to become fixated on a song that might not be working for you. It can take many tries at a song before you get it sounding the way you want, and frankly, it may be time better spent to move on. Just writing down your observations will go a long way to solving nagging problems with it.

Creativity can be learned and practiced. Though no piece of music will kill you if it falls down around your ears, both musicians and architects know that design is not something to be left to casual thought. Fortunately, we can learn from the experience of songwriters who have come before us. Through the years, and through millions of songs, basic templates have emerged that can serve as models for us today. The Contrast Principle of Composition Music historians will tell you that one of the most persistent features of composition from at least the sixteenth century to present day is the basic principle of contrast.

Contrast is the component that helps to build interest within a song. Contrast sets things apart. Contrasting elements within a song brings out beauty, in much the same way that landscapers create contours on flat land to create beauty. So how do you contour music? Verse, chorus, bridge, solo, intro, outro… these are all elements that can ensure that your song can rise and fall with the emotions of the text.