The Essential Secrets of Songwriting eBook SoS
-
Upload
liliana-parodi -
Category
Documents
-
view
47 -
download
8
Transcript of The Essential Secrets of Songwriting eBook SoS
3
All original music samples within this book are the exclusive copyrighted property of PantomimeMusic Publications, except where otherwise noted within the text.
Copyright © 2005 by Pantomime Music Publications
P.O. Box 31177, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3K 5Y1All rights reserved. Printed in Canada. This book is protected by Copyright. Permission must beobtained in writing from Pantomime Music Publications for the use of any original text or musicalmaterials contained within this publication. Permission must be obtained from the publisher priorto any reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise.
THIS IS NOT A FREE EBOOK.
This book, "The Essential Secrets of Songwriting", is sold only through PantomimeMusic Publications. If you purchased or received it elsewhere, you should be awarethat you are in possession of stolen property; it has been given away illegally and theauthor has not received payment.
ISBN 0-9738946-0-1
4
A MESSAGE FROM GARY EWER… 8
PREFACE 9
The Desire to be Creative – It’s Human… It’s You 10When Good Songs Go Bad 12Listen! 13
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION TO WRITING MUSIC 16
What’s Good Music? 17What Makes Good Form? 21What Makes a Good Melody? 22What Makes Good Harmony? 25What Makes a Good Lyric? 27What Makes a Good Hook? 28
Is There a Composer in Me? 29The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 29What Do You Need to be a Songwriter? 30
Let’s Get Started! 32Make a Demo Recording – Yes, already! 32
Chapter 1 SUMMARY 35
CHAPTER 2- YOUR MUSIC FROM THE INSIDE 36
Learn From the Greats 37The Success of Great Writers 37
Form 39How Important is Form? 39Good Form Means Good Design 40Good Form Can’t be Accidental 41Song Components Defined 43
Getting to Know Your Song 45
5
Chapter 2 SUMMARY 48
CHAPTER 3- DESIGNING A SONG 49
The Blueprint 50The Contrast Principle of Composition 50Macro Forms 52Energy – the Forgotten Formal Element 60Micro Forms 63
Micro Versus Macro 69
Chapter 3 SUMMARY 70
CHAPTER 4- HARMONY 71
The Chord Muddle 72Chord Progressions – A Mystery No Longer 72
I. Chord Basics 76The Basic Triads of Any Major Key 78
II. How One Chord Moves to Another Chord 79The V-I Progression 79Why Some Progressions Work and Others Don’t 79Making Good Two-Chord Progressions 82When Progressions Sound Muddled 85
What About Minor Keys? 88
III. Integrating Balance When Building a Longer Progression 92Building Progressions 93Incorporating Balance 95Harmonic Rhythm 97
IV. Expanding Your Chord Vocabulary 99i. Adding a 7th to a V-Chord 100ii. Modal Mixtures 104iii. Secondary Dominant Chords 106iv. Suspensions 110v. Inversions 112
Key Changes 115
6
Don’t Go Changin’… Without a Reason 115i. Half-step-upward modulation 116ii. Miscellaneous Modulation (more than a whole tone) 118
Chapter 4 SUMMARY 120
CHAPTER 5-MELODY AND LYRIC 122
Melodic Energy 123How “Yesterday” Works 124Don’t Write Counterintuitively 126What is Falsetto and Tessitura? 127
Writing Good Melodies 128Getting Notes in the Right Place 128Verse-Chorus Text Design 130Song Sample 131Shaping a Melody 134
Creating a Melody by Layering Ideas 136Let’s Write a Song 136
Other Ways to Compose 143The Text-First Method 143The Rhythm/Beat-First Method 143
More About Lyrics 144Too Many Words 145A Good Lyric Isn’t Necessarily Deep 147
Balancing Lyrics and Melody 148The Balance of “Hotel California” 149Dealing with Unremarkable Lyrics 150
The Bridge 153
Chapter 5 SUMMARY 156
CHAPTER 6- THE HOOK 158
A Good Hook 159Hook and Motif 160Musical Lubricant 161
7
The Hook as a Basis for Your Song 164The Myth of the Hook 165
Recognizing a Hook 167
Chapter 6 SUMMARY 169
CHAPTER 7- INSPIRATION 170
The Role of Inspiration 171Misunderstanding Inspiration 171The Steps to Honing Your Songwriting Craft 173
Chapter 7 SUMMARY 177
CHAPTER 8- THE WORLD BEYOND COMPOSING – NOWWHAT? 178
The Most Important Principle of All 179
And now… what? 180
Getting Your Song Ready… A Brief Tutorial 180Copyright 180Publishing 184Mechanical Rights 185Performing Rights Organizations 185
In Conclusion 185
Index 200
8
A Message From Gary Ewer…
I want to thank you for purchasing this ebook, The EssentialSecrets of Songwriting. It is the culmination of years ofthinking, researching and writing. My career as a musicianhas been a rewarding mélange of job descriptions. I am acomposer, arranger, orchestrator, trumpet player, conductorand adjudicator, as well as, of course, a teacher. I believethat such a diverse job description has given me a uniqueperspective for understanding and communicating musicalconcepts. Through the process of writing this book, my CD
and song file collection has grown somewhat, as I have sought to study and comparepopular music from the 1950s through to the music of today.
I need to remind you (kindly, I hope!) that this book is not a free ebook. I am askingthat you please not give it away, or transfer it in any way to another person’scomputer. If you would like to make a hard copy of portions of it to aid your ownpersonal 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, pleasewrite me directly at [email protected]. I will do my best to reply, thoughduring the school year my teaching duties may keep me from being as prompt as Iwould like. I can at least guarantee that I read every email that comes to me, and willeventually 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.com, Pantomime Music Publications would be very
grateful for any information you might be able to provide regarding the
transaction. Please write [email protected].
10
“Music is a magical gift we mustnourish and cultivate… especiallynow as scientific evidence provesthat an education in the artsmakes better math and sciencestudents, enhances spatialintelligence in newborns, and let'snot forget that the arts are acompelling solution to teenviolence, certainly not the cause ofit!”
— Michael Greene, RecordingAcademy President and CEO at the42nd Annual Grammy Awards,February 2000.
The Desire to be Creative – It’sHuman… It’s You
Because you are a human being reading this book, one fact can be
stated right away – YOU CAN WRITE MUSIC, no matter who you are.
This is something we’ve known about
the human race for some time now: the
ability to be creative is already there,
ready to be tapped, shaped, honed and
used. You can be a songwriter.
You want to be able not
only to write songs, but also
to do it well. There are lots
of songwriters out there,
but the vast majority,
probably at least 99%, are
not achieving any significant
commercial success. That
shouldn’t really surprise us;
in the arts, most people are
working at an amateur level.
11
I am a great supporter of amateur involvement in music, but it is
frustrating to me when I see very talented people who are stuck in the
amateur world. 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. It’s as if
they say, “I want to be able to write
commercially successful songs that I
can sell to professional singers,” as if
it’s all just one big process. The songwriting business is actually a
multidimensional world, involving two major areas: creating and
marketing. The marketing end of the business will not happen unless
you have created a good song. Creating a good song is where the
process comes to a grinding halt for most people. THIS BOOK IS
GOING TO HELP YOU.
The songwritingbusiness is amultidimensionalworld, involving twomajor areas: creatingand marketing. The
marketing end of
the business will
not happen unless
you have created agood song.
12
WHEN GOOD SONGS GO BAD
It often surprises people when they discover how incredibly simple
most of the biggest songs of the past fifty years are. If you think that
songs are complicated art forms, you are about to discover one of the
most important principles of songwriting,
and why many writers’ songs might not be
working yet. It’s a principle that applies to so
much in our life – not just music: KEEP IT
SIMPLE. 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!
This book is called “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting”, and that
word, “Secrets”, makes it sound like you’ll learn things that no one has
known before. But in fact, they are only secrets to those many people
who haven’t noticed what the pros have been doing. So few have
really known why the songs of the world’s best seem to work so well.
So what are the secrets? You’ll learn that form is one of the most
overlooked and essential components of a good song. You’ll learn how
13
Victimless Crime?
You’ll sometimes hear people calling the illegal downloading of music a“victimless crime.” But is it? Always remember that getting the songwritten takes time, requiring many steps to finally get it pressed on to aCD for the awaiting pubic. Illegally acquiring the music means you areassigning that entire process a value of $0. We know it’s illegal, but it’salso disrespectful to the songwriter. Acquiring music legally is now arelatively easy process, and most songs are available for download at acost of $0.99 per song from online services such as MSN Music Store orApple’s iTunes Store, to name only two.
to create a verse that begs for a chorus. You’ll learn how to
contour a melody so that it makes sense. You’ll learn how to make
chord progressions work so that they don’t just sound like muddle.
And you’ll learn how to snag your audience with a hook that will
keep people humming your songs all day.
LISTEN!
If you aren’t listening to music on a daily basis, then start! Trying to
write songs without listening to the pros’ songs is like trying to draw a
picture of something you’ve never seen. If you’re really serious about
songwriting – start listening now! This book will refer to dozens of
songs and albums, all listed at the back. Most of the music can be
purchased in CD stores, on websites, or through Apple’s iTunes Store.
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!
14
By listening to many genres, not just one, you will be subtly developing
your own personal writing style in a way will differentiate you from all
others. I know of people who deliberately try to limit how much music
they listen to, because they don’t want to be unduly influenced by
another songwriter. 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? The good news is that
you probably aren’t. 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. Even if you don’t like a particular style of music,
keep in mind that there are great songs in every genre. Great songs
are great because they work, and we need to learn why they work.
The more you listen, the more material you’ll have at your disposal.
And your musical brain will begin fusing ideas together in a way it
hasn’t really done before. The world’s best songwriters are able to
speak intelligently about many different styles and writers from many
genres.
15
The best songs are a mixture of creativity and predictability.
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. It’s
what this book will help you 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. You’re about to
discover that how you put those fragments together is what makes a
great song. And you are going to love the process!
Don’t fixate on “talent”. Fixate on writing good songs. If you get into asystem of writing good music, talent becomes a side issue. Not thatit’s not important… it’s just not worth worrying about. Think of it thisway… who’s the more “talented” artist, Monet or Rembrandt? Whoknows? And frankly, who cares?!
16
NOTE:Any songs mentioned in this text are listed by chapter ofappearance at the end in the Index of Song Samples. The indexincludes
• copyright information• authorship• the performer typically associated with a given song• the format of the recording referenced• the recording label• the recording title, and• the musical concept the song demonstrates (if applicable)
Chapter 1-Introduction toWriting Music
17
“One good thing aboutmusic, when it hits you,you feel no pain.”
Bob Marley
“There's only two waysto sum up music: eitherit's good or it's bad. Ifit's good you don't messabout it; you just enjoyit.”
Louis Armstrong
What’s Good Music?
In his autobiography, Mark
Twain sa id, “Wagner’s music is
better than it sounds.” It ’s a
funny way of saying that it ’s
possible to place as much or
more importance on the
structure of music than on the
sound that that structure
produces. And even though
Twain was trying to be funny,
you will meet people who feel
an apprec iation for the
architecture of certa in music
whi le not actua lly enjoying the
end result of that architecture –
the sound of it.
For the serious songwriter, this
cannot be acceptable.
Enjoyment must be the
overriding characteristic on
which we judge our music. In
18
“Great music is that whichpenetrates the ear withfacility and leaves thememory with difficulty.Magical music never leavesthe memory.”
Sir Thomas Beecham
Without form, musictends to end up a
shapeless, directionless
blob.
other words, if you write music that shows a high level of
intell igence in its construction, but that construction does
not result in something pleasing to l is ten to, who cares
about the construction? And while admit ting that beauty is
in the eye (or in this case, the
ear) of the beholder, this book
adheres to the premise that
the sonic beauty of the final
product is the ult imate aim in
songwrit ing.
So what is good music? It is
impossible for one person to
say that this piece of music is
good while another is bad, if
by good and bad we mean
whether or not we l ike the
piece. One person may like
country music, while another
finds it revolt ing. One may
like a melody because it is
reminiscent of a melody
heard in childhood, while for
19
“Music is forever; musicshould grow and maturewith you, following youright on up until youdie.”
Paul Simon
another the same melody makes no real impact. For most
l is teners, the quality of a piece of music depends in large
part upon context. In pop music, we are more l ikely to
enjoy a p iece i f a musician or group we happen to l ike
performs it. The song “Wild Honey Pie” is of dubious
qua lity, and were it not for the fact that the Beat les sang
it, we’d l ikely not even know of it.
If writing good music happened by simply sticking to a formula, we’d
all be writing hit songs, and doing it daily. It is the mixture of many
different components, all working together in a way that can be best
described as “magic.” There are aspects of musica l
composition, however, that
are usual ly considered a
prerequis ite for good music ,
and it is those aspects that
this book wil l concentrate on.
When creating music, there is
so much to talk about. But
any discussion without
mentioning the five basic
aspects of songwriting is
just a waste of t ime.
Essential ly, they are what
this enti re book is a l l about.
20
Form adds just theright balance ofpredictability andinnovation.
Form gives hints tothe listener of whatmight happen in asong, and keeps itfrom simply being anaimless random walkthrough the woods.
Predictability doesnot necessarily meanboredom.
The Five Basic Aspects of Song-writing:
• Form
• Melody
• Harmony/Rhythm
• Lyric
• Hook
Form is that aspect of music
that we talk about when
discussing the structure of music. For
example, verse-chorus-verse-chorus,
etc., is a type of form. 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.)
require some attention to form. Without
form, music tends to end up a
shapeless, directionless blob. 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
21
a topic. And the hook is that vitally important, repetitious element that
reels your audience in and keeps them there.
What Makes Good Form?
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. For example, who could listen to “Wild
Honey Pie” by the Beatles and praise its creative melody or profound
lyrics? Mind you, “Wild Honey Pie” was not a hit, and the Beatles did
not pretend that it was anything more than… whatever it is. But there
are songs that did become huge hits for groups, where the lyric was
weak and the melody uninspiring. I’m not intending to alienate Elvis
Presley fans when I say that “All Shook Up” is not an amazing lyric.1
The melody of the verse is extremely simplistic, most of it
encompassing the interval of a perfect 4th.
But “All Shook Up” was a huge monster
hit. Why? Partly because of the person
who sang it, but also because of that
simplicity of form that I just mentioned.
Sometimes what we look for in a song is
1 “A well a bless my soul/What's wrong with me?/I'm itching like a man on a fuzzy tree/My friendssay I'm actin' wild as a bug/I'm in love/I'm all shook up/Mm mm oh, oh, yeah, yeah!”
22
Constructing and using arhythmic motif is liketrying to decide whatcolour brick to use foryour house. Makingcertain that you areconsistent with your
choice of brick ensuresthat your house has that
pleasant feel ofpredictability.
something that does not require us to think too hard, but rather
entertains us on a shallower level. Never underestimate simplicity!
Who can say what it is we’re really looking for in a piece of music?
Some say it’s the rhythm and energy, others say it’s the lyric. Dick
Clark would say, “If it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it, all
the better.”
What Makes a Good Melody?
A good melody takes us on a journey. That is true
whether we’re talking rock & roll, country, jazz,
classical, bluegrass… a good melody has a design
that makes us feel
like we’ve been
taken somewhere.
Consider Paul McCartney’s masterful
melody for “Yesterday”. It has a
shape: it starts fairly low, and rises
through the line, “All my troubles
seemed so far away”, then descends
toward the end of the line, “Oh, I
believe in yesterday.” This arch shape
23
follows the natural flow and meaning of the text. 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. The majority of songs do
this “power grab” in stages, starting at a relatively low energy level,
then building toward the chorus, subsiding again in the next verse,
building toward the next chorus, etc. Here’s a sample (but by no
means definitive) plan:
“Bridge Over Troubled Water”, by Simon & Garfunkel, is a good
example of a melody that starts peacefully, and builds with only a
slight ebbing of energy at the end of each verse. 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. – an upper harmony line, and
dynamics (general volume level).
24
‘”The whole problem canbe stated quite simply byasking, ‘Is there ameaning to music?’ Myanswer would be, ‘Yes.’And ‘Can you state in somany words what themeaning is?’ My answerto that would be, ‘No.’”
Aaron Copland
It is impossible to consider melody without thinking about rhythm. One
of the features that makes “Yesterday” such a great melody is the fact
that there is a repeating rhythm– a rhythmic motif – that helps to glue
the song together. In the verse, each line begins with a rhythmic idea
consisting of two short notes followed by a long one. You encounter
this on the words “Yesterday”, “far away”, “here to stay”, etc. 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. Making certain that you are
consistent with your choice of brick
ensures that your house has that
pleasant feel of predictability. Using
dark red large bricks on one side, light
coloured small bricks on another, and
wood paneling on the front would make
the house look disheveled and messy.
Motifs, whether rhythmic or melodic,
are the repetitious elements that make
music feel organized. A hook is a type
of motif we’ll read about later.
25
Plotting the basic energy
of most songs is likelooking at a graph of thestock market:
You can expect to seesome dips, but you wantthe general trend to beupward.
How that energy ebbs andflows is a very importantconsideration forcomposers.
What Makes Good Harmony?
As with melody and rhythm, it’s a bit tricky to separate harmony from
the other important components of composition. But to speak
generally, a good chord sequence, like a good melody, makes us feel
like we’ve been taken on a bit of a journey. And though that journey
may take us places we haven’t seen before, we like to know a bit
about where we’re going before we
leave the house. Introductions to
songs will set us up for the kind of
harmonic sequences we’re going to
encounter in the song. If the song
starts with a single chord vamped
(repeated) over and over again with
a simple rhythm, we know that the
piece will likely not venture too far
afield in its use of chords. Good
harmony, like almost every other
aspect of music, will make us feel like
we’re taking a walk around the
neighbourhood, where we might see something out of the ordinary,
but most of what we encounter is pleasantly predictable.
I could stop here, then, and say that good composition is the result of
a carefully planned mixture of predictability and novelty; while that’s
26
true, we need even more than that. 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 musicnotation program. Finale® and Sibelius® are the big ones. Theirfull versions are quite expensive, but worth it. They also have lessexpensive options (see below). Here’s a list of the “also-rans” thatyou can check out. This is a “buyer beware” list… check out theirdemos thoroughly to make sure it does what you need. A goodnotation program should be able to:
Play your music back to you using realistic instrumentsounds;
Allow you to enter notes with a MIDI keyboard; Allow you to transpose your music into other keys easily; Print your music.
A quick search on Google will allow you to research thesepossibilities:
Finale® (full version, as well as less expensive, or freeversions: Finale Allegro®, Finale PrintMusic®, FinaleSongWriter®, Finale NotePad®, and Finale NotePad Plus®
Sibelius® (full version, as well as less expensive alternativegeared to guitarists: Sibelius G7®)
Noteworthy Composer® MidiNotate® MusicWrite 2000 Professional® Turandot®
27
What Makes a Good Lyric?
A good lyric is usually one that says what it needs to in the most
succinct way. In most songs, you don’t get a lot of time to say what’s
on your mind. And once
you’ve woven it into a
beautiful melody with a killer
chord progression, a good
lyric can make your
audience laugh or cry –
sometimes both at the same
time. 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. An analysis of
Cohen’s poetry will be a satisfying, pleasantly time-consuming venture,
but his melodies and chords can be dealt with in minutes, maybe less.
28
A great hook is like the10-cent ice cream coneat the local fast foodjoint: It’s what keeps‘em coming back!
What Makes a Good Hook?
The composer Beethoven probably can lay claim to the most well-
known hook in the music world. His “da-da-da-DA” hook that
introduces his 5th Symphony is a four-note motif that listeners get to
hear more than two hundred more times through the first movement,
and serves as a compositional element through the rest of the work. A
songwriter creating a motif is the same as an architect deciding on a
particular pattern of brick on a wall.
It’s not terribly interesting on its
own, but once repeated as a
regular feature, it can becomes a
strong building component of a
song. If that motif is easily
remembered and pulls listeners
back to a song, you’ve got a hook!
Some great hooks? The persistent
rhythmic/melodic hook that
introduces “You Can Call Me Al”, by
Paul Simon, is a really good one. It’s like an engine that drives the
song along. “Beat It,” by Michael Jackson also uses a great hook to
introduce the song. In both cases, the hook was what people sang
over and over to themselves after song was done, and that’s what you
want a hook to do! Not all songs use hooks, but for those that do, it is
by definition their most easily remembered feature.
29
Is There a Composer in Me?
Yes, there most certainly is. Will you write songs, and make
millions of dollars, and retire on the French Riviera? I don’t know. That
depends on many factors, the main one of which is finding out who
your efforts are marketable to. Let’s focus first on getting your songs
to be good.
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. I cannot cause creativity to miraculously appear within
you, but it’s likely that the creativity is already there. 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.
There’s no one right way to compose. And in fact, if yourely on the same way of thinking all the time, you run thedanger of simply writing the same song over and overagain! Being creative means not just trying to come upwith a unique tune. It also means coming up with aunique way of composing. Be creative. Try starting with ahook. Or a chord. Or a rhythm. The best songwriters outthere are the ones who are innovative from the verybeginning of the process.
30
What Do You Need to be a Songwriter?
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. The point of this
book is that I want you to be able to look at and listen to what you’ve
written, and to be able to come back to it later, making adjustments
and edits. 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. I
produce a two-CD-ROM course called “Gary Ewer’s Easy Music
Theory”. The first six lessons of that course will give you the basics
you need, and can be done in mere days.2
If you don’t read music, this book is still a help to you, because I want
to talk about how to structure your music to be a seller! And
whether you write it down, tape yourself singing it, or find some other
way of making sure you
don’t forget it, your music
will benefit from the basic
advice you’ll find here.
2 You can purchase “Gary Ewer’s Easy Music Theory” online by visitingwww.EasyMusicTheory.com on the web.
31
Being able to read music and write it onto a musical staff isnot what this book is about, and it’s not essential to beinga good songwriter. What is essential is being able to hearthe musical ideas in your head and to know what that isthat you’re hearing. I am a strong believer that musictheory can help your songwriting in many, many ways. Thebasics are easy to learn.
You never know when a great idea will hit you. That’s what itmeans to be human. You’ll discover that right in the middle oftying your shoe, something musical can pop into your head.You need to keep a notepad, or a small digital voice recorder inyour pocket with you. Ideas often come to you when you’remind is occupied with something else. Be prepared! Digitalrecorders are becoming a dime a dozen, and you don’t need anexpensive one. Just something to get your thoughts down soyou can work on them at a more convenient time. Here aresome manufacturers of digital recorders. Be sure to compareprices… you don’t need anything fancy:
- Beat Sounds- Olympus- Panasonic- Samsung- Sony
32
Let’s Get Started!
Make a Demo Recording – Yes, already!
Why, you may be asking, am I making a demo already? Don’t I
want to read this book first?
The truth is that many songwriters don’t even really know what their
own music sounds like. 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. For singers and songwriters who aren’t used to
hearing themselves, it can be a brutal experience. We are often our
own worse critics.
33
Maybe all you’ve got are a few fragments of ideas for songs, and the
song hasn’t come together for you yet. Just keep reading. By the time
you’ve finished this book, you’ll have the information, know-how and
confidence to put those fragments together in a killer song!
If you are ready to record a demo, let’s do it! The closer you can get it
to what you’d ideally like to hear on the radio, the better. 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.
The point is, you want to be able to hear your song, the way you’ve
conceptualized it, and make it even better than you thought it could
be. Use whatever instruments are appropriate – guitar, bass, drums,
synth, even horns if it’s possible and appropriate to the song.
It’s been said that when the Bee Gees did demos of their songs, they
took so much care in the project that the demos could have gone to
press as finished products. 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.
34
“Too many pieces of musicfinish too long after theend.”- Igor Stravinsky
Another piece of advice: Try to do your recording as a live
performance, if possible. 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. There’s an energy
that comes from doing it live that gives you the truest sense of what
the song is all about.
Once you’ve got something on tape, move on to Chapter 2.
35
Chapter 1 SUMMARY
Notes:
• The five basic aspects of songwriting are Form, Melody, Harmony/Rhythm, Lyric
and Hook.
• Form adds just the right balance of predictability and innovation.
• A good melody and good harmony take us on a journey, and contribute importantdesign elements.
• A good lyric impacts on the emotions of the audience; less is more.
• It’s a good idea to carry a recording device with you to record melodic and lyricfragments that come to you during your day.
• Learning to read and write music on a five-line musical staff is a good idea.This ability will help you communicate your musical ideas to others, as well as increasethe likelihood that you will be able to expand on your ideas.
• Make a demo recording of a song you’ve written. Listening to your song comingthrough headphones or speakers gives you important distance that can allow you to bemore objective about your musical efforts.
37
One of the biggest oversights by budding songwriters today is the lack ofability to learn from great songwriters’ successes. Study the greats,learn what makes their music work, and then do it in your own way.
Learn From the Greats
Your demo recording should feel like your baby! You need to feel a
real love for the music you do. It may not be what you want yet, but
be patient…. now we start the process of making it better. And we do
that by following the Golden Rule of being a songwriter: LEARN
FROM THE GREATS. In the automobile industry, a car model can
become very popular, and when that happens, you’ll see other car
companies jump on that popularity. They try to duplicate that car by
creating a different one that offers the same popular features. The
music industry is no different.
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. Michael
Jackson’s 1984 Thriller album was monumental in its effect on other
songwriters and performers. Songs from that album, like “Thriller”,
“Billie Jean”, and “Beat It”, stunned the musical world with their
energy and innovation. Many of today’s musicians look back at that
38
album as a defining work of art, music that influenced who they are as
writers and performers. 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.
Keep in mind that the thing that really sells Michael Jackson’s music is
Jackson’s performance itself. Take “Billie Jean” and give it to Bob
Dylan, and… well, I can’t really picture it. Neither can I picture Michael
Jackson singing “Like a Rolling Stone”.
Performance is an enormously important aspect of what we’re talking
about when we try to come up with successful songs. That being said,
it takes a good song to be a good song; you can’t generally take
garbage and make a treasure out of
it. In order for “Billie Jean” to have
been a hit, it needed to be the good
song that it is. The same is true for
any great song. Whether you’re
talking about “Red Sails in the
Sunset” from 1935, or “Livin' La Vida
Loca” from 1999, there had to be
elements of good composition there in order for the performers to
make good performances.
39
We looked very briefly at those elements earlier when we examined
form, melody, harmony/rhythm, lyrics and hook. We’ll be looking at all
those elements beginning in Chapter 3. Before we do, lets look at one
feature that probably gets ignored more than any other: form.
FormHow 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.
Form is what we’re talking about when we think about how music gets
from beginning to end. If you decide that a verse should repeat again
at the end of a song – that’s a formal element. If you decide that it
should start with guitar, and add strings halfway through – that’s a
formal element. If you start with a sax solo – that’s a formal element.
Almost any decision you make with regard to your music once you’ve
created the melody and basic harmony is really a decision regarding
the form of the music. The formal decisions you make when
40
Form is what we talk aboutwhen we wonder how
many verses to write,whether we need a bridge
or not, should there be anintro, an outro, or someother element.
Form is the basic design ofyour 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 themost important, leastmentioned feature of goodsongwriting.
composing will be the most important reasons why your music
succeeds or fails.
Good Form Means Good Design
Form is like a landscape – if your backyard is basically flat with only a
tree in the middle, you’ve pretty much seen everything there is to see
with one look, and it’s a bit boring. But you can’t just start planting
trees and flowers everywhere with no thought for the basic layout –
the form – of your
backyard. But here is
the crucial point: most
lousy-looking
backyards are not lousy
because of the plants that are
there. They’re lousy because of
how those plants have been
placed. Landscape designers
are experts at telling you
not just what plants you
should have, but far more
importantly, where they
should go. 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.
41
Bad formal design is the biggest reason why songsdon’t work! All the elements to good songs can bethere, but if they’re poorly organized, your song will beboring and lackluster.
If you have composed a song without much
consideration for form, your song probably hasformal problems.
Listen, listen, listen…
You should be listening to that demo you made as many times as
possible. The more you listen, hopefully the more you’ll hear things
you’d like to change. You may be aware that the song isn’t working
yet, but you may not know why it isn’t working. It’s likely that the
more you listen, the more you will become aware that it’s formal
elements that need fixing, more than almost anything else about the
song.
Good Form Can’t be Accidental
The concept of form can seem a bit vague. It can be hard to figure out
if your music has formal problems. If you have composed a song
without much consideration for form, your song probably 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.
42
If you were thinking of building a house, the thought of doingthat without a blueprint would be preposterous. There are nogood builders out there, scuffing their foot at a roped-off piece ofland, saying, “Here’s where I think a kitchen should go…” Peoplewho want a building constructed always hire a person to design itfirst. We may not use the word “architecture” to describecomposing, but your songs will be better if you can plan themout.
Try this: Take a song, whether written by you, or by a songwriteryou like, and draw a diagram of the song. Use a line to show thegeneral shape and direction of the overall energy. Make note ofwhere the verses, choruses, bridge, etc., occur. You may findthat you understand much more about that song once you see itwritten out in this way. Here’s a sample:
Many people write music, believing that their song needs some verses,
a chorus that repeats several times, and possibly a bridge in the
middle. 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? Everyone’s living room has that. You need to examine your
music from the macro to the micro level with regard to form.
43
Song Components DefinedLet’s label and define the various parts that will likely define the form
of your song:
Intro: This is the first thing that happens in the song. 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. Check out “Penny Lane” by The Beatles, “You’re the
Inspiration” by Chicago, or “It’s the End of the World as We Know It
(And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M. as examples. 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. Chorus texts will usually offer a
“summing up” of how the things being sung about in the verse make
the singer feel.
44
When trying to decide what form your song should take, try not toobsess. If, for example, you can’t decide if your song needs abridge, try writing one and then put the song away for a day. Bringit out again once your head is cleared, and the answer may beobvious.
Bridge: Especially popular in verse-chorus formats. 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. Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4”
is a good example of an outro with original music. The Classical term
for the outro is “coda”.
45
Getting to Know Your Song
Now that we’ve defined the basic elements of a song, we’re
going to look at each aspect in detail. 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.e., intro, verse, chorus,
etc.)?
2. Which chords does your song use consistently? (Don’t include chords that
are used only once in the entire song.)
2.1. How many key changes does your song go through? (“None” or
“one” is normal)
2.2. If one or more key changes, which verse(s) or chorus(es) feature
the key change?
46
3. What do you like about the melody?
4. How many verses exhibit a unique text (i.e., how many verses of poetry
does your song set?
5. Does your song have a “hook”? (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. Describe it):
47
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! Many of the songs you’ll write will “sit onthe shelf”, but what you will have learned will help you in thenext one you write.
This means that you should try not to become fixated on asong that might not be working for you. Know when it’s time toleave it and begin the next song. It can take many tries at asong before you get it sounding the way you want, and frankly,it may be time better spent to move on. With experience, you’llknow when it’s time to start anew.
If you can all of the questions above, you’ve a good grasp of the basic
innards of your song. Now we can begin to see if you’ve got the most
out of it.
If you couldn’t answer some of the questions, the next few chapters
will help you understand the music you’ve written, and will get you
moving in the right direction to fix it. Now let’s look at each question,
and see how your song can be improved.
48
Chapter 2 SUMMARY
KEY NOTES AND QUOTES FROM CHAPTER 2:
• The Golden Rule of being a songwriter is: Learn from the greats.
• It takes a good song to be a good song; you can’t take garbage and
make a treasure out of it.
• Bad form is the reason for most of all the bad music out there.
• Good form means good design.
• If you have composed a song without much consideration for form, your songprobably has formal problems.
• The basic design elements of a song: intro, verse, chorus, bridge, outro.
• When you write a song, fill out a “survey” about that song. Just writing downyour observations will go a long way to solving nagging problems with it.
Creativity can be learned and practiced.
50
The Blueprint
Designing your song is every bit as important as an architect coming
up with a blueprint. 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. Whether you’re talking about early
Baroque concerti, or 21st century pop songs, contrasting elements
within a song has been standard practice for centuries. Contrast is the
component that helps to build interest within a song. It’s the main
formal principle in the writing of music:
51
Don’t be afraid to change the design of your song as you work onit. But keep in mind that blindly throwing song elements together islike planting trees anywhere. Planning is vital.
Form Principle #1
SONGS WITHOUT CONTRAST RISK BEING BORING.
Where Boredom Comes From
If your songs somehow feel boring, and you can’t figure out why, it is
usually related to the absence of enough contrast. It’s like staring
at a flat field with nothing to distinguish one part of it from another.
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? We’ve already looked at some basic
components that songwriters have incorporated into songwriting.
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. Let’s look at some basic designs. We call them “macro” designs,
because they refer to the overall design of the song.
52
Musicians usually refer to various sections of a song (verse,chorus, bridge, etc) by letter name. Unique melodic materialgets a unique letter, and sections that use material similar toanother section use the same letter. For example, a verseand chorus that uses the same melody would be labeled AA.If the chorus material differs slightly, the labeling would beAA’. The form of “The Star Spangled Banner” is: AABC. Theform of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is: ABA
M
Macro Forms
i. Verse-chorus-bridge designs (ABABCB, or ABABCAB)This basic structure is a tried and true one, one that has stood the test
of time. Though verse-chorus designs are basic structures that are not
innovative in and of themselves, the contrast they provide counters
any risk of boredom. Often it is the smaller elements within a song,
and not the innovation of the macro structure itself, that makes music
work. The macro structure is best designed to be solid and predictable.
Some songs, like the Beatles’ “Lady Madonna”, start with a chorus,
then move to a verse. Their song “Hey Jude” doesn’t even really have
a chorus. It’s more a series of verses and bridges, with a prolonged
outro at the end. The macro design of verse-chorus-bridge in various
combinations is safe.
A bridge is a component of a song whose purpose is to help sustain
and build energy for that final chorus. Usually, there are a
minimum of two choruses prior to a bridge. The text of a bridge
is usually more emotional and passionate than the chorus, and a
53
perfect example is “Fall to Pieces,” by Avril Lavigne and Raine Maida.
Here is a sketch of how the various components of that song are
timed:
0’00” Intro 0’16” Verse 1 0’54” Chorus 1’18” Verse
Low-key guitar andlight keyboard;
Low energy levelthat builds frommiddle to Chorus;
Energetic drivethat dissipatesslightly atconclusion;
Same energy as2nd half of Verse 1;
1’40” Chorus 2’04” Bridge 2’28” Chorus 3’12” OutroRepeat of firstchorus
Slight ebbing ofenergy for fourbars, then theenergy rises tohighest point thusfar.
Low energy similarto beginning for 4bars, thendramatic increaseof energy to matchprevious choruses.Several repeats ofchorus
Modification ofmelodic andharmonic material,along withdissipation ofenergy.
This is a typical design that many songwriters
follow. The fact that it is done so often does
not diminish its effectiveness. Lavigne’s
expertise regarding the use of her voice, and
the expert control over the energy levels of
the various components of the form, makes
this song work so well, and is why it has
become such a big hit for her.
ii. Simple verse design (AAA…)
A simple verse design is one that uses the same music for the both the
verse and the chorus. The most common genre that uses this design is
54
the 12-bar blues. A 12-bar blues uses a melody based on a
somewhat standard chord progression:
Bars 1-4 5-8 9-12
G / G / G / G7 C7 / C7 / G / G / D7 / C / G /D7
The progression and melody is repeated for both the verse and chorus.
In the standard blues form, a melody is featured in the first two bars
of each four bar section. The last two bars of each section often
features an “answering figure” by a solo instrument. The song “Hound
Dog”, by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller, and made famous by Elvis
Presley, is an example of the blues. Much of early rock and roll was
designed using blues patterns.
There are other non-blues songs that use the
same melody in both verse and chorus: “Born in
the U.S.A.”, by Bruce Springsteen, for example.
Many bluegrass songs do, inserting an
instrumental interlude between chorus and the
next verse. The interlude helps to break up the
possible monotony of having the same melody repeat so many times.
If you choose a simple verse design for your song, you will want to
consider solos and modifying of instrumentation at certain key
structural points in the song to help propel the song forward.
55
If you have chosen averse-without-chorusstructure, your lyricshould be a goodstand-alone story orwork of poetry.
iii. Verse-without-chorus design (AAA…)One of the trickiest design structures to apply is one that uses only a
series of verses, with no real chorus or bridge. Such music is the
analogical equivalent of flat landscape. You can see it all with one look.
If you have chosen such a design, you
need another element that stands out,
one that ensures that the listener
hasn’t “seen it all” in one look. Usually
verse–without-chorus structures need
a strong lyric. If you have chosen a
verse-without-chorus structure, your
lyric should be a strong stand-alone work of poetry, or at least tell an
interesting story. Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line”, Jimmy Webb’s “By
the Time I Get to Phoenix,” (recorded by Glen Campbell) and the
traditional “The House of the Rising Sun” are good examples. As with
the simple verse design, it’s a tricky form to use, because boredom can
set in due to the lack of variety that a distinct chorus offers. Also, since
chorus texts typically offer a resolution of emotional questions raised in
a chorus (see Chapter 5), the text for this form must be carefully
considered.
In the verse–without-chorus design energy becomes an issue because
of repetition, requiring a strong lyric or careful instrumental
manipulation to make it work. So be careful when using it. People will
judge your lyrics critically. Sometimes this form, coupled with a strong
56
lyric, can come across as cerebral. And with only a few exceptions,
cerebral music tends to shrink an audience, because (sadly, I feel)
most people would rather hear a simple song about the primal instinct
of love, than a complicated emotional journey that uses metaphors
and analogies.
The early music from super group Genesis
featured many songs with verse-without-chorus
designs. Anyone familiar with their music would
tell you that the songs from 1971’s Foxtrot album
are far more than simple songs. They are true
compositions, with extraordinary plays-on-words,
imagery and poetry. But a commercial success
they were not. Genesis was not a commercial
success until their compositional style changed
to something less complicated, something that the average listener
could get into. So analyzing the text of their song cycle “Supper’s
Ready” (from Foxtrot, 1972) could take you weeks, while getting a
handle on “Invisible Touch” (from their 1986 album of the same name)
is a much more straightforward verse-chorus-bridge design. And
“Invisible Touch” as a song probably made Genesis more money than
all of their early albums put together.
But money may not be (and perhaps should not be) the measure of
success here. What is successful is if you have provided the right
57
vehicle for your text. The verse–without-chorus design is good for
strong text. If your text isn’t strong, try incorporating a key change
somewhere. (See “Changing Key”, Chapter 4.) The verse–without-
chorus design also benefits from instrumental solos and interesting
underscoring.
iv. Verse-refrain design (AAA…)A refrain is similar to a chorus, except that in the pop music world,
refrains tend to be shorter than choruses. Usually a refrain is a line or
two. The line “For the times, they are a-changin’” is
a good example of a refrain. Dylan writes many
verses for his song, each verse ending with that line.
The refrain has the effect of “bringing it all
together.” Refrains make it sound like all those
words in the verse had a reason for being there, and tend to give an
extra sense of meaning and significance to the verse. Some other
songs that use the verse-refrain format: “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
(Simon & Garfunkel), “Let it Be” (The Beatles) and “Suzanne” (Leonard
Cohen).
Refrains usually don’t stand well by themselves. They act to bring a
close to a verse. In a sense, they are the end to the verse, while
choruses usually are stand-alone self-contained units. If your lyric has
a particular theme, a theme that would benefit by reminding your
audience of “what it’s all about” (“like a bridge over troubled water/ I
will ease your mind”) then the verse-refrain form might be suitable.
58
A through-composed design means that song elementschange throughout the song, with no structural elementsreturning. Such a form is difficult to make work, becauseaudiences like when they hear things repeat. Be carefulusing the through-composed design.
v. Through-composed design.The through-composed format for songs is a format where each verse
is a different, exhibiting no melodic similarities to the previous verse.
Avoid this unless you know what you are doing. Through-composed
music is the equivalent of going for a walk, not knowing where you are
going, or (more importantly) if you will ever get home. It is possible,
but other design features need to be very, very strong. There needs to
be a strong lyric, or fascinating innovative features that crop up along
the way. Genesis uses a type of through-composition in their song “I
Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)” from Selling England by the
Pound. But they pull it all together by using a chorus that repeats
identically each time. Between the choruses there are two verses that
bear no resemblance to each other.
Curiously, many would-be composers use through-composed forms,
most often to their song’s detriment. Listeners feel most comfortable
when they hear something repeat. If you feel the need to write your
59
Using an ad hoc design does not mean letting your song meander.Aimless wandering will sound disorganized and unsettled. The maindifference between the through-composed design and ad hoc isthat ad hoc uses repeating elements that the audience willrecognize. Through-composed doesn’t. Progressive rock composersfrom the 70s were the greatest proponents of the ad hoc design,so you should be listening to Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd,early Genesis (up to 1977), Yes, and King Crimson for examples.
music so that each verse has a different melody, try taking the first
verse and repeating it at the end if at all possible.
vi. Ad hoc design.Some songs have a design that defy categorization. Songs using an ad
hoc design tend to come across as true compositions, if one can make
the differentiation between that and simple songwriting. Like through-
composed music, ad hoc designs are frequently used to fit the
structure of a given poem, or set of poems. Using an ad hoc design
means that you should give much thought to your poetry, and ensure
that the structure you come up with is the one that really brings the
meaning of the poem forward.
60
Though it’s not possible to describe standard ad hoc designs (by
definition, standard and ad hoc are mutually exclusive terms), there
are some basic principles that are necessary to consider. The main one
is to ensure that the musical structure is governed by the
concept of contrast. The listener needs to feel the highs and lows of
the music: energetic sections contrasted with more serene areas,
governed by the overall sentiment of the text.
Because the contrasts offered in ad hoc designs do not come by way
of the predictability of verse and chorus designs, finding examples
often means looking for more obscure songs that are primarily text-
driven. Much of the music from the Progressive Rock era of the ‘70s
would fall into this formal category.
Energy – the Forgotten Formal Element
All songs contain a certain amount of energy. Energy is the force that
causes us to move our body as we listen. Songs with driving energy
want us to get up and dance. Songs with subdued energy come across
as sounding reflective and thoughtful. Every song is unique in how it
handles overall energy. The general mass of energy contained by a
song will often ebb and flow as the song progresses, and it is vital that
composers control it carefully. The usual course of events is to have
the energy increase as a song progresses. The increasing energy
entices the listener to keep listening.
61
Form Principle #2
IN GENERAL, THE ENERGY OF THE END OF A SONG SHOULD
EQUAL OR EXCEED THE ENERGY AT THE BEGINNING.
Though this principle seems obvious, violation of this basic tenet is the
cause of many failing songs feeling listless and unexciting.
Energy will normally increase in fits and starts throughout a song. To
demonstrate a common approach, study the following chart. It’s an
“energy graph” of the song “Real Love” by the Beatles. If we were to
assign numeric values to represent the energy of the song, we’d come
up with something like this:
Intro 1stVrs 1stChr 2ndVrs 2ndChr Brdge 3rdVrs 3rdChr
5 4 7 5 7 8 4 7
Plotting the energy as a line, it would look like this:
62
There is a common exception to Form Principle #2: manysongs build energy as they go, and then relinquish thatenergy at the very last line or two of the song. Thisimmediate dissipation of energy is a strong formalelement, because it allows the song to end at the sameenergy level as the beginning, offering symmetry. Andthe writer has followed the principle of increasing theenergy levels as the song progresses.
In general, you want the energy of your song to be at least
maintained, or, more likely, increased over the length of the song. The
energy increase will come from one or a combination of the following
factors:
• increasing volume;
• increasing instrumentation;
• raising the general pitch of the voice and accompanying
instruments;
• increasing harmonic rhythm (see Chapter 4)
• increasing the basic beat (i.e., making the basic beat busier)
Song designs are all about incorporating contrast into music by using
formal elements. To speak of form means to speak of harmony,
63
A micro form is a component of the larger song form.Introduction, verse, chorus, bridge… they are all microforms within a song. In general, forms work or don’t workbecause of the energy levels of the micro forms. Fixingenergy problems will usually fix a form.
rhythm, melody, and other components of composition, so it’s time
now to look at those closely.
Micro Forms
Examining micro forms means looking at the individual components of
a song, as entities within the song. We’ve already defined these parts
before, but let’s now look at each one as a contributor to the macro
form. We’ll see that energy is the main quality we must consider.
IntroductionAs we know, an introduction sets up the rest of the song by:
1. setting the mood;
2. indicating the kind of harmonic language to be expected;
3. indicating the tempo and beat;
4. establishing a beginning energy level.
Decades ago, songwriters would often play through one or more
verses of a song as an instrumental introduction before the vocals
would finally start. Nowadays, whether pop, rock, country, jazz or
64
other genre, introductions are shorter, and follow some basic
guidelines:
1. It’s not very common for an introduction to upstage a verse.
The introduction’s main purpose is to set the mood, and often
this is achieved with no attempt at a recognizable melody.
2. Don’t try to use chords or rhythms in your introduction that
don’t seem to have much to do with your song. A person
should be able to feel the basic mood and aura of your song
from the introduction. Think of it as the lobby of a nice
restaurant. The lobby should indicate the kind of décor and
food to be expected once you enter the main part of the
restaurant.
3. Generally, the energy of an introduction should be maintained,
or build slightly, then dissipate as it connects to the verse.
4. The music of the introduction can be used as a connecting
element between the chorus and the start of verse 2, possibly
between the second chorus and the bridge. This gives the song
a nice feeling of cohesion.
65
An introduction should be shorter than verses. Consult the following
table as a guideline:
4 bar verse = 2-4 bar intro
6 bar verse = 2-4 bar intro
8 bar verse = 4 bar intro
16 bar verse = 4-8 bar intro
Verse
In order to keep an audience listening to your song, you need to keep
them thinking that something bigger and better is going to happen in
the next few seconds. In order for verses to work well as micro forms,
they need to build energy. The beginning of a verse should be it’s
lowest energy point.
The length of a verse in measures (bars) should be a factor of four.
Eight or sixteen measures is most common. Four is rare, and twelve is
common only in twelve-bar blues.
Once a verse has passed its midpoint, the energy should build, using
the adding of instruments, increasing loudness, intensifying the drum
kit, or raising the general range of the voice. An increasing of tempo is
rarely if ever used. Without this intensification the song risks becoming
boring or directionless.
66
A musical composition requires that you get your
audience more interested in what is going to
happen, rather than what is now happening. Even as awonderful moment may be occurring in a song, listenersare subconsciously waiting for the next “moment”. That’swhat building energy throughout a song is all about, and itis what form is all about. It’s about subtly indicating thatsomething good is going to happen. That constant sense
of anticipation is crucial. Whether in the text, theinstrumentation, the dynamic, or some other aspect…sensing that something great is going to happen is
what sells songs.
A two-verse song should mean that the second verse will either
duplicate the energy of the first verse, or intensify that energy slightly
with the addition of an instrument. It doesn’t take much… adding a
tambourine, or other percussion instrument is common in some styles.
In others, having the drummer move from hi-hat cymbal to ride cymbal
is all that is necessary.
A three-verse song will usually mean that a bridge will be used
between the second chorus and the third verse (see “Bridge” on p.61).
The third verse will either maintain and increase the energy levels of
verse 2, or will begin as a lower energy version of verse 1 before
building to the final chorus.
67
Chorus
The chorus will take the energy presented by the previous verse and
either maintain it or, more likely, build on it. Like the verse, a chorus
should be four (rare), eight, twelve (blues) or sixteen bars long. In
especially the eight or sixteen-bar chorus, the second half of a chorus
should feature an intensifying of the musical arrangement.
The end of a chorus should dissipate the energy it has built, in order to
set up for the next verse. Dissipating of energy comes from dropping
instruments from the arrangement, diminishing the activity of the drum
kit, and lowering the dynamic (loudness) of the music.
Bridge
A bridge needs to build energy. Sometimes the bridge can be
instrumental. An instrumental solo is a great way to build energy while
providing variety of sound possibilities. Depending on the genre, the
solo should be played by an instrument that can successfully intensify
energy. Saxophone and guitar are popular favourites in pop, rock, jazz
and country music.
The end of a bridge should be its most intense part if the bridge is to
connect to a final chorus. The bridge should dissipate its energy at its
last few beats if it is to connect to an additional verse.
68
The energy levels of a song need to always be closely examined.Always check the connecting moments between the differentcomponents to ensure that you have complete control over thebasic energy of the song. Surprise moments can be what keepsaudiences interested in subsequent listenings, so don’t be afraidto allow impulse to have an important role in your song. Butthat spontaneity should be completely under your control.
Outro
An outro is whatever you do to end the song after its final chorus. A
very common outro is the repeat and fade. A repeat and fade is a way
for writers to give the impression that the song’s energy cannot be
dissipated without compromising the text. To give the impression that
the emotion of the text is eternal, a writer will usually suggest a repeat
and fade. There are other common and interesting ways to end songs,
including repeating a line of the chorus with only vocal harmonies
(without instrumental accompaniment), or to compose new music
entirely.
A long fade tends to add a degree of profundity to the music, so you
should be careful that the text and mood of the song warrants a long
fade. A short fade can sound dismissive. These are decisions that are
generally made at the production stage, because a repeat and fade
cannot be easily accomplished in a live performance, and can sound
corny if you try!
69
Micro Versus Macro
I had mentioned that problems with a song will often mean that there
are problems with the form of a song. You now know that there are
several components to a song, and that the problems songwriters
encounter will require you to examine either the macro or micro level.
If each component of a song seems to work on its own, but you feel
there is an unbalance somewhere, this is usually an indication that the
energy of the song is not consistent, and you will need to look at how
the individual components connect.
We’ve looked at the form of the song, and it’s now time to examine the
other important components of a composition, beginning with
harmony.
70
Chapter 3 SUMMARY
In this chapter you have learned:
FORM PRINCIPLE#1: SONGS WITHOUT CONTRAST RISK BEING BORING.
FORM PRINCIPLE #2: IN GENERAL, THE ENERGY OF THE END OF A SONG SHOULD EQUAL OR
EXCEED THE ENERGY AT THE BEGINNING.
KEY NOTES AND QUOTES FROM CHAPTER 3:
• Planning the form of a song is vital to the overall strength of the song.
• Musicians usually refer to various sections of a song (verse, chorus, bridge,etc) by letter name. Unique melodic material gets a unique letter, andsections that use material similar to another section use the same letter.
• There are various formal designs possible for songs:o Verse-chorus-bridge designs
o Simple verse design
o Verse-without-chorus design
o Verse-refrain design
o Through-composed design
o Ad hoc design
• All songs contain energy, and that energy will often ebb and flow as thesong progresses; it must be carefully controlled.
• The common exception to Form Principle #2 is that many songs will buildenergy as they go, but relinquish it at the last line or so of the song
• Macro forms are large-scale forms that apply to an entire song. Micro formsare the smaller components that go together to make a macro form.
72
The Chord Muddle
For many budding songwriters, their biggest setback is
simply not knowing how chords go together. It’s almost as if
they think, “There are thousands of chords to choose from… which
ones do I choose for my song?” This chapter is going to hopefully go a
long way to clarifying what I call the chord muddle.
Chord Progressions – A Mystery No Longer
You will see more eyes glaze
over when it comes to
discussions of chord
progressions than with almost
any other aspect of songwriting.
Everyone understands what
good lyrics are (ignoring taste
and writing ability for the moment!) and everyone has a basic
understanding of beat and rhythm. But start discussing chord
progressions, and that’s when the muddle begins. There are all sorts of
theoretical reasons why progressions work the way they do, but I want
to simplify things here. My desire to simplify is not actually to dumb
anything down; I want to make sure you understand the basic principle
at work here: If it sounds good, use it. Some composers are so fixated
on “am-I-allowed-to” that they place “does-it-sound-good” second in
importance, which is for any songwriter an error in judgment.
73
Music theory tells us whychords work the way they do.It was never meant to tell uswhat chords to choose! Youneed to trust your ear.
You can let theory tell youwhat your choices are, but youmust trust your ear and
your own musicality todetermine what chords tofinally use.
To repeat: Theory tells us whychords work, but notnecessarily which ones to use.
Creativity has always beenup to you!
The neat thing is that the theory behind why chords work the way they
do is quite simple. And if you find that a chord progression works,
you’ll also find that music theory will support that progression. What
we’re looking for are ways to simplify the process of finding the right
chords for your song.
I like to use the analogy of going for a walk to describe chord
progressions. The key that your song is in defines the chords you’ll
use, just like the city you
take your walk in will
define what buildings
you’ll see. That key
chord, which we’ll be referring to
as the tonic chord, is like your
house. The other chords represent
a short walk you take around your
neighbourhood. Eventually you’ll
return home again. It’s not
complicated. But I have heard
chord progressions that make me
picture someone going for a walk,
where they meander aimlessly
through the town. And if they get
74
back home again, it feels a like a surprise, and the whole walk was just
unpleasant. That’s the chord muddle!
There are some great walks you can take around your neighbourhood
that may involve visiting places you’ve not been before, but the walk
should not be random. Any surprises on your walk should make sense
on some level. You can’t set out from your house in Toronto, turn the
corner, and find yourself in New York! There are ways to get to New
York, but not randomly.
So what makes a good chord progression? Why do chords work the
way they do? Why do some progressions excite us and pull us forward,
while others sound lame and just sit there? Learning how to make
chord progressions work requires us to learn certain things in a certain
order. There are real reasons why some progressions work and others
don’t. It’s not guesswork! This chapter has four sections, each one
building on the knowledge of the previous section:
I. Chord Basics;
II. How One Chord Moves to Another Chord;
III. Integrating Balance When Building a Longer Progression;
IV. Expanding Chord Vocabulary.
In working through each section, we’ll uncover four basic principles of
chord progressions. These aren’t rules; at best, they are guiding
75
Don’t forget… you can hear all of the written musical samplesin this book by visiting www.secretsofsongwriting.com
principles. And like anything in the arts, you will be able to list many
songs that violate the principles. These principles are meant to merely
suggest reasons for why songs we know and love work, and hopefully
provide an analysis that you can apply, if you wish, to your own music.
76
Some basic theory:The root of a chord is the notethat gives a chord its name. Sothe root of an e-minor chord isE.A triad is a 3-note chord thatconsists of a root (called note1), a 3rd, and a 5th.
I. Chord Basics
Let’s use the C-major scale to begin with. (We’ll use examples
on a musical staff, but if your reading skills are weak, don’t worry –
you will still be able to understand this section by the note names used
and the chord symbols.)
Every note of a scale can be identified by its note name (C, D, E…). We
can also refer to those notes by number (1,2,3…).
Sample 1
Using each note of a scale as a
root, we can create a chord. A
chord is the simultaneous
sounding of three or more notes.
The basic chords that you know
and love (i.e., chords that consist
of a simple letter name with no
numbers afterward) are known as
triads. A triad is a three-note
77
“Countrymusic is threechords andthe truth.”
- HarlanHoward
chord that consists of a root, a third, and a fifth, formed by
what we sometimes call “stacking thirds”. Every time you strum
a chord on a guitar, even though six strings are making six notes, each
one of those six strings is producing
one of the three possible notes I just
mentioned – a root, third or fifth. There
are other more complicated chords out
there that involve more than three
separate pitches, but we’re talking here
about basic triads. Since there are
seven notes in a major scale, there are
seven basic triads that can be formed
on top of the notes of that major scale. And when you create those
triads without extra modifications, you will discover:
The chord based on the 1st note will always be major.
2nd note ………………… minor.
3rd note ………………… Minor.
4th note ………………… Major.
5th note ………………… Major.
6th note ………………… Minor.
7th note ………………… Diminished.
78
The Basic Triads of Any Major Key
Here, then, are those triads:
Sample 2
Those are the basic chords that you will use if you write a piece in C
major. No more guess work! We haven’t talked yet about how these
chords can move from one to another. But these will be the basic
triads that you will more often than not use in your song. It will be fun
learning how to modify those chords for various purposes, and how
include other interesting ones in that mix; those seven chords will be
our starting point.
How We Refer to Chords
One tradition in the music world is to refer to chords using Roman
numerals. Notice that we used upper-case numerals for chords that are
major, and lower-case numerals for minor and diminished. So the
chord based on the first note is called a I-chord (upper case I, because
it is a C major chord), the chord on the second note is called a ii-chord
(lower case ii, because it is a D minor chord), and so on.
79
From Woody Guthrie(not necessarily true,but funny):
“If you playmore thantwo chords,you'reshowing off.”
II. How One Chord Moves toAnother Chord
The V-I Progression
If you know pop music, you’ll know that two of those chords, the I-
chord (C major, in this key) and the V-chord (G major) are the most
commonly used chords in most songs. The songs that have been
written on that simple two-chord progression could fill books! How and
why the V-chord moves so easily to the I-chord is based on some basic
principles of how chords like to move. Read on!
Why Some Progressions Work and Others Don’t
How chords progress is what it’s all about, but this is where all the
muddle begins for so many songwriters! In the last section, I showed
all the chords that naturally occur in C
major:
C major (I)
D minor (ii)
E minor (iii)
F major (IV)
G major (V)
A minor (vi)
B diminished (viio)
80
But just because they all naturally exist in C major doesn’t mean that
you can begin flipping from one chord to another. That will likely just
result in a muddled progression. There are ways that chords like to
move, and you’ll go a long way to clearing up the muddle if you realize
this: a chord that moves up by four notes or down by five notes to
reach the next chord makes a very strong progression.
The main reason why this is true is because when a chord moves in
that manner, it means that one of the notes will be in common.
Let’s use an illustration from the key of C major that we’ve been using
as our example. The G major chord moving to the C major chord is
called a V-I progression, and it’s one of the strongest progressions we
have. Both chords have the note G in common:
Sample 3
Because both the C major chord and the G major chord have the note
G in common, it makes a strong progression. The listeners’ ears latch
on to that common tone, whether they are consciously aware of it or
81
Harmony Principle #1:
TWO CHORDS THAT HAVE A NOTE IN COMMON WILL FORM A
STRONG PROGRESSION; AND IF THAT FIRST CHORD MOVES UP
BY FOUR NOTES OR DOWN BY FIVE NOTES TO REACH THE NEXT
CHORD, THE PROGRESSION BECOMES EVEN STRONGER.
not. So now, let me state the Chord Progression Principle #1 that
will go a very long way to clearing up the chord muddle:
This principle was not invented by theorists. It wasn’t really invented
by anyone. It comes from years – centuries, actually – of observation
and study of existing music. Now you know part of the reason why that
V-I progression is so strong, and why practically every song ever
written uses it, and why it is the most common progression we know.
It’s because:
1. The V-chord and the I-chord have a note in common;
2. The root of the V-chord is four notes away from the root of
the I-chord.
And there’s a third reason it is so strong: it’s not just that V likes to go
to I, it’s also that the I-chord is the tonic chord of the key you’ve
chosen. So the V-I progression is the strongest progression we can
82
use. In our “going-for-a-walk” analogy, it’s like stepping from your
front doorstep into your house.
Making Good Two-Chord Progressions
It may sound like the only progressions you’re allowed to have are
ones that feature a common tone, whose roots are four notes away
from each other. That’s not true – if it were true, music would be far
too predictable, and not a little boring. Those are the progressions that
are considered very strong. But there are lots of other types of
progressions. Using our walk analogy, we’d say… your stroll around the
city may take you to some spectacular landmarks, but other parts of
your walk may be great in an understated way. Walking past a nice
flowerbed, for example. The other progressions are considered less
strong than the ones we’ve looked at, but less strong does not mean
undesirable. In fact, over an entire song, the best songs are ones that
feature a combination of strong progressions, and more fragile ones.
Another analogy that you might find helpful is to imagine an architect
designing a building. Some walls are load bearing walls, while others
are non-load bearing. A building made up of just non-load bearing
walls will fall down! But those walls are necessary to the design and
beauty of the overall building.
Check out the list of chord progressions on page 84.
83
HOW TO USE THE CHART ON THE NEXT PAGE
The chart shows several possible two-chord progressions, starting oneach chord of the C major scale. The first ones listed on each line areconsidered the strongest progressions, and each progression on the linebecomes gradually more “fragile”.
You can use this chart as a guide when constructing progressions thatare longer. Keep in mind that “fragile” does not mean
“undesirable”. If you like a progression, use it. But it’s a good idea tobalance the use of a few progressions from the fragile end of
the chart with some from the stronger end.
EXAMPLE:
Consider the progression C – Am – Dm – G – C. The C to Am is in themiddle of the first line, so it’s of medium strength. The progression thengoes to Dm. Am to Dm is considered very strong. So is Dm to G. Theprogression ends with G going to C, which is also very strong. So thisprogression rates as a very strong progression, one that will bepleasant to the ear. Try playing it on your guitar or piano, and you’llprobably like it. The thing is… strong can also equate to predictable.So… this is where true composition comes into play. Some of theprogressions from the fragile end of the chart can be the ones that adduniqueness to your music. Think carefully about your choices! Don’t justuse all strong ones.
“A jazz musician is a juggler who usesharmonies instead of oranges.” -Benny Green
“There are more love songs thananything else. If songs could makeyou do something we'd all love oneanother.” – Frank Zappa
85
The concept of strong progressions being formed bychords whose roots are four notes was actuallydeveloped hundreds of years ago, and the principle stillholds true today.
Too many chord pairs from the fragile end of thechart will make your music feel confusing and muddled.Too many from the strong end makes your musicseem predictable and possibly boring. Mix & match!
When Progressions Sound Muddled
Think about the music you’ve written where the chords seem somehow
unsettled to you. I’d place bets that the reason the progression is
unsatisfying is because too many chord-pairs come from the fragile
end of the chart. And when you use too many strong progressions,
your music can start to sound a little predictable.
People who live in glass houses…
Don’t be afraid of the progressions at the fragile end of the chart.
Those aren’t bad. But too much use will cause your progressions to
sound like they have lost focus, and your listeners may lose track of
what key they’re in. Nonetheless, “fragile” doesn’t mean “bad”. You do
have glass in your house, right? But an entire house of glass is not
desirable. Perhaps the expression should be, “People who live in glass
houses shouldn’t write music!”
86
Balancing strong and weakprogressions in your song is abit like balancing amounts ofcement and glass whenconstructing a building. Allcement gives you no windows,and all windows gives you nostrength or solidity.
The best buildings, of course,use both.
Fragile is Not All Bad
Is there a pattern we can follow for when to use strong progressions
and when to use fragile ones? Many great songs use so-called fragile
progressions within a verse whose lyric conveys sadness, or emotional
trauma; i.e., the classic “hurting song”. If you decide to use fragile
progressions for this reason, it’s often best to ensure that the chorus
uses progressions from the strong end of the chart.
The song “Without
You”, (Evans and
Ham, recorded by
Harry Nilsson and more recently
by Mariah Carrie), is a great
example of this. The song
makes good use of both strong
and fragile progressions, but the
majority of the fragile ones
occur in the verse, while the chorus uses mainly strong ones. This
combination really works well. The fragile progressions make us feel
the unsettled nature of his anxiety and emotion (“No I can’t forget this
evening / or your face as you were leaving…”), while the strong
progressions in the chorus suit the more straight-ahead nature of the
chorus lyric (“I can’t live, if living is without you...”)
87
Harmony Principle #2
A VERSE WILL USUALLY TOLERATE MORE FRAGILE
PROGRESSIONS THAN A CHORUS; A CHORUS USUALLY
REQUIRES MORE STRONG PROGRESSIONS.
Sample 4
Songs that feature fragile progressions in the verse and strong ones in
the chorus are so numerous that we can state a second principle of
chord progressions:
88
Though not a rule, ensuring that the chorus has more strong
progressions will allow it to act as “closure” to a verse. Think of it this
way: A verse usually recounts events or imagery intended to stir up
emotions and draw the listener into the song. Progressions from the
fragile end of the chart will allow a certain vagueness to exist in the
tonality. This has the effect of making the music feel unsettled (in a
good way), creating a need for something more straightforward,
something less complicated. Enter the chorus: it brings closure to the
verse. As we’ll see in Chapter 6, while verses will often tell the
audience what’s happening, a chorus will tell them how the songwriter
feels about what’s happening. For stability, a verse with numerous
fragile progressions will need a chorus with strong progressions. And it
makes for a nicely structured song.
What About Minor Keys?
We haven’t yet talked about music in a minor key yet, because most of
the pop music out there has tended to be in major keys. But music in
minor keys can be beautiful, and you should consider it. To discover
the chords of minor keys, we just need to employ the same process we
used to come up with chords for a major key:
Sample 5
89
In pop music, the V-chord is actually not all that common.The most common chords in minor key music are: i, iv andVI. Also, it is very common for minor key music to slide intothe relative major key, and back again. For example, a songin A minor will often move into C major, for variety.
The chords that we build on each note of a minor scale will be a
different quality from their major key counterparts. In the case of a
minor key:
The chord based on the 1st note will always be minor.
2nd note ………………… diminished.
3rd note ………………… major.
4thnote ………………… minor.
5th note ………………… major3.
6th note ………………… major.
7th note ………………… major.
3 In minor keys, the V-chord is naturally a minor chord. But as we discovered earlier, the mostcommon function of the V-chord is to move easily to the tonic. This is true in minor keys as well.A centuries-old tradition has been established that states that a V-chord, whether in a major keyor minor key, sounds more solid if it is major. By being major, it moves to the I-chord moreeasily. In major keys, the V-chord is naturally a major chord, so no adjustment needs to be made.In minor keys, however, the V-chord is minor, so we often raise the 3rd to make it major.
90
Don’t be afraid to try composing in the minor key.Some writers purposely stay away from minor keysbecause they think the music will be too dreary. Butyou will find that the basic back beat of the music, thelyric and the melody will do as much or more to controlthe mood of the music you write.
Just as with major key music, the principle of strong and fragile
progressions applies to minor key music. Minor key music can be
powerfully evocative. Many songwriters use a mixture of minor and
major modes within the same piece of music.
Consider this progression:
Sample 6
Am – F – G – Am
These four chords come from the key of C major, but they also come
from A minor. If the third chord had been an E major chord instead of
G major, the progression would be solidly in A minor. The F major and
G major chords sound briefly as if they are going to pull the music into
C major, but the phrase then ends on A minor. This ambiguity of mode
is a well-used tool by many songwriters.
91
Here are some other progressions in the minor mode:
Sample 7
Am – Dm – E – Am
Am – F – Dm – Bdim – C – F – E – Am
Am – Dm – E – F – C – Dm – E – Am
Am – G – C – F – Dm – E – Am – G
Songs about love have got to be about the most common songs outthere. But why love? People find it irresistible to allow themselves to bepulled into a song that describes strong emotions they’ve felt before.They like to know that others have felt that same sentiment. And theylike to know that there’s a song out there that perhaps describes thatfeeling. And we never tire of it! Love has been a topic of song ever sincethere have been songs. If you are looking for great song material,choosing love, particularly of the “unrequited” variety, will be a popularchoice.
Successful songs are ones that allow the audience to put themselves inthe singer’s world, whatever the topic may be. Love is the most popular,but you may want to describe other issues that have been on your mind.Some other popular choices for song material: the environment,consumerism and consumer greed, visions of a better world, andabhorring violence against our fellow humans.
92
III. Integrating Balance WhenBuilding a Longer Progression
In Douglas Adams’ book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe4,
he writes, “There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers
exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly
disappear and be replaced by something even
more bizarre and inexplicable.” It reminds me
of how so many musicians try to comprehend
the mystery of chord progressions. They
search for the elusive “rule” that governs all
progressions, as if there is some overall
directive, some law that guides their creation.
Adams might tell such writers that if they
ever discover the “ultimate answer” as to how chord progressions
work, all chords will instantly disappear and be replaced by a bowl of
petunias and a whale.
The Chart of Two-Chord Progressions is a useful tool for determining
how strong your chord sequences are. We’ve seen that longer
progressions can be understood as two-chord progressions attached
one to another. And we’ve also seen that some progressions feel
4 4 The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, ©1980 by Douglas Adams. Published by
arrangement with Crown Publishers, Inc.
93
tonally solid while others are less so, and that it is optimum to use a
mixture of both in your song.
But that still doesn’t really answer the question… How do we construct
a longer progression? How do we know if it’s a good one?
Most songs are designed to reinforce the I-chord as the key chord –
the tonic chord, as we call it. So it’s not just a matter of trying to have
strong progressions. It’s having progressions that, either separately or
jointly, point toward that tonic chord as having special significance. In
our “going-for-a-walk” analogy, it’s like saying that we see everywhere
we go in relation to where our house is. And we know that no matter
where our walk takes us, it usually takes us back to our house.
Building Progressions
The strongest progression we have is the V-I progression. It’s what
Chord Progression Principle #1 is all about. The possibilities available
to us to build on that simple two-chord progression are endless, but try
this as one strong option: If we take that V-I progression, and put a
chord in front of it that is four notes down from the V-chord, we have
this three chord progression: ii – V – I. You can write lots of songs that
use those three chords. The progression is strong because each chord
moves up four notes to reach the root of the next chord, and each
chord shares a common tone with the chord before it.
94
A circle-of-fifths progression works well and feels so solid, mainlybecause it adheres to Chord Progression Principle #1: each chordshares a common tone with the next one in the sequence, andthe root of each chord rises by four notes.
The circle-of-fifths progression is strong, so that means itwill be predictable. Be aware of that as you use it.
The Circle-of Fifths Progression
Now, to add a chord in front of that progression try going down four
notes below the ii-chord. That gives us the vi-chord. The progression is
now four chords long: vi – ii – V – I. In C major, we’re talking about
these chords: Am – Dm – G – C. A progression that uses chords whose
roots rise by a 4th (or descend by a 5th) in this way is called a circle of
fifths progression. It’s a very solid one to consider. You can keep
extending it backward: four notes below the vi-chord is the iii-chord.
Of course, the circle-of-fifths sequence is only one possibility. And if all
you did was use that progression, your music would be quite repetitive.
But many songwriters use it as a starting point. Consider this one:
Sample 8
Em – Am – Dm – G – Em – F – G – C
It works really well because it features chord changes from the strong
end of the Two-Chord Progression Chart. It’s mainly a circle-of-fifths
95
progression. When it gets to the G major chord in the middle, we
expect to hear a C major chord following, because it follows the
pattern of four-notes-up. But the G major chord progresses to an E
minor, and now we expect the sequence to start over. This time,
however, it proceeds to an F major chord, then to G major, with a final
cadence on C major. By jumping to the F major chord, we successfully
leap out of the circle-of-fifths sequence and bring the progression to a
close.
Not all progressions use the circle-of-fifths, of course. But it is a good
one to use as a starting point because it uses so many strong two-
chord progressions.
Incorporating Balance
Though we now know how progressions work, we haven’t dealt with
another important issue – that of how chord progressions are
inextricably linked to phrases. If you can get your phrases to make
sense, to feel balanced, your chords will have a fighting chance.
Consider the following two progressions:
96
Sample 9
Play through them both on a guitar or piano. Neither one feels wrong,
but the first one is an example of a progression that works really well.
It’s not just that it uses a mixture of strong and fragile progressions.
It’s got to do with balanced phrases. It’s a four-bar phrase, subdivided
into two smaller ones. The first two bars of the progression wander
away from C, and the third and fourth bars wander back. It feels
balanced; there is a symmetry. The first and third bars are similar in
that they both use two chords. The second and fourth bars are similar
by the fact that they use one chord lasting the entire bar.
Now consider the second progression. There’s nothing wrong with the
progression, but something feels a tiny bit unsatisfying about it. It’s bar
3 that is the problem. Putting two chords in bar 3 would make it a
better progression, because it would allow that bar to better balance
with bar 1. Does this mean that the progression is “wrong”? We should
97
HARMONY Principle #3
THERE SHOULD BE A PERCEIVABLE AND SOMEWHAT
PREDICTABLE PATTERN TO THE PLANNING OF CHORD
CHANGES.
not be thinking of these progressions as being “right” or “wrong”, but
in this case, we can certainly say that Progression 1 is “better” than
Progression 2 because of the balance and symmetry issue.
Harmonic Rhythm
Balance is a bit of an abstract concept. It would be ludicrous to say
that balance, or any other concept, for that matter, is a constant value.
Nothing in the arts works that way. Nonetheless, music in the pop song
world usually works by providing certain perceivable and predictable
patterns to the listener. The patterns I am talking about here are not
necessarily rhythmic patterns, as we usually mean when we use that
term. I am speaking of the frequency and pacing of the chord changes.
This is known as the harmonic rhythm of the song. It leads us to our
third principle of chord progressions:
In Progression 1 from page 96, the first bar consisted of two chords,
each lasting two beats. The next bar contained one chord, lasting for
the entire bar. The third and fourth bars repeat that pattern. That
pattern of two chords in one bar and one in the next is an important
98
feature of the song, serving as a pervasive pattern for the song as a
whole. The pattern can be anything you like. In Bob Seger’s song,
“Like a Rock”, each chord lasts two entire bars. That’s its harmonic
rhythm.
Slow harmonic rhythm, combined with a relaxed instrumental
treatment, gives a pensive, meditative quality to the music. But slow
harmonic rhythm combined with an energetic driving pulse gives the
music a gritty, determined air. Some songs use a combination. James
Taylor’s “Your Smiling Face” changes chords on every beat for two
bars, then switches to chords that last for two beats. This is the basic
pattern for much of the song.
Changing the harmonic rhythm within a song should not be done
haphazardly. Songs that move from a slower to a fast harmonic
rhythm generally gain energy. So do that if it’s the effect you are
going for. That gained energy is sometimes difficult to dissipate within
a section, so increasing the frequency of your chord changes is best
achieved by introducing the effect in a new, higher energy section such
as a chorus or a bridge.
99
IV. Expanding Your ChordVocabulary
So far, the chords we’ve talked about have been triads that occur
naturally within a certain major or minor key. Our ingenuity and
imagination could allow us to write possibly thousands of songs or
more using just those chords. But now it’s time to let your imagination
soar! The possibilities are almost endless regarding how to manipulate
chords to come up with something distinctive for your song. There are
numerous books of chords in print that can list the many thousands of
possibilities. But some chords are real winners, ones you’ll want to be
sure to consider for your songs. We’re going to briefly describe some
simple but very effective modifications to the chords we’ve already
studied, as well as consider other gems for increasing your chord
vocabulary. Of all the possible variations on chords we could study,
these will be the most common, and most useful:
I. Adding a 7th to a chord
II. Modal Mixtures
III. Secondary Dominants
IV. Suspensions
V. Inversions
100
Woody Guthrie
I. Adding a 7th to a V-Chord
The most common modification to the V-chord you will encounter is
the addition of a 7th. This means counting seven notes up from the
root of the chord, and adding that note to the existing three notes. The
resulting chord, G7, has four notes: G, B, D, and F.
Sample 10
You’ll notice that the F causes the chord to want to move even
more so to the C major chord. That’s called strengthening the
dominant function.
Simplicity can be a good thing. And
in chord progressions, the truth is
that you do not need a huge
arsenal of chords. Woody Guthrie’s
song, “This Land is Your Land” is a
good example of a song that can be
performed using only the tonic,
subdominant and dominant chords:
101
Sample 11
F C
This land is your land, this land is my land
G7 C
From California to the New York Island
F C
From the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters
G7 C
This land was made for you and me.
Much of the music from the 50s and early 60s could be covered by
using the I, IV and V chords from any key. As the 60s progressed into
the 70s, songwriters used other
chords with increasing frequency.
Adding chords to their
vocabulary had the same effect as
adding words to verbal vocabulary;
chiefly, more chords allowed writers
to be even more precise and descriptive.
102
Every time you modify a chord, or replace one with another, you makesubtle changes to the atmosphere of the song. The final choices reallydepend on your own taste, and the style of the song. Chord choices arenot meant to complicate music – they are meant to add meaning andclarification to the moods portrayed in the text. Simplicity trumpscomplication in the chord game.
Increasing your chord vocabulary will allow you to subtly shade your
musical ideas with colors that are perhaps a bit more understated and
clever. The ii-chord can take the place of the IV-chord in a progression,
because two of the notes of the IV-chord also show up in the ii-chord:
Sample 12
The vi-chord can sometimes serve as an interesting substitute for a I-
chord, because two of the notes of the I-chord also show up in the vi-
chord:
Sample 13
103
This Land… Revisited
Now let’s go back to This Land is Your Land, and apply some of the
new chords we’ve looked at. This time, when you play it, you’ll notice
that the new chord choices add flavour, and start to create a certain
mood:
Sample 14
C7 F C Am
This land is your land, this land is my land
Dm G7 C C7
From California to the New York Island
F C Am
From the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters
Dm G7 C
This land was made for you and me.
Adding 7ths to Other Chords
Remember the 7th that we added to the V-chord? You can actually add
a 7th to almost any chord. Adding a 7th to a ii-chord or a vi-chord can
sound really nice. Some chords work well by adding a major 7th, while
others sound better when you add a minor 7th. This is determined by
the key you’re in. You will find that I, IV and V all sound great if you
add a major 7th, while ii, iii and viio sound best with a minor 7th. Try
104
experimenting to see what you like. You should note that in blues
progressions, adding a minor 7th to a I, and to a IV creates that famous
blues effect.
II. Modal Mixtures
From earlier in this chapter, we discovered why some chords work so
well when in a certain key, while other chords seem to be a bit
strange. However, it is possible to “borrow” chords from one mode and
use them in another. By this usage of the word “mode”, we mean
whether a song is in a major key or a minor one. Chords that
come from the opposite mode are called, appropriately enough,
borrowed chords, or modal mixtures. The IV-chord offers probably the
most common opportunity for this situation. Try playing the following
progression on your guitar or piano:
Sample 15
The F minor chord in bar 4 is a borrowed chord. It’s a great sound, and
creates really interesting possibilities. It produces an air of melancholy,
and provides a lovely descending inner line that moves from the note
A, through Ab, to G.
105
Every time you introduce a newchord in your song, the effect issimilar to viewing a newlandmark while taking a walk.Landmarks are good, but toomany can result in fatigue.
Be careful not to inundate
your audience with too many
chords, especially unusual
ones.
Good songs show a balancebetween predictability andinnovation, with more emphasison the former than the latter.
Any chord that actually belongs in the opposite mode to the one you
are writing in is called a modal mixture, or borrowed chord. The minor
iv-chord is probably the most commonly used borrowed chord. Be
careful not to use them
too much, because they
are very distinctive. But
it’s that distinctive flavour that
can add that bit of variety you
may be looking for. There are
lots of songs out there using
borrowed chords, such as Paul
Kelly’s “Personally”, made
famous by Karla Bonoff. He
uses a minor iv-chord toward
the end of each verse (on the
words, I’ve got something to
deliver / That the mailman can’t deliver…) The well-known duet
“Islands in the Stream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (written by
the Bee Gees), uses a modal mixture iv-chord toward the end of the
first verse, on the words, “All this love we feel needs no conversation.”
It’s a great chord to spice up an otherwise ordinary progression.
Check out these progressions that use other modal mixtures:
106
Sample 16
III. Secondary Dominant Chords
We know that a ii-chord from a major key naturally occurs as a minor
chord. In A major, the ii-chord is B-D-F#. Consider this progression:
Sample 17
107
If the B minor chord is followed by a chord whose root is four notes
up, or five down (as in this example), it provides an interesting
modification if, instead of playing this B minor chord, you change it to
B major:
Sample 18
It’s not a borrowed chord, because there is no major ii-chord in either
major or minor keys. We know that ii-chords are either minor (in major
keys) or diminished (in minor keys). So if it isn’t a borrowed chord,
what is it? It’s a particular type of chord called a secondary dominant.
In a manner of speaking, it is pretending to be a dominant chord, in
this way: It is major, and the presence of that D# in the B major chord
strengthens its desire to want to move to the E major chord – four
notes up. Because of these characteristics, it holds two of the main
qualities of being a dominant chord. So we call it a secondary
dominant. Essentially, when you change a minor chord into a major
chord, you are often creating a secondary dominant.
How to Add Secondary Dominants to Your Music
Try adding some secondary dominant chords to your song. You’ll
notice that it has a particularly distinctive colour, and so you will need
to ensure that it fits in with the style of your song. The topic of
108
secondary dominants could be the topic of complete chapters within a
theory text, and we’ve only touched the topic here. But you can
create secondary dominants easily by taking a minor chord
and raising the 3rd to make it major. This will work if your minor
chord proceeds to a chord whose root is four notes up, or five notes
down. Go back to that five-chord progression at the beginning of this
section, and make that F# minor chord major, and you will get this:
Sample 19
“Crocodile Rock” by Elton John makes use of a secondary dominant
chord in the second part of the verse:
Sample 20
109
Another song from more recent times is “One Flight Down”, written by
Jesse Harris, recorded by Norah Jones on her Grammy winning album,
“Come Away With Me”. The third chord of the song is a chord based on
the 6th note of the key of the song (Db major). Normally the chord
based on the 6th note is minor, but in this case Harris makes it major:
Sample 21
Secondary Dominants That Don’t Act “Dominant”
It is possible to create secondary dominant chords that don’t rise by
four notes to the next chord. In other words, they don’t pretend to be
the dominant chord of the one that follows. Here’s a progression in E
major that demonstrates this:
Sample 22
110
The F# major chord in bar 2 would normally want to move on to a B
chord (a V-chord), if it followed the theory just described concerning
secondary dominant chords. But this F# major chord progresses to a
IV-chord (A major), and so acts simply as an interesting colour for a ii-
chord.
IV. Suspensions
A suspension is a particular type of chord that makes use of a non-
chord-tone. To show how it works, take a look at this diagram from
page 80:
Sample 23
It’s the diagram we used to show the
common tone between a V-chord and a
I-chord. The G major chord uses three
pitches: G, B and D. If we take the
middle tone (called the 3rd, because it is
3 letter names above the root), and raise it
by a half tone, we will create a beautiful
chord called a suspension:
111
That chord, Gsus4, is a G major chord in which the 3rd has been raised
(suspended) a half tone to C. Except for that pitch, the Gsus4 is
identical to a standard G major chord. Generally, this kind of chord
needs to be “resolved” by allowing the C to descend down to where it
usually is for a G major chord – to B.
Suspended chords are quite versatile, because you can technically
“suspend” any tone in a chord. It will take some experimentation on
your part to know which tones sound the best when suspended, and
which chords to do it to. Trust your ears. Usually, V-chords in any key
will sound good with the 3rd suspended – the so-called “sus4” chords.
The same type of suspension works well on I-chords as well. There are
other types, though, and probably the most common type after the
sus4 is the sus9 chord (also called sus2). In a sus9 chord, an upper
root of the chord is replaced with a note that is a tone higher. It then
resolves to a standard triad. Here are sus4 and sus9 from the key of D
major:
Sample 24
112
Suspensions are just one of an entire category of chords that use non-
chord-tones. Any time you “dress up” a chord with a note that doesn’t
normally belong to it, you’ve used a non-chord-tone. The sus4 really
requires a resolution, because the suspended tone causes such tension
within the chord. The sus9 is less demanding – composers often use
the sus9 simply as a composite sound without resolving it to a triad.
Trust your ears – you’ll know if the chord needs resolution.
v. Inversions
So far we’ve only used chords that appear in root position. A root
position triad means that the root of the chord is the lowest sounding
note. But it is possible to invert chords – to allow a non-root note
already in the chord to be the lowest pitch. Inversions are used in
popular music styles for one or both of two main reasons:
1. for variety in chord choice;
2. to smooth out a bass line.
When a triad is played with the 3rd of the chord as the lowest sounding
note, that triad is said to be in first inversion. A triad with the 5th of the
chord as the lowest sounding note is said to be in second inversion.
113
Guitarists know these chords as slash chords, because they are
indicated using a slash to separate the chord name from the bass note:
Sample 25
When and How to Use Inversions
So when and how should inversions be used? An inversion has the
effect of decreasing the tonal stability of a chord. A root position chord
is considered to be solid, while placing the 3rd at the bottom (first
inversion) removes a bit of that stability. Placing the 5th at the bottom
removes a lot of that stability. So inverted triads will usually not be
good chords with which to end phrases or sections of songs. They’re
great chords for getting from one stable chord to another. Used in this
manner, they are known as passing chords. The song “Layla”, co-
written by Eric Clapton, demonstrates a first inversion chord being
used as a passing chord in the instrumental ending of the song:
114
Sample 26
The progression could have easily been played by extending that C
major chord in the first bar to last for two full bars before moving on to
the F major chord; that’s a strong progression. But by using the C/E as
a passing chord, Clapton provides a bit of variety while still keeping the
notes of the chord. He merely places a different chord tone at the
bottom. That inverted chord in bar 2 of the example has the effect of
pulling the listener along into bar 3.
A variation on the so-called “slash chord” is the pedal tone. A pedal
tone is a pitch (usually in the bass) that is held through several chord
changes. More often than not, the pedal tone will either be the tonic
note (key note) or the dominant note (the root note of the V-chord),
but try different tones to see if you like the effect. Here are some
samples:
Sample 27
115
It’s important to keep track of where your bass notes are, andwhere they’re moving when you use inversions. Inversionsshould exist for a reason – they shouldn’t simply be usedrandomly. When using any chord, inversion or not, avoid
having the bass jump by six semitones (a diminished
4th.)
Key Changes
Don’t Go Changin’… Without a Reason
A key change, known in learned circles as a “modulation”, should occur
for a specific reason, not haphazardly. Key changes can be very useful
in verse-chorus designs. A well-placed key change can inject spice, and
offer variety to a song that is in danger of becoming stale. Songs with
many repeating features are good candidates for a key change. The
song “One Tin Soldier”, by The Original Caste, uses a key change
before the last verse. This was a great decision because it is basically a
verse-chorus song, in danger of being too repetitious. The key change
adds a feeling of anticipation to the song, and helps propel it forward.
116
There are two common types of modulations:
I. Half-step-upward modulation
This type of modulation is very common. The songwriter raises the key
by one semitone (half step), or, less frequently, by a whole tone. A
half step modulation is usually prepared by ending the verse or chorus,
then playing a chord that is the dominant chord of the new key, then
continue with the next verse or chorus in the new key. Observe the
following chord progression. In this example, imagine that the first
four chords bring the chorus to a close. The next chord is the
modulating chord, and then the chorus is repeated, this time in the
new key:
Sample 28
Chords: C F G C // Ab // Db Gb Ab Db
This kind of modulation is exciting, but must be used carefully and
conservatively. Used too often, it can become corny and trite.
The half step upward modulation can also be done through what is
called an “abrupt modulation”. This means that the chorus comes to a
close, and the music suddenly all bumps up one semitone. This is what
Chorus ModulatingChord
Chorus: new key
117
happens in “One Tin Soldier”, and it is particularly exciting. But again,
keep in mind that if you decide to modulate up a semitone, it can
become trite if used more than once. Listeners tend to have a curious
reaction of feeling manipulated somehow if the songwriter uses it too
much. Consider it a one-use effect.
This type of modulation happens usually at the ends of choruses, or,
less commonly, before a verse moves into a chorus. Even less
common, but worth a look, is the modulation that happens in the
middle of a verse or chorus. This is useful if your verse or chorus have
repetitious elements, and you want to inject some variety toward the
end of a piece of music. The Carpenters song, “Goodbye to Love”
employs this kind of key change. Toward the end of the last verse, we
get two lines of text that are set to the very same notes:
“What lies in the future is a mystery to us all / No one can predict the
wheel of fortune as it falls.5”
Then, before the next line comes in (set again to the same notes), they
abruptly raise the key (by a whole tone), and then deliver the ultimate
line,
“There may come a time when I will see that I’ve been wrong.”
5 Goodbye to Love, © 1972 by Almo Music Corp./Hammer and Nails Music, Inc.
118
This was a great decision. The change of key, along with the
introduction of those trademark harmonies at that moment, gives a
shot of energy to that part of the piece.
II. Miscellaneous Modulation (more than a whole
tone)
Other key changes (i.e., larger than a whole tone) can occur in songs.
They are more rare, because vocal range becomes a factor: if your
song takes you close to your upper range limit, then modulating up a
fourth will take you beyond. So why would you consider modulating
upward by more than a tone? The most common occurrence of this
type of key change would be during duets. One singer can handle a
song in a certain key, and then when it is time for the second singer to
take over, the key changes to accommodate that singer’s range. A
song that shows this kind of key change is “Islands in the Stream”, by
Kenny Rodgers and Dolly Parton. The key changes when Dolly takes
over the lyric. Also, “Put Your Hand in the Hand”, as recorded by the
early 70s band Ocean does the same type of modulation, to put the
song in the right range for the singer.
Here are some basic bits of advice for doing key changes:
1. Upward modulations work far better, and with far more
predictable results, than downward modulations. A downward
modulation is difficult to do, because the new dominant chord
is a diminished 4th away from the original key, a very awkward
119
interval indeed. It also saps energy from the music in a massive
way, and so it’s not terribly useful. Most songs should feature
an increase, or at least a maintaining, of basic energy. Avoid
downward modulations.
2. Modulations of more than a tone sometimes have unpredictable
results. So sing through that part of the song using the
modulation several times, being sure you know what the effect
is. Its immediate consequence is usually a dramatic change in
overall energy.
3. An upward modulation should be accompanied by an
intensifying of lyric, singing style, dynamic (i.e., loudness) or
instrumentation. Upward modulations combined with a
lessening of instrumentation or dynamic level are usually
counterintuitive. At a minimum, maintain the levels of loudness
and instrumentation, and you will probably find that increasing
overall energy makes a modulation work better.
4. Modulations work better toward the end of a piece than they
do toward the beginning. If your song has one modulation,
make it occur at least two-thirds of the way along.
120
Chapter 4 SUMMARY
In this chapter you have learned:
Harmony Principle #1:
TWO CHORDS THAT HAVE A NOTE IN COMMON WILL FORM A STRONG PROGRESSION; AND IF
THAT FIRST CHORD MOVES UP BY FOUR NOTES OR DOWN BY FIVE NOTES TO REACH THE NEXT
CHORD, THE PROGRESSION BECOMES EVEN STRONGER.
Harmony Principle #2A VERSE WILL USUALLY TOLERATE MORE FRAGILE PROGRESSIONS THAN A CHORUS; A CHORUS
USUALLY REQUIRES MORE STRONG PROGRESSIONS.
Harmony Principle #3
THERE SHOULD BE A PERCEIVABLE AND SOMEWHAT PREDICTABLE PATTERN TO THE PLANNING
OF CHORD CHANGES.
KEY NOTES AND QUOTES FROM CHAPTER 3:
• Songwriters often refer to chords within a key by a Roman numeral. Buildinga chord on each note of a major scale gives us seven chords that belong tothat key:
o The first chord (also called the tonic chord) is major. (I)
o The second chord is minor. (ii)o The third chord is minor. (iii)
o The fourth chord is major. (IV)
o The fifth chord is major. (V)
o The sixth chord is minor. (vi)
o The seventh chord is diminished. (viio)
• Building a chord on each note of a minor scale gives us seven chords thatbelong to that key:
o The first chord is minor. (i)
o The second chord is diminished. (iio)
o The third chord is major. (III)
o The fourth chord is minor. (iv)
o The fifth chord is major. (V)
o The sixth chord is major. (VI)
121
o The seventh chord is major. (VII)
• Taking a walk is a good analogy for how chord progressions work. The tonicchord is our house; the V-chord (dominant chord) is our front doorstep. Otherchords take us further from our house. The V-I progression is the
strongest one we can use. It’s like going from our doorstep into ourhouse.
• Two-chord progressions are strong if they adhere to Principle #1.
Longer progressions should be a mixture of strong and fragile progressions.
• Too many chord pairs from the fragile end of the chart will make your musicfeel confusing and muddled. Too many from the strong end makes yourmusic seem predictable and possibly boring.
• Balancing strong and weak progressions in your song is a bit likebalancing amounts of cement and glass when constructing a building. Allcement gives you no windows, and all windows gives you no strength orsolidity. The best buildings use both.
• The circle-of-fifths progression works so well because it is comprised ofchord progressions from the strong end of the Two-chord-Progression Chart.
• The harmonic rhythm of a song should be a relatively regular pattern.
• Songs that move from a slower to a fast harmonic rhythm generally gainenergy.
• Increasing your chord vocabulary will allow you to subtly shade your musicalideas with colors that are perhaps a bit more understated and clever.
• Simplicity trumps complication in the chord game.
• Every time you introduce a new chord in your song, the effect is similar toviewing a new landmark while taking a walk. Landmarks are good, but too
many can result in fatigue.
• An inverted chord means that the bass note is a note from the triad otherthan the root.
• When using any chord, inversion or not, avoid having the bass jump by
six semitones (a diminished 4th.)
• Key changes are a good way of energizing a song, but can be trite if used toooften.
123
Melodic Energy
The structure of melodies changes with the times, but… not by that
much. If you go back enough in time, of course, the differences will be
obvious. But songs that were hits in the ‘60s and ‘70s are finding
themselves getting a makeover and being reissued by today’s leading
performers. Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” has been covered by
several in the past decade, including Amy Grant and Counting
Crows. Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday” has the
distinction of being the most rerecorded song
in history. It’s been done over 2500 times. And
it’s the mark of a great song when so many
performers hear it and come up with their own
way to present it.
There are great original songs being written
today, by really fine songwriters: Chris Martin
from Coldplay, Dave Matthews, Gwen Stefani and others. And even
though the style of today’s music differs quite
noticeably from the music of yesteryear, there are
striking similarities that ensure that we can learn
lessons for tomorrow with the music of any era.
124
These chapter deals with melody and lyric together, because it makes
no sense to talk about one without discussing the other. The two are,
and must be, allies in the quest for that great song. It’s a problem for
many beginner songwriters – when the text and the melody don’t
seem to have much to do with each other.
How “Yesterday” Works
I mentioned in Chapter 2 that a good melody takes us on a journey,
and used Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday” as an example. It follows that
“journey” notion well. It consists of four phrases, where each phrase,
melodically, is structured to match the emotional content of the text.
The song uses vocal range as its main source of energy:
Vocal Range and Vocal Energy
McCartney’s ability to write melodies is extraordinary, especially with
regard to how melodic shape, lyric and vocal range work together.
125
When you write songs, you will notice that in general, the higher the
voice, the more dynamic and energetic the music. Singers being
required to sing in their upper register will need to use a lot more
physically demanding technique to produce and sustain those notes.
It’s an energy that can be heard, and becomes part of the
interpretation of a performance.
In “Yesterday”, the voice enters in the singer’s lowest range.
Combining that fact with the nostalgic nature of the word,
“Yesterday…” causes the audience to feel that nostalgia and remorse.
Immediately, the melody rises to its highest notes, promoting the
strongest feeling of sorrow and angst
on the words “All my troubles
seemed so far away”. The fact that
this part of the melody gives the
singer his highest notes makes us
feel his torment. The melody eases
downward on “Now it looks as though they’re here to stay”, giving us
back the feeling of remorse. The vocal line fully relaxes on “Oh I
believe in yesterday.” McCartney manipulates his audience in the best
way possible.
The highest notes of “Yesterday” occur later in the song, on the line,
“Now I long for yesterday.” By setting that line to the highest notes of
126
Melody/Lyric Principle #1:
THE SHAPE OF A MELODY MUST BE PLANNED WITH
VOCAL RANGE, HARMONY AND TEXT IN MIND.
the song, McCartney tells us what this song is all about… longing for
yesterday.
This integrating of melody, text and vocal range give us our first
principle of writing melodies:
Don’t Write Counterintuitively
To write counterintuitively means to write in such a way that two or
more features of a song seem to be at
cross-purposes. If you are setting a text
that has to do with a tender kiss at the
beach, where the singer is meant to
portray the quiet solitude of that
moment, it simply confuses the listener
to have that text set to a voice very high in its range, screaming out
how peaceful the world seems. Make sure that vocal range and text
are strongly allied. Nonetheless…
127
Singers that use falsetto are able to sing in a very high range,often without unduly raising the vocal energy of theirperformance. The falsetto voice is a little unpredictable, so ifyou are writing music for another singer, be certain to get theentire story on that singer’s range, and whether or not theyhave a useable falsetto.
Some falsetto singers can vary the kind of falsetto they produce– everything from a sweet velvety sound (Smoky Robinson) tosomething more aggressive (Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin).
What is Falsetto and Tessitura?
…there are ways for a human voice to sound very high, and still sound
lyrical and sweet, not aggressive or tense. When singers (usually male)
raise the pitch of their voice to its high limit, they can extend it
considerably beyond this threshold by creating a “break” in their voice,
and continue into a higher range. This type of voice is called “falsetto”,
and it’s fairly easy for men to sing in. The general range of a song is
called its tessitura. The normal range for most men extends upward to
a little past “middle C” on the piano. Some singers, if required, can
switch into falsetto to continue singing higher in pitch, if the tessitura
of the song is high. Falsetto is tricky to use because there is a
somewhat noticeable break (called the passaggio) between the normal
voice and falsetto. However, many male singers work at making that
break less conspicuous, and thus do a good job of using their falsetto
range. Some singers are famous for the beauty of their falsetto voice:
Smoky Robinson, Frankie Valli of the Four Seasons, Prince, Barry Gibb
of the Bee Gees, and Chris Martin of Coldplay, to name a few.
128
Writing Good Melodies
Imagine that you’ve rented an apartment or bought a house. You’re
looking around you, and trying to visualize where you’re going to put
all the furniture. It may seem like a blur of ideas at this point, but
there are some things you know for certain. For example, you won’t be
putting your bookshelves in the
bathroom. Your clothes hamper
won’t likely be in the living
room, and your bed won’t be in
the dining room. Once the basic
structure of a building is known,
there are at least some
decisions that are easy to make.
Getting Notes in the Right Place
How does this analogy work for writing melodies? For many
songwriters, the process of composition begins by vamping a two or
three chord pattern. It’s like laying down a shell, a structure, within
which the melody is eventually going to reside. Hand-in-hand with the
chord pattern is an underlying rhythmic motif that will form the
backbone of your song. In our analogy of the new house, try thinking
of the chords as being like the overall shape and structure of the walls
around you, and the underlying rhythm is the colour of the walls.
129
Composing by layering various elements means coming up withthose elements together. Most songwriters layer their songs to atleast an extent. They’ll develop the chord patterns, melody, textand other components more or less simultaneously, bits at a time.In other circumstances, writers will develop the text as a stand-alone entity first, working out the other aspects later in a separateprocess.
There is no one way to write, and you may find that many songsyou write will happen in different ways.
Where the walls are placed will determine a lot with regard to where
things go. The neat thing is that this is a house that you get to build,
and if you don’t like the rooms, you can invent new ones!
There are as many ways to write as there are composers. Some
songwriters like to work with others, bouncing ideas off band mates.
For these people, the songwriting process usually begins with one
person bringing the shell for a song to a band rehearsal, and the other
members all contribute ideas as the song grows and modifies. Group
compositional efforts are relatively common in popular music.
130
Melody/Lyric Principle #2:
A) A VERSE CAN USE TEXT THAT IS NARRATIVE AND
INCONCLUSIVE, WITH PREDOMINANTLY FRAGILE
CHORD PROGRESSIONS;
B) A CHORUS CAN USE TEXT THAT IS REFLECTIVE
AND DRAWS CONCLUSIONS, AND USE STRONGER
CHORD PROGRESSIONS.
For most songwriters of middle-of-the-road songs, writing melodies is
borne out of laying down a chord and rhythm layer first. Melodies
essentially begin as improvisations that gradually focus in on creating a
more solidly identifiable tune. This is composition by layering. In the
analogy we used of trying to place furniture in your new house, it’s like
actually coming up with the entire house first.
Verse-Chorus Text Design
When we looked at verse-chorus chord progression issues, we
discovered that verses can tolerate more fragile progressions, while
choruses usually need stronger ones. This has to do with the nature of
the kind of text we use in verses and choruses. When you construct
your melody and begin applying text, you need to remember these
basic principles:
131
Melody/Lyric Principle #3:
THE PRESENCE OF THE KEYNOTE (TONIC NOTE)
WILL STRENGTHEN THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE
OF A MELODY. CHORUSES CAN AND SHOULD
FEATURE THE TONIC NOTE IN ITS MELODY MORE
THAN VERSES.
Song Sample
Because writing music is an art form, generalizations can be dangerous
to make. No doubt we can all think of songs that do not follow some or
any principles. But if you look at the music of the great songwriters
from any era, you’ll see those two principles being followed much of
the time. Let’s look at a song that follows Principles #2 and 3 closely:
Backstreet Boys: “Never Gone” (from the Album Never Gone)
Verse:F Dm
The things we did, the things we saidF/C Bb
Keep coming back to me and make me smile againF Dm
You showed me how to face the truthF/C Bb
Everything that's good in me I owe to you Am BbThough the distance that's between usF CNow may seem to be too far
132
Am BbIt will never separate usF CDeep inside I know you are
Chorus: F Dm
Never gone, never far F/C Bb
In my heart is where you are F Dm
Always close, every day F/C Bb
Every step along the wayDm C Am BbEven though for now we've gotta say goodbyeDm C Am BbI know you will be forever in my life (yeah)
FNever gone…
This song begins with a beautifully
evocative piano solo, setting up the
mood perfectly in short order. The text
of the verse is melancholy, and tells a
story of two lovers parting on good
terms. The pulse is gentle. The second
part of verse 1 introduces a simple and
understated drum beat, allowing the
song to gain energy that culminates in the chorus.
The first part of the verse uses mainly fragile progressions (F – Dm –
F/C Bb), in keeping with the nature of the text, demonstrating Principle
#2. The text is simple, telling the listener what’s going on in the
133
Principles #2 and #3 go hand-in-hand because they both dealwith how to make a melody stronger in some cases, weaker inothers. It’s an important feature of any song. You want versesto feel inconclusive; it makes your audience keep listening tofind out how it all turns out in the end.
You make verses feel inconclusive primarily by:1. using predominantly fragile progressions;2. using a text that tells a story or describes feelings
without being too conclusive;3. constructing your melody to focus on notes other than
the tonic note, particularly at the beginning and middlesections. Ease your way to the tonic as the verse meetsup with the chorus.
You make choruses feel conclusive and strong primarily by:1. using more strong progressions;2. using text that expresses conclusive statements about
emotions and decisions;3. constructing your melody to focus on the tonic note,
particularly at the beginning and end of the chorus.
singer’s life. In the second part of the verse, the singer begins to show
courage and strength (“Though the distance that’s between us… It will
never separate us…”). In keeping with this show of strength, the music
begins to feature stronger progressions (Am – Bb – F – C).
Curiously, the chorus reverts to the chords of the first part of the
verse. So why does the chorus feel so strong? It is because the tonic
note is featured so much in the melody of the chorus,
demonstrating Principle #3. In the verse, the tonic note is only rarely
presented, always on weak beats, and always as a passing note. In the
chorus, the tonic note is presented no less than twelve times in the
first eight bars. The first part of the chorus features the tonic note as
the most important note. This constant reiteration of the tonic note is
the secret to how the melody is so strong.
134
Melody/Lyric Principle #4:
THE LATTER HALF OF VERSES WILL OFTEN BE
PITCHED HIGHER THAN THE FIRST HALF; CHORUS
NOTES ARE OFTEN HIGHER THAN VERSE NOTES.
Shaping a Melody
There is another reason why the chorus of “Never Gone” feels so
strong. It is because of the higher tessitura of the chorus notes.
Melodies need shape. They need to be contoured in such a way that
they have internal energy that propels them forward, even without a
chord sequence to help. There’s much that can be said about this
shaping of melodies, all based on this basic principle:
Generally speaking, chorus text will lend itself well to higher range than
verse text. This is because chorus text is usually more emotive,
complementing the higher energy that comes with a higher voice. You
will set the chorus up beautifully if your verse melody heads
upward as it approaches the chorus. Within each verse or chorus,
melodies need to show intelligent design elements. There needs to be
shape. In “Never Gone”, the second part of the verse shows higher
range than the first part. This is appropriate, because the second part
135
Higher tessitura means that the notes are higher in pitch, lyinghigher in a singer’s voice.
Generally, choruses should have a higher tessitura than
verses, and focus more on the tonic note. It’s not uncommonfor a chorus to repeat that tonic note and keep returning to it.
Good male pop singers can slip into and out of falsetto withouttheir audience really knowing, or caring for that matter.
of the verse shows more emotion and strength. The higher voice helps
the audience feel that text.
136
Creating a Melody by LayeringIdeas
It is entirely possible that “Never Gone” was created by the layering of
musical ideas until a completed song emerged. In that way, it is like
sculpture: songs begin as an unfashioned piece of material that is
gradually honed until desired shapes come forward.
Layering simply means that a song will begin as a chord pattern, or
rhythm, or some other simple structure. As that structure is played and
modified, other layers are added, gradually evolving into the completed
song.
Let’s Write a Song
Let’s take a look at how the layering process can help you create
songs. I want to, somewhat spontaneously, try to create a song by
layering various elements of that song one by one. In reality, the best
songwriters out there spend a good amount of time before the
composition process working on lyrics and other elements, piecing
fragments together over time. But I want to speed up the process here
right now, so that we can see how layering elements together can
produce a good song.
137
Step 1 – An Underlying Layer
After some meandering around on my keyboard, I’ve come across the
following progression that’s caught my attention:
Sample 29
A rather simple two-chord progression like this can serve as an
underlying layer for an entire song. Play the two chords many times,
trying different rhythmic ideas. You may find that the chords sound
great played simply, with perhaps a little arpeggiating (chord
“noodling”). Maybe you envision a repeating rhythm underneath.
Whatever it is, play it many times, and try to discover whatever you
can that can be used and brought forward. When I tried noodling on
this progression, I became a bit fixated on the common tone G that
exists in both chords, and found myself bringing that note forward.
Perhaps if I keep this progression I can do something with that G as I
arrange the final version of the song.
Step 2 – Creating and Fusing Melodic and Text
Fragments
I began to improvise a melody above this progression. At this point, I
only have two chords to go on, and the song will eventually have more
than two chords, no doubt. But it will be good to try to bring forward
melodic ideas and fragments at this point.
138
As I work on this fragment, I try to get a feeling for structural
elements. And I ask myself certain questions: Do I feel like this
fragment is going to work out to be part of a verse or a chorus? Am I
envisioning text, or even a subject area? If so, I begin writing down
words and text phrases that are coming to mind.
Step 3 – Expanding the Chord Layer
It’s likely that this song will use more than the two chords I’ve been
vamping, so I’ll try creating more chords. I’m keeping the Chord
Progression Principles in mind. If this is working out to be a verse, I
know that I can be somewhat free in using fragile progressions. If it’s a
chorus, my text will need to feel like it is summing up feelings and/or
events that a verse would present. And I’m remembering that a chorus
melody may want to feature that tonic note more frequently than a
verse. My initial fragments have been coming together a bit, and given
me something like this for a chord progression:
Sample 30
139
This makes a great chord layer to use as a basis for a melody. At this
point, I’d probably choose to repeat what I’ve got there, with the
thought in mind that the underlying accompaniment will get a little
busier the second time through.
So far…
So what do we have so far? Just a progression that seems to work
quite nicely. It starts on Cadd9, the 9th simply adding a nice bit of
colour to the C major chord. It wanders away from and back to that
Cadd9 chord. Bars 5-8 take us slightly further afield, but as you can
see, all the chords come from the key of C major, and so nothing will
be shocking or out-of-place to the listener.
The first part of the sequence is comprised mainly of progressions from
the fragile end of the Two-Chord Progression Chart; the second half
features chords from the stronger end, allowing energy to build.
Step 4 – Fusing Melodic Fragments into Sections
It is at this point that I begin to piece together melodic bits into a
composite melody. I’ve been mulling some text fragments over in my
mind as I’ve been working, and I’m going to try writing them down to
try with some melody:
140
Don’t forget… you can hear all of the written musical samplesin this book by visiting www.secretsofsongwriting.com
Sample 31
Well, I am only moderately satisfied with what I’ve got so far, but the
good news is… it’s my song, so I can change anything I want.
Personally, I find my lyric here to be a bit too straight ahead. I want to
use more imagery than this, so I’m probably going to go back and
change it. But for now, I’ll leave it, because I am starting to think
ahead to the chorus.
141
I’ve used stronger progressions in the second half of the melody, which
fits with the more “hopeful” text. I know that when I write the chorus,
I’ll want to make it stronger by perhaps using stronger progressions,
using a higher tessitura, and featuring the tonic note more often.
As I continue working on this song, I’ll continue to put ideas down,
even if I know that the text, chords or melody won’t be what I’ll finally
want. At times, I find myself writing things down that I won’t be
keeping, knowing that I’d never allow that to be my finished song. The
reason is this: It is easier to edit something you’ve written down
than something that resides only in your mind. So don’t be afraid
to write things down. For example, I might try this as a starting point
as the melody and text for the chorus:
Sample 32
142
Now my mind is confirming that for me, this isn’t the direction I want
to go in with the text. It’s too literal, and I was hoping to come up with
less obvious ways to show how I feel. Don’t be afraid to scrap
ideas and start again. It’s all part of the process. But it’s important
to get them down on paper somehow. If your theory isn’t strong
enough to write notes, sing and play it into a digital or tape recorder.
In reality, though I’ve sat here “in real time” writing this song, I’d
choose to work on the text separately for quite a while before
beginning the composition process. There are many songwriters who
“sketch together” the lyric as they fumble for words, but you’ll find that
the best songwriters out there give plenty of good thought to lyrics.
Despite my unhappiness with my text, I’ve followed basic principles in
getting this far. The verse text is mainly narrative and inconclusive,
while the chorus is more emotional and conclusive in nature. The verse
only occasionally gives the tonic note, while the chorus features it
many times. And the verse is relatively low in the singer’s range, while
the chorus takes the singer much higher.
All this proves a point: Just because you use proper songwriting
technique does not mean you will automatically produce a hit
song. Many great songwriters can compose hundreds if not thousands
of songs before a hit comes along.
143
Other Ways to Compose
The Text-First Method
In my opinion, some of the best songwriters out there are the ones
that start with text first. They are poets, looking for musical ways to
present their poetry to others. I say this, because I am partial to
intelligently written text. If you love poetic text, you’ll want to listen to
lots of writers who place the lyric high in importance: Peter Gabriel,
Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, Chris Martin, and Michelle
Branch. Branch, who records on Madonna’s Maverick Records, became
a guitarist so that she could play well enough to set her poetry to
music and perform it. That’s a similar story for many poet-songwriters.
If your poetry is important to you, be certain that when you look at the
final product that the poetry comes through first and foremost. As I
mentioned before, you have to make sure that other elements of your
composition do not upstage your text.
The Rhythm/Beat-First Method
If you love the thought of getting people out on the dance floor, where
the message of the text is secondary, you’ll place beat and rhythm
higher in importance than the melody or lyric. Music of this character is
often highly electronic in nature, and composers of dance music usually
have a particular way of working. If making dance music is your
interest, you are probably already aware of the terms house, techno,
144
trance, progressive, ambient and others. House music evolved out of
the disco craze of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Its most immediately
noticeable feature is the incessant kick-drum beat. Techno evolved
from House, incorporating the Roland TB 303 bass machine to
produced a more highly electronic, industrial sound. Trance is a highly
charged, energetic style of dance music.
Dance music is a particular genre that really needs its own book. It
requires equipment (synthesizers, sequences, etc.) and the style of
composing differs radically from the kind of songwriting dealt with in
this book.
More About Lyrics
Good text is vital to a good song. Good text doesn’t mean that it has to
be a stunning poem. Good text means that it does what it was meant
to do. Some text is extremely simple, and that simplicity may be
exactly what the song needs. If it’s mainly a dance number with a
driving beat meant to get everyone out on the dance floor, that may
not be the song to tell the world your thoughts on greed and
capitalism. A dance number may not need much beyond “love ya
baby”.
145
Be concise in your lyrics. “The clock on the wall” is better than “Theclock that is on the wall.”
Too Many Wordsa big problem with text is often that it is too wordy – too much
information being communicated. And
often when this happens, it is complicated
by the fact that the melody itself tends to
be complex and involved, to fit with the
complicated text. All of these can make
listeners’ brains start to turn off. As
Melody/Lyric Principle #1 says, never
consider text without also considering
melody and harmony. You need to see
text, melody and harmony as three
corners of the composition triangle that need to be in balance.
I’ve mentioned the band Coldplay several times in this chapter. Their
music is a fantastic example of songwriting at its best. The lyric is
usually very strong, and the melodic and harmonic treatment of the
text is winning fans all over the world. Coldplay’s music is cleverly
written – a true weaving-together of all aspects of music. Chord
changes happen almost as washes of sound, where chords morph
from one to the other as they serve to convey the meaning of the lyric.
146
Complexity in music is not necessarily a drawback. But losing youraudience is. Intricacy runs the risk of being interpreted as pomposity. Butsome bands use this intricacy well. Early music from Genesis, Yes, GentleGiant, King Crimson and others were studies in musical composition thatconfounded some while thoroughly entertaining others. These bandsconsidered themselves to be story-tellers more than just singer-songwriters. To properly convey the intricate storylines, writerssometimes feel the need to abandon the simple verse-chorus structuresof mainstream songwriting. If you adopt a less conventional vehicle foryour music, it will usually take you longer to build a fan base for yourmusic. People are somewhat mistrusting of new approaches to music,and some of the early progressive rock bands had to wait ten years tosee any sort of commercial success. That being said, their music standsas monuments of the twentieth century, classics of their day.
Sometimes, however, abstract lyrics will benefit from a more
predictable harmonic and melodic structure. The danger in complicated
lyrics, set to a complicated melody with a complicated chord structure,
is that you might lose some of your audience in what they view as a
sea of cerebral gobbledygook. A complex melody can upstage a deep
lyric. Also, all that complexity may across as being a bit pretentious.
Just be careful.
Don’t try to make profound lyrics sound even more profound by adding
profundity! There is a song by the John Denver called “Love is
Everywhere”, which I think is a perfect example of balance between
lyric, melody and harmony. The song is basically a lively country song,
with almost a “hootenanny” feel. You’d never guess that it could be
147
anything more than that, but if you look at the lyrics, you’ll see that
there is deep meaning:
Follow your heart like a flying stallion
Race with the sun to the edge of night
Form your truth like a gold medallion
Dance in the circle of the love and the light6
I love that lyric. And I wonder if I would feel the same way about it if
the melody and chords were complex. But they aren’t. They are quite
simplistic, and in the best way possible they stay out of the way of the
lyrics.
A Good Lyric Isn’t Necessarily Deep
You don’t need deep lyrics to have a good song. It really depends on
what your song is “about”. You may want to state something simply. If
what you are writing about is straightforward, like an emotion or an
event, don’t try to write lyrics that are overly profound or intricate.
Jennifer Lopez co-wrote a song called “Again”, which attempts to
convey her feelings about a love-turned-friendship. The concept is
simple, and the emotions are predictable. And the lyrics work well
because… they are simple and predictable:
6 Love is Everywhere, ©1975 Cherry Lane Music, Music of 1091, and WB Music Corp.
148
Like an angel out the sky you came
Clearing up all the clouds, the sadness and the rain
So pure and healing was the love you bring
I knew inside...(It felt so right)
For me, I’ve struggled all my life...
To find that thing that makes it right...
With you it seems I may have found
Some other kind of love...7
It’s great if your lyrics can exist as a stand-alone poem, like the ones
above. But to have a great song does not necessarily mean that the
lyric must be strong. But if it isn’t, it needs something more in another
category.
Balancing Lyrics and Melody
Songs with unremarkable lyrics need a good hook or melody, a
captivating underlying rhythm, or some other remarkable feature. In
other words, you need to decide what your song is about. If it’s all
about the poetry, make sure that the poem comes forth clearly by not
allowing the melody and harmony to upstage it.
7 “Again”, ©2002, Sony/ATV Songs LLC, Cori Tiffani Publishing, Nuyorican Publishing, Sony/ATVTunes, Jaedon Christopher Publishing, Reggie Hamlet Publishing
149
Your lyrics don’t need tobe astounding poetry,but that doesn’t meanthat you should writegarbage. Think of it thisway: the walls in yourhouse might be off-white. That’sunremarkable… not bad.It’s important to knowthe difference.
It’s important to discuss this a bit here, because I need to clarify: A
complex lyric doesn’t mean that you must dumb the melody down.
Let’s go back to the analogy of the living room used in Chapter 2. If
you really like your fireplace and want it to be a focal point in your
living room, that doesn’t mean you
should leave the walls blank. In
fact, if the walls are blank, or
have really bad pictures on
them, people will be so busy
remarking to themselves how boring
the walls are that they won’t notice
your beautiful fireplace. To make that
fireplace really take its proper place as a focal point, it needs pictures
that are simple but elegant, that make their statement softly.
The Balance of “Hotel California”
When setting a strong lyric, the guideline is that you should have a
melody and an accompaniment that allow the lyric to shine forth. One
of the Eagles’ biggest hits was “Hotel California”. It’s not a profound
lyric, not complex at all. But it tells a good story, and as lyrics go, it’s
quite strong. The melody is not complex. It’s actually a bit reserved.
There are few if any big leaps, and doesn’t wander much from its
starting notes. But while not complex, it is clever, and just what the
song needs. The melodic phrases are made up of short one-bar sub-
phrases. This, coupled with its high range, gives it an agitated feel.
150
When fans of the song talk about “Hotel California”, it is almost always
the text they talk about, and never the melody or harmonies. But the
structure of the melody allows the text to shine. And it’s great to hear
fans of the song try to decipher its meaning.
Many believe it’s about a drug-induced trip,
while others believe it is a song about
Satanism, or perhaps over-indulgence. Don
Henley from the Eagles has actually put
forward at least two different views of the
text. When a lyric is as strong as this one is,
it impels listeners to discuss, debate, and
otherwise argue, the meanings of specific lines. That’s when you know
that a lyric and the accompanying melody and harmonies are in perfect
balance.
Dealing with Unremarkable Lyrics
If your lyric is less remarkable, don’t assume you have a dud.
Sometimes a song is about the
harmony, or the underlying
rhythm. During the mid to late
70s, the listening public was
deep in the throes of the disco
era. At that time, it was mostly
about the rhythm; it had to be
151
danceable. With few exceptions, that’s how mainstream music was
judged. That underlying disco beat was what the song was about, so
the lyrics generally took a back seat. Reading the text of a disco-era
tune is often an exercise in… nothing much. Take these rather-less-
than-weighty words from one of the ‘70s supergroups, KC & the
Sunshine Band:
Oh, that’s the way, uh-huh uh-huh,
I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh.
That’s the way, uh-huh uh-huh,
I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh.
That’s the way, uh-huh uh-huh,
I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh.
That’s the way, uh-huh uh-huh,
I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh.
When you take me by the hand,
Tell me I’m your loving man,
When you give me all your love,
And do it the very best you can,
Oh, that’s the way, uh-huh uh-huh,
I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh…8
8 “That’s the Way (I Like It)” © 1975 Harry Wayne Casey, Richard Raymond Finch
152
Disco Duck, and Other Lyrical Misfortunes.
Disco was big in the late 70s, and the lyrics weren’t necessarily gems.
It’s hard to believe that anyone actually took the time to write the
words to “That’s the Way (I like it)” down. So how did this song
actually survive? And not just survive, but become one of the big hits
from the decade? It’s that driving beat and the horn shots. KC could
have been singing the words to Aunt Mary’s Muffin Mix recipe, and it
still would have become a hit. So did other memorable disco tunes with
shockingly weak lyrics: “More, More, More”9 (“How do you like it/ How
do you like it…”); “Shake Shake Shake” (“Shake your bootie…”), and
“Disco Duck”10 (“Went to a party the other night / All the ladies were
treating me right / Moving my feet to the disco beat / How in the world
could I keep my seat / All of a sudden I began to change / I was on
the dance floor acting strange / Flapping my arms I began to cluck /
Look at me... I’m the disco duck…)
Don’t be Weak
So what do we do with all of this information? The most important
advice is: Don’t set out to deliberately write weak lyrics. Don’t write
weak anything. But if you want the song to be about the beat, about
the grooving background rhythm, lighten up on the lyrics. They’ll just
get lost otherwise. As listeners, we instinctively know that when a song
is rhythm-driven, meant for dancing, the text won’t likely be anything
that we would call “poetry”.
9 More, More, More ©1976 Gregg Diamond
153
The Bridge
A bridge is the part of the song usually after the second or third
chorus, before the final verse or chorus. The purpose of a bridge is
twofold:
1. to provide additional melodic material, reducing the risk of
melodic boredom;
2. to intensify melodic and lyric energy.
More than melody, it’s the text of a bridge that really sets it apart from
the verse or chorus. The best way to conceptualize this type of text is
to imagine singing your song, and you’ve just finished singing the
second chorus. Someone stops you and says, “Tell me more about
how this all makes you feel”.
In Chapter 3, we looked at Avril Lavigne’s “Fall
to Pieces” as a good example of a form that
contains a bridge. The lyric of that song
describes a painful breakup of two lovers. If you
imagined someone saying to Lavigne after the
second chorus, “Tell me more…”, the text of the
bridge is the perfect reply: “Wanna know who you are / Wanna to
10 Disco Duck, ©1976 Fretone Records, Inc.
154
know where to start / I wanna know what this means / Wanna know
how you feel / Wanna know what is real / I wanna know everything /
Everything…” 11
The bridge, then, serves as an intensifying of emotions in the text, and
an intensifying of energy of the piece. In “Fall to Pieces”, Lavigne
allows the energy to dissipate slightly at the beginning of the bridge
before driving the piece forward four bars later. The controlling of
the energy in this manner provides that all-important
contouring that is so crucial to good music.
The bridge needs to feel somewhat unsettled, because the audience
needs to feel that the conclusive nature of the chorus is needed once
again after the bridge. With this in mind, keep this advice in mind:
Harmonize the beginning of the bridge with a chord other than
the tonic chord.
Starting on a vi-chord is a popular choice; i.e., if your piece is in A
major, start the bridge with an F# minor chord. Another popular choice
is the IV-chord (a D major chord in the key of A major). This gives it
that anxious quality that many bridges need. As the bridge progresses,
you will need to give thought to having the end of the bridge meet up
with the chorus. Chords based on the fifth note of a scale (“dominant”
11 Fall to Pieces, ©2004 Avril Lavigne Publishing, Ltd.
155
Some people spend more time talking about writing music thanactually writing it. The proper way to study the art ofsongwriting is to write it. There are times that you should belistening (set aside time every day), and there are times youshould be reading about it. But the one and only way toactually improve your songwriting craft is to do it.
chords) are a good choice. If the first chord of your bridge is the tonic
chord (i.e., A major in the key of A major), you may want to have an E
major chord be the joining chord between bridge and chorus.
156
Chapter 5 SUMMARY
In this chapter you have learned:
Melody/Lyric Principle #1:
THE SHAPE OF A MELODY MUST BE PLANNED WITH VOCAL RANGE,
HARMONY AND TEXT IN MIND.
Melody/Lyric Principle #2:
A) A VERSE CAN USE TEXT THAT IS NARRATIVE AND INCONCLUSIVE, WITH
PREDOMINANTLY FRAGILE CHORD PROGRESSIONS;
B) A CHORUS CAN USE TEXT THAT IS REFLECTIVE AND DRAWSCONCLUSIONS, AND USE STRONGER CHORD PROGRESSIONS.
Melody/Lyric Principle #3:
THE PRESENCE OF THE KEYNOTE (TONIC NOTE) WILL STRENGTHEN THE
UNDERLYING STRUCTURE OF A MELODY. CHORUSES CAN AND SHOULD
FEATURE THE TONIC NOTE IN ITS MELODY MORE THAN VERSES.
Melody/Lyric Principle #4:
THE HIGHEST NOTES OF MELODIES WILL MORE OFTEN THAN NOT OCCUR
IN CHORUSES.
KEY NOTES AND STATEMENTS FROM CHAPTER 5:
• The general trend of energy throughout a song should be upward. Thenotes in verses should move upward as they approach the chorus.
• The word “tessitura” refers to the general range of a song. Choruses willusually have a higher tessitura than verses.
• Composing by layering song elements is a common way to compose.Songs usually start as vague shells that become more distinct and defined asthe writer hones the elements. Much of this honing happens concurrently.
• You want verses to sound less conclusive than choruses.o You make verses feel inconclusive primarily by:
using predominantly fragile progressions; using a text that tells a story or describes feelings without
being too conclusive;
157
constructing your melody to focus on notes other than thetonic note, particularly at the beginning and middle sections.Ease your way to the tonic as the verse meets up with thechorus.
o You make choruses feel conclusive and strong primarily by: using more strong progressions; using text that expresses conclusive statements about
emotions and decisions; constructing your melody to focus on the tonic note,
particularly at the beginning and end of the chorus.
• Melodies need to be contoured in such a way that they have internal energythat propels them forward, even without a chord sequence to help.
• Just because you use proper songwriting technique does not mean you willautomatically produce a hit song.
• Good text is vital to a good song. Good text doesn’t mean that it has to be astunning poem. Good text means that it does what it was meant to do. Sometext is extremely simple, and that simplicity may be exactly what the songneeds.
• You need to see text, melody and harmony as three corners of thecomposition triangle that need to be in balance.
• Complexity in music is not necessarily a drawback. But losing your audienceis. Intricacy runs the risk of being interpreted as pomposity.
• Don’t try to make profound lyrics sound even more profound by addingprofundity.
• Your lyrics don’t need to be astounding poetry, but that doesn’t mean that youshould write garbage. Think of it this way: the walls in your house might be off-white. That’s unremarkable… not bad. It’s important to know the difference.
• Don’t set out to deliberately write weak lyrics. Don’t write weakanything. But if you want the song to be about the beat, about the groovingbackground rhythm, lighten up on the lyrics.
• A bridge is the part of the song usually after the second or third chorus,before the final verse or chorus. Be sure that the bridge you construct buildsenergy, setting the audience up for the final chorus.
159
A Good Hook
In fishing, a hook is whatever
gets the fish into the boat. In
music, it’s whatever gets the
audience into your pocket.
Never underestimate the value
of a good hook. A good hook
can take a good song and
make it fantastic. Though
not a hook’s primary
purpose, it can make you
forget that a song has
unremarkable lyrics, melody,
or a ho-hum chord progression.
That being said, an audience may not be too forgiving of an entire CD
of bad songs with catchy hooks. They’ll be able to see through that.
The hook may be the prominent part of some chorus, or could be the
chorus itself. Hooks are so strong that even when they aren’t being
played you can still “hear them” somehow. If you sing the hook from a
song, you’ll only have to sing that hook, however short it might be,
and someone will invariably say, “Oh, I love that song!”
If you listen to a piece of music and find yourself humming a certain
couple of notes or bars all day long – that’s the hook! Back in the early
70s, everyone I know was singing those opening guitar chords in
Chicago’s hit “25 or 6 to 4”. That descending chord progression – that
riveting five-chord shot – is the hook that kept the tune in everyone’s
head, and brought them back to the song. In a way, hooks are
indefinable, because they are being redefined every time a writer
160
composes one. The descending two-note figure every time Petula Clark
sang, “Down----town!” is a great hook. That figure doesn’t just show
up in her melody, it also becomes an integral part of the background
accompaniment throughout the song.
Hook and Motif
I mentioned Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony before, and described that
famous four-note figure as a motif. When you talk about motifs and
hooks, it is important to know that there is a difference. A motif is a
short melodic or rhythmic idea that a composer uses in a piece to
create a sense of cohesion throughout a work. You may think that I
just described a hook, but here is the main difference: In order to be a
hook, it must be short, easily remembered, and needs to stand out as
a highly distinctive feature. A hook may be a motif, but a motif may
not necessarily be a hook. In the case of the opening to Beethoven’s
Fifth – it’s both.
A motif is an important building block, but it provides its cohesion
more from the background. You may not be aware of the various
motifs that a composer uses, but you need to be aware of a
hook, or it isn’t a hook. Here’s a great example: The American
national anthem begins with what we call a dotted rhythm – a longish
note (a dotted eighth note) followed by a short one (a sixteenth note),
and then some evenly spaced quarter notes. That dotted eighth –
sixteenth note figure is a basic motif that recurs many times
161
A motif is a structural element of a piece of music that forms thebackbone of that piece, recurring many times. So is a hook. Thedifference is that a motif may do its work from the background,creating cohesion throughout a song by being repetitious, but may notbe overtly noticeable. A hook by definition must be noticeable. A hook
will likely be a type of motif, but a motif need not necessarilybe a hook.
throughout the anthem. But it is not a hook, per se. It provides
structure and cohesion, and helps to glue the entire song together by
virtue of the fact that the rhythm happens over and over. But did you
know of the existence of that motif before I mentioned it just now?
Probably not. To think of it another way, the fact that a restaurant
uses burgundy red throughout its décor could be considered a motif;
The spectacular fried chicken they serve would be the hook that brings
you back.
Hooks can be any aspect of a song. It can be a part of the melody, the
lyric, the harmony, or some combination of any or all of those aspects.
More often than not, hooks appear in choruses; whatever the
songwriter has done to set the chorus words is often a hook.
Musical Lubricant
Arguably one of the most distinctive hooks from the ‘60s is the
opening guitar figure in “Oh, Pretty Woman,” co-written by Roy
Orbison. It’s the figure that introduces the song, and then comes back
162
time and again. It’s the glue that holds the piece together. An
instrumental hook provides a groove. A hook like this one is like
greasing up a tile floor, and then flinging your melody across it – it just
keeps going!
Another great hook is the recurring clavinet
figure in “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder. He
starts the song with that riff, and keeps using
it for the duration of the song. That hook is so
strong that I don’t think the song ever even
has to end! And Gerry Rafferty had a big hit
with “Baker Street” back in 1978. That song
featured a great sax solo which was a
wonderful melodic hook. Embedded in that
hook was a guitar shot, that distorted guitar
glissando that was another great hook. A hook
within a hook!
A melodic/instrumental hook is a figure that
needs to be short enough that people can
remember it. The “Baker Street” sax melody is
an eight bar melody, repeated. But it is just a
four-bar question/answer format melody that
is very repetitive, and very easy to remember.
If you are going to incorporate a melodic/instrumental hook into your
163
Many songwriters will use the creation of a hook as a startingpoint for a song. Don’t feel that the hook must necessarily
persist through the entire song. The clavinet lick in StevieWonder’s Superstition does, but many serve as the basis forthe intro, a tag between choruses and verses, and then as anoutro.
Hook Principle #1
MAKE IT SHORT AND MEMORABLE.
song, keep it on the short side if possible, and keep it simple. Orbison’s
guitar lick in “Oh, Pretty Woman” is only one bar long; Stevie Wonder’s
is only two. Making a melodic hook too long makes it less memorable,
less distinctive. And a melodic/instrumental hook usually needs to be
laced with a strong rhythm, something that makes it dig in and groove.
Strong rhythm is an important component of a melodic hook. Follow
this primary principle:
Long hooks lose focus, and lose their reason for existing.
164
The Hook as a Basis for Your Song
Many songwriters develop a good hook first, and then use that hook as
a basis for a song. You may find it possible to work in the opposite
direction – take a song and develop a hook for it. This method is great
if you find that your song lacks pizzazz. The hook need not necessarily
be strongly related to the basic melody of your song. None of the
hooks that I’ve mentioned by Orbison, Wonder, or Rafferty actually
show up as a part of the melody of the song. They are stand-alone
melodies that decorate and complement the main melody.
So how do you know if your song needs a hook? Sometimes melodies
can be beautiful, or have beautiful moments, but taken all together,
seem to be a bit boring. Maybe it lacks a “moment”. A melodic hook
can be what would liven up such a melody.
The Subtle Hook
There are many songwriting instructors out there that try to tell
students that without a hook, your song is weaker. This is not true.
Some songs are really fantastic works, million sellers, and don’t really
have a memorable hook. And some hooks are very subtle. “Hey Jude”
is a perfect example. The descending two-note pattern on the opening
words “Hey Jude…” is a hook, but a cleverly understated one. It has a
fantastic outro that basically is a hook, but the song would survive
without it.
165
Many composers use a hook to set up a piece. It serves as an intro,
then recurs many times, and is strongly featured in an outro. But if
you listen to the Beatles music, you’ll notice that they were not big
users of hooks. Many of their biggest songs start without even an intro
(“Penny Lane”, “All My Loving”, “Hey Jude” “Hello Goodbye”, and
many, many others.
The Myth of the Hook
It is a myth that your song needs a hook, by the traditional sense of
the word “hook”. What is true is that many more songs suffer from
lack of form and overall shape than they do lack of hook. I don’t trust
musicians who fixate on the hook as the be-all and end-all.
Notwithstanding, a hook can take an otherwise boring song, a song
with problems, and make you forget your problems! Songs need a
focal point, an aspect that draws attention to itself, but that is not to
say it needs a hook.
A good hook may save a song, but it is best to think of a hook as a
component of a good song, not why a song is good. If you think your
song is good only because of the hook, it’s best to take a closer look at
your song, and fix what you think is wrong about it. Then the hook
becomes a crown that your song can wear. And if your song doesn’t
have an obvious hook, don’t worry. It may not need one.
166
Hook Principle #2
ADDING A HOOK TO A BAD SONG GIVES YOU A BAD SONG WITH
A HOOK.
Whether you use one or not, remember this important principle:
If you have a song that is unremarkable, it’s better to fix what is
unremarkable first before worrying about the hook. That being said,
boring songs will greatly benefit from the interest a hook will generate.
But the principle really means to say that if you have problems in your
song, fix the problems directly. A good hook can only mask existing
problems to a certain extent.
To use a previous analogy, if the 10-cent ice cream cone is the hook
that gets people into your store, that won’t solve the problem that the
rest of the food your establishment offers is bad. The good
restaurateur will fix what is bad about the food. That will make the 10-
cent ice cream an even better hook.
Another important thought: A hook is, technically, whatever brings
people back to your song, so in a sense, every song has a hook if
people want to listen to it.
167
Recognizing a Hook
The issue of writing a hook is not so much about writing than it is
recognizing a hook. A hook is composed in much the same way that
you would compose any other part of your song. But if you are a
normal writer, you’ll write many, many fragments of songs that don’t
make it into songs. These ideas could form the basis for a hook in
another song. This is why it can be so important to somehow write
down or record any musical ideas you get, because you never know
when it can serve as a component of another song.
A hook does not need to have any obvious relation to the rest of your
song. This is why it’s so important to keep every idea you write. But
here are the things you’ll want to make sure you keep in mind as you
work a hook into your song:
1. Keep it short. A hook needs to be memorable, and the longer
the hook, the less memorable it will be.
2. Make rhythm a memorable component. This means that
you should make the underlying rhythm of a hook simple but
catchy. The more complicated it is, the less memorable it will
be. Simple and catchy are the key words.
168
3. Don’t force a hook. If you can’t find a way to work a hook to
be a constant feature of your song, (Like “Superstition”) don’t
force it. Use it as an intro, between choruses and verses, and
as an outro (like “Baker Street”).
The most important feature of a hook is a simple one: to bring people
back to your song.
Remember these two things about hooks: 1) Keep it short, and 2) itwon’t fix a song with problems.
169
Chapter 6 SUMMARY
In this chapter you have learned:
Hook Principle #1
MAKE IT SHORT AND MEMORABLE.
Hook Principle #2
ADDING A HOOK TO A BAD SONG GIVES YOU A BAD SONG WITH A HOOK.
KEY NOTES AND QUOTES FROM CHAPTER 6:
• In fishing, a hook is whatever gets the fish into the boat. In music, it’swhatever gets the audience into your pocket.
• If you listen to a piece of music and find yourself humming a certain couple ofnotes or bars all day long – that’s the hook!
• A motif is a short melodic or rhythmic idea that a composer uses in apiece to create a sense of cohesion throughout a work. A hook must be short,easily remembered, and needs to stand out as a highly distinctive feature. Ahook may be a motif, but a motif may not necessarily be a hook.
• A hook can liven up a good song that just needs something a bit morememorable about it.
• It is a myth that your song needs a hook, by the traditional sense of theword “hook”. What is true is that many more songs suffer from lack of formand overall shape than they do lack of hook.
• If you have a song that is unremarkable, it’s better to fix what is
unremarkable first before worrying about the hook.
• Keep a hook short, make rhythm a memorable component, and don’t
force a hook into your song if it doesn’t seem to want to be there.
171
The Role of Inspiration
In the preface I mentioned that songwriters will need to deal with the
creative side and the marketing side of songwriting. This book has
been about taking your ideas for songs and making them better. About
creating a better song. But there is an important aspect of writing that
we haven’t really addressed
yet: inspiration.
How much of a role does
inspiration play in the
composing of a song? What
about those songwriters who
have composed literally thousands of songs, who claim to be able to
write at least one song a day. Are they really being inspired to write
that much? The answer may surprise you: most songwriters and
composers, no matter which genre of composition you examine, place
a very low level of importance on the role of inspiration.
Misunderstanding Inspiration
There are times when you will find yourself inspired to write something
– perhaps for the wedding of a friend, the funeral of a family member,
or for some other emotionally significant occasion. But these are rare
happenings in our lives, and no doubt we will need more than
emotionally charged events to write music.
172
Inspiration is, without a doubt, the most misunderstood part of the
compositional process. If you are waiting for inspiration to compose
your song – don’t wait! Start writing without it, because if you are a
normal human, you could be waiting a long time. It bears repeating
that most composers would place the importance of inspiration far, far
down on the list of necessities in the songwriting process. And did you
notice that not once in the previous chapters did I even mention the
word “inspiration”? Inspiration is not a necessary first step for
good composition.
Inspiration is often perceived to be
a magical sort of quality, as if the
writer is in communion with the
songwriting gods. There is the
romantic notion of the composer,
waiting for inspiration, suddenly
jumping up and running to his desk,
where he begins to write furiously
before all the musical ideas that just
floated into his brain disappear
again. This is, generally, a myth.
There will be times when you will
feel inspired to write, where musical
“The greatcomposer…doesnot set to workbecause he isinspired, butbecomesinspiredbecause he isworking.”
-Ernest Newman
173
ideas flow freely and easily. At such times you’ll almost feel that you
are being led by a supernatural force. But this is rare for most writers,
and not necessary for writing good songs. If you feel most of the time
that writing songs is hard work, you will be happy to know that most of
the world’s great songwriters feel the same way.
THE Steps to Honing Your Songwriting Craft
So how is it that some songwriters claim to have written thousands of
songs – can you really write that much without inspiration? Yes, you
can! Writing music is more about craft than anything else. By craft I
mean that with time, you know what will work and what won’t. That
knowledge will be based on your months or years of experience. So the
relevant question is really: how can you improve your craft? Here are
some suggestions:
1. Set aside a regular time every day for writing. It is best
to get into a habit of writing. If you are a serious writer, with
aspirations to become the kind of songwriter whose songs are
sought after and recorded, try to find a regular time every day
that you can devote to composition. And as I mentioned in
Chapter 5, write down as much as possible. You can always
trash things you don’t like.
2. Listen to recordings of other writer’s songs every day.
It’s vital to good songwriting technique and style that you are
174
being influenced by as many outside sources as possible.
Writers who constrain themselves to only listening to their own
music are limiting the potential for ideas and thoughts. Try
listening to genres that you wouldn’t normally listen to.
3. Record your music and listen to it. It’s important to be
listening to your own music as it comes out of your sound
system, not just as it comes out of your own mouth and piano.
By listening to your music being played back to you, you gain
the same perspective that an audience does. No need to rent
time in a studio for this – just a cassette tape machine or small
digital recorder will do.
4. Give yourself songwriting challenges. Try testing your
craft by setting a time limit to come up with a song. Find a text,
or write one out, set a timer for a half hour, then go nuts! See
if you can write a song in a half hour. If you can,
congratulations! It means that your songwriting craft is
improving. If the song you wrote is horrible, don’t worry! This is
just an exercise to hone your craft. Set even tougher limitations
for yourself. How about this idea: Choose three notes, and
write an entire song using only three notes in your melody. (If
you think that’s not possible, check out Tom Petty’s song, “Free
Fallin’”, which uses only E, F# and G#.)
175
Because inspiration is an unreliable first step for composition, it’s going
to be important to do some things to help you get your songwriting
process started:
1. Keep a notepad with you to jot down lyric ideas. Sometimes
only a fragment of a line will occur to you, or you’ll stumble
across a neat way to say something. Even if it’s just one word,
write it down. You will likely find a way to fashion it into a real
text through the songwriting process.
2. If a melodic fragments pops into your mind, save it on a tape,
or write it down if you’re able. A single solitary fragment can
become a hook for a song.
3. Write down chord progressions that you stumble across, or
even just one chord that you like. As an example of how
important this can be, what would “A Hard Day’s Night” be like
Don’t wait for inspiration. Inspiration is wonderful when it isthe beginning of a songwriting process, but it is rare, and, to befrank, unnecessary. What is more necessary is to set a regular
writing time. This may be every day, but if you are a student, orworking full-time, it may only be on the weekends.
Whatever your availability, set aside the same hour or hoursweekly, and stick to it. You’ll find that that habitual writing time isfar more valuable than waiting for inspiration.
176
without that defining single chord at the start of that song.
(That chord, by the way, included the following notes: D A C F
G: a Dm7 with a G added.)
To sum up – Don’t wait for inspiration. It’s wonderful when you feel
inspired (and you will, from time to time) but inspiration as a necessity
for good songs is a myth.
177
Chapter 7 SUMMARY
KEY NOTES AND QUOTES FROM CHAPTER 7:
• Most songwriters and composers, no matter which genre of composition youexamine, place a very low level of importance on the role of inspiration.
• If you are waiting for inspiration to compose your song – don’t wait! Startwriting without it, because if you are a normal human, you could be waiting along time.
• “The great composer…does not set to work because he is inspired, butbecomes inspired because he is working.” -Ernest Newman
• Set aside a regular time every day for writing.
• Listen to recordings of other writer’s songs every day.
• Record your music and listen to it. It’s important to be listening to yourown music as it comes out of your sound system, not just as it comes out ofyour own mouth and piano.
• Give yourself songwriting challenges. Try testing your craft by setting atime limit to come up with a song.
179
The Most Important Principle of
All
Someone asked me recently to say what I hoped this book could do for
songwriters that other books already out there aren’t already doing.
The answer is probably the biggest secret of all… the secret that stunts
the progress of most would-be writers. If you learn nothing else from
this book, remember this:
BAD SONGS Are GOOD SONGS that can be fixed.
Is that a principle? Because a principle is a fundamental truth, we can
say that it is not only a principle, but probably the most important one
of this book.
It may be that up to now your music hasn’t been working for you.
What I need you to know, and what all of the songwriting principles of
this book have been trying to tell you, is that if your song isn’t working,
there are real reasons that can be addressed. You can take a song that
has problems and solve those problems. If you burn the evening meal,
you may have to throw it out and order a pizza. If your song is a
failure, don’t throw it out! Go back into the main chapters of this book,
and discover the ways that you can fix the problems.
180
That being said, it’s also important not to fixate on problems that are
mystifying you. Sometimes the best answer to fixing a bad song is to
put it away for now, and start a new one. You’ll be able to come back
to it once your mind has cleared. Composers from Mozart right through
to today’s pop songwriters have stowed music away all their lives,
bringing it out again sometimes years later once their songwriting craft
improves.
And now… what?
It hasn’t been the intention of this book to deal with the marketing end
of songwriting. That is the subject for another book. But there are
things you must do if you are going to perform your music
professionally, or market your music to others.
Getting Your Song Ready… A BriefTutorial
COPYRIGHT
Once you’ve written your song, it is automatically copyrighted. This
means that unless you transfer that copyright to a publisher or another
person, you are the only person permitted to make copies of that
music. You need to get your music into a fixed form, either a recording
or print music. If you have your music in print form (handwritten or
181
computer-notated) put the copyright symbol at the bottom of the first
page of music, then the year, then your name.
Example:
©2005, Gary Ewer
It’s important to note that even though you are the copyright owner,
and have placed your copyright symbol at the bottom of your music,
this will not necessarily protect you from others who might dispute the
authorship of the song. This usually requires registering your music
with your government’s copyright agency. You should contact that
office directly, or search their respective websites:
Canada:
Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Place du Portage I50 Victoria St., Room C-114Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0C9
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca (follow the links to “Copyrights”)
United States of America:
Copyright Office, Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20559
http://www.copyright.gov/
United Kingdom:
Copyright enquiries should be made to:Telephone: 0845 9 500 505 (UK callers only - charged at localrate)International callers: +44 (0)1633 813930
182
You should note that copyright law differs from country to country, so
it is important to not accept information from non-governmental
websites as the unquestionable truth. Copyright is a highly
misunderstood area of law for many. Be certain that you contact the
government office of your country of residence.
Mailing a Copy of Your Song to Yourself is Not Enough
Many people advise songwriters to mail a copy of their newly-written
song to themselves by Registered Mail before showing it to other
singers, producers, or arrangers. In truth, this offers very little legal
protection in a court of law. The most reliable way to prove ownership
is to register your work in your government’s copyright office.
The titles of songs are not usually copyright protected, so if you hear a
song on the radio that appears to have taken the title of your song as
its own, that is not necessarily copyright infringement.
Using Other Writers’ Texts
If you find a poem that you would like to set to music, you need the
permission of the copyright owner of that text. In many countries, the
copyright on music or text will expire after a certain period of time
after the death of the writer. This period of time is usually fifty or
seventy-five years. Check with a copyright office to be certain. A
183
created work for which the copyright has expired is said to be in the
public domain.
If there isn’t a copyright notice on the text you want to use, that does
not mean it is a public domain work. It will require you to research the
title to ascertain the status. Using someone else’s work without their
permission is illegal, if that work is copyright protected. It pays to do
your research.
Know Who to Trust
And on the topic of research, you really must know who to trust in
matters of copyright. It is unwise to trust information that you’ve found
on a website if it is not a government website. The issue of copyright is
a legal issue, and it is never wise to take the word of someone not in
the legal field or government. And even in the case of a lawyer, their
reading of the law may only be a legal opinion that may not stand up
to a legal challenge.
The good news is that dealing with copyright through your
government’s copyright office is safe, and has been happening for
years. Register your songs, especially if you think they are performable
by others.
And how do other singers get to know about your songs? This is
usually accomplished by a publishing company.
184
Publishing
If your song is to be recorded by another performer, it is a good idea
to get your music published. Keep in mind, however, that a publisher
will make a judgment as to whether your song is likely to be a
commercial success. Most songs remain in unpublished form.
If you do publish through a publishing company, the typical
arrangement is that they will assume the copyright of the song.
Sometimes, a company will work out a shared copyright deal, but more
often than not, total copyright is transferred. It is the publishing
company that will pitch your song to performers, producers and other
persons of influence in the business.
Creating Your Own Publishing “Company”
Some songwriters create their own company name through which they
can assign a publisher’s copyright. For example, for a small annual fee
through your local state or provincial government, you can create a
company name (“Silly Music Publications”, for example) that you can
use in the copyright notice on your music (©2005 Silly Music
Publications) You will need to check with the government of your state,
province or other local government in your country of residence to
ensure you follow proper legal requirements for this sort of “self
publishing”.
185
The advantage to having a recognized company publish your songs is
that they usually have well-established lines of communication through
which they can distribute your song.
Mechanical Rights
If someone else records your songs, they will need to acquire
“mechanical rights” to do so. This means that the performer will need
to pay your publisher a fee for every copy of a CD they produce, and
that fee is shared with you, usually on a 50-50 basis.
Performing Rights Organizations
Another agency in the marketing end of the business is the performing
rights organization. This is the institution that licenses the performance
of your copyrighted song. The most well known agencies are ASCAP
(American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and BMI
(Broadcast Music, Inc.) In Canada, SOCAN (Society of Composers,
Authors and Music Publishers in Canada) controls the performing
licenses of many Canadian composers. Performers need to obtain a
license to sing your song in public.
In Conclusion
The biggest impediment to getting your songs out into the world
is not business-related, it is creation-related. If your songs are good,
you have jumped a major hurdle. Connections to the business side
186
of the songwriting world will be irrelevant to you if you don’t
have a good song to market.
Getting your songs out there means to get them performed. That
process starts with you, singing in cafés and in shows. Create a good
recording that you can shop around to publishers. Send your
recording to the local radio station. If you have friends or relatives who
sing with a band, send them your music with a demo CD, and try to
get them performing your songs. The more people out there doing
your music, the higher the chances that the right person will hear it
and want to publish or perform it.
It takes doggedness, drive and determination, mixed in with a good
measure of patience, to successfully market your songs. Sometimes it
involves a bit of luck, too. Hang in there. Commercial success usually
comes to those who are patient enough to wait for it.
Good luck!
188
Index of Song Samples
Throughout The Essential Secrets of Songwriting, songs byprofessional songwriters were referenced. Take the time to familiarizeyourself with as many of these songs as possible. Learning from thepros is what you need to improve your own skills. You can purchasemany of these songs individually from the Apple® iTunes Music Store.
Songs are listed below by chapter of reference in this text:
Title Composer /
Performer
Format/Label/Recording
Title
Concept
CHAPTER 1
All Shook Up,©1956 R&H MusicCo.
Otis Blackwell /Elvis Presley
CD: RCA: Elvis’ GoldenRecords
Yesterday, ©1965Northern Songs
Lennon &McCartney / TheBeatles
CD: Capitol: Help! Good melodic shape
Bridge OverTroubled Water, ©Paul Simon Music
Simon & Garfunkel CD: Sony: Bridge OverTroubled Water
Building energy
You Can Call Me Al,© Paul SimonMusic
Paul Simon CD: Warner Bos/WEA:Graceland
Good hook
Beat It! © MijacMusic
Michael Jackson CD: Sony: Thriller Good hook
Title Composer /Performer
Format/Label/RecordingTitle
Concept
CHAPTER 2
Thriller ©1982Rodsongs (PRS)
Rod Temperton/Michael Jackson
CD: Sony: Thriller Innovative music
Billie Jean, © MijacMusic
Michael Jackson CD: Sony: Thriller Innovative music
Red Sails in theSunset, ©
Jimmy Kennedy &Hugh Williams/Bing Crosby
CD: MCA: Top O theMorning – Irish Collection
Livin’ La Vida Loca Desmond Child &Robi Rosa/ RickyMartin
CD: Sony: Ricky Martin
189
Penny Lane Lennon &McCartney/ TheBeatles
CD: Capitol: MagicalMystery Tour
Verse-chorus design
You’re theInspiration
David Foster &Peter Cetera/Chicago
CD: Warner Bros/WEA:Chicago 17
Verse-chorus design
It’s the End of theWorld As We KnowIt (And I Feel Fine)
Bill Berry, PeterBuck, Mike Millsand Michael Stipe/R.E.M.
CD: Capitol: Document Verse-chorus design
25 or 6 to 4, ©1970 LamminationsMusic/. AureliusMusic (ASCAP)
Robert Lamm/Chicago
CD: Rhino/WEA: Chicago II Outro [ALSOCHAPTER 6: Hook]
Title Composer /Performer
Format/Label/RecordingTitle
Concept
CHAPTER 3
Lady Madonna,©1968 NorthernSongs
Lennon &McCartney/ TheBeatles
CD: Capitol: The Beatles -Past Masters Volume 2
Chorus-verse design
Hey Jude,©Sony/ATV MusicPublishing
Lennon &McCartney/ TheBeatles
CD: Capitol: The Beatles 1 Verse design [ALSOCHAPTER 6: Hook;Song with nointro]
Fall to Pieces,©2004 AvrilLavigne Publishing,Ltd.
Lavigne & Maida CD: Arista: Under My Skin Verse-chorus-bridgedesign
Hound Dog, ©1952Leiber & Stoller
Leiber & Stoller/Elvis Presley
CD: RCA: Elvis’ GoldenRecords
Same melody forverse and chorus
Born in the U.S.A. Bruce Springsteen CD: Sony: Born in theU.S.A.
Same melody forverse and chorus
I Walk the Line,©1956 House ofcash, Inc
Johnny Cash CD: Sony: Best of the BestGold- Johnny Cash
Verse-without-chorusstructure
By the Time I Getto Phoenix, ©1969EMI Sosaha Music,Jonathan ThreeMusic Co.
Jimmy Webb/ GlenCampbell
CD: Capitol: By the Time IGet to Phoenix
Verse-without chorusstructure
The House of theRising Sun, ©1965Beechwood Musiccorporation , CPEMusic Inc
Traditionalmelody, arrangedby Alan Price/ TheAnimals
CD: Golgr: House of theRising Sun [IMPORT]
Verse-without chorusstructure
190
Supper’s Ready,©1972, StratsongLtd.
Banks/ Collins/Gabriel/ Hackett/Rutherford /Genesis
CD: Atlantic/ WEA: Foxtrot
Invisible Touch,published byAnthony BanksLtd/Philip CollinsLtd/MichaelRutherford Ltd/Hitand Run Music(Publishing) Ltd
Banks/ Collins/Rutherford/Genesis
CD: Atlantic/ WEA: InvisibleTouch
The Times TheyAre A-Changin’,Copyright © 1963;renewed 1991Special Rider Music
Bob Dylan CD: Sony: The Times TheyAre A-Changin’
Refrain form
Let It Be,©Sony/ATV MusicPublishing
Lennon &McCartney/ TheBeatles
CD: Capitol: Let it Be Refrain form
Suzanne, © 1967Leonard Cohenand Sony/ATVMusic PublishingCanada Company
Leonard Cohen CD: Sony: The Songs ofLeonard Cohen
Verse-refrain form
I know What I like(In YourWardrobe), ©1974,Hit & Run Music
Banks/ Collins/Gabriel/ Hackett/Rutherford /Genesis
CD: Atlantic/WEA: SellingEngland By the Pound
Through-composedverse structure
Real Love,©Lenono Music
John Lennon/ TheBeatles
CD: EMI International: RealLove [CD-SINGLE][IMPORT]
Good energy &pacing
Title Composer /Performer
Format/Label/RecordingTitle
Concept
CHAPTER 4
Without You, ©1970 ApplePublishing Ltd.
Ham & Evans/Harry Nilsson
CD: RCA: Harry Nilsson: AllTime Greatest Hits
Strong vs fragileprogressions
Like a Rock, ©1985, GearPublishing Co.(ASCAP)
Bob Seger/ BobSeger & the SiverBullet Band
CD: Capitol: Like a Rock Two-bar harmonicrhythm
191
Your Smiling Face,©1977, JamesTaylor
James Taylor CD: Sony: JT Varying harmonicrhythm
This Land is YourLand, ©1956(renewed 1984),1958 (renewed1986) and 1970TRO-Ludlow Music,Inc. (BMI)
Woody Guthrie/various artists
CD: Music Little People:This Land is Your Land:Songs of Unity
Variations withharmonies
Personally, ©1978,SonyATV TreePublishing
Paul Kelly/ KarlaBonoff
CD: Sony: Wild Heart of theYoung
Modal mixture iv-chord
Islands in theStream, ©1983Gibb BrothersMusic andCrompton Songs
Barry, Maurice,Robin Gibb/ KennyRogers & DollyParton
CD: Capitol: Duets Modal mixture iv-chord
Crocodile Rock,©1972 Elton John& Bernie Taupin
Elton John &Bernie Taupin/Elton John
CD: Island: Don’t Shoot MeI’m Only the Piano Player
Secondary dominantchord
One Flight Down,©Beanly Songs
Jesse Harris/Norah Jones
CD: Blue Note Records:Come Away With Me
Secondary dominantchord
Layla, ©1970Unichapell MusicInc.
Eric Clapton &James Gordon/Derek and theDominos
CD: Polydor/PGD: Layla Chord inversion
One Tin Soldier,©1969 ABC/DunhillMusic, Inc.
Dennis Lambert &Brian Potter/ TheOriginal Caste
CD: TA Records: One TinSoldier
Modulation
Goodbye to Love,© 1972 by AlmoMusicCorp./Hammer andNails Music, Inc.
John Bettis &Richard Carpenter/The Carpenters
CD: A&M: Carpenters: LoveSongs
Modulation
Put Your Hand inthe Hand ©1970,Beechwood Music
Gene McLellan/Ocean
LP: Yorkville/ARC: Put YourHand in the Hand
Modulation
Title Composer /Performer
Format/Label/RecordingTitle
Concept
CHAPTER 5
Big Yellow Taxi, ©1970 SiquombPublishing
Joni Mitchell CD: Warner Bros/WEA: BigYellow Taxi [CD SINGLE]
Verse-refrain form
192
Never Gone,©2005 ZombaRecording
Gary Baker,Steven Diamond,Kevin Richardson/Backstreet Boys
CD: Jive: Never Gone Strong verse-chorusstructure
Love isEverywhere,©1975 Cherry LaneMusic, Music of1091, and WBMusic Corp.
John Denver, JoeHenry, JohnSommers, SteveWeisberg/ JohnDenver
CD: BMG Music: Windsong Strong lyric
Again, ©2002,Sony/ATV SongsLLC, Cori TiffaniPublishing,NuyoricanPublishing,Sony/ATV Tunes,Jaedon ChristopherPublishing, ReggieHamlet Publishing
Cory Rooney, TroyOliver, JenniferLopez, ReggieHamlet
CD: Sony: This is Me… Then Beautifully simplelyric
Hotel California,©1975 FingersMusic
Glenn Frey, DonHenley/ TheEagles
CD: Elektra/WEA: HotelCalifornia
Story-lyric
That’s the Way (Ilike it), © 1975Harry WayneCasey, RichardRaymond Finch
Harry WayneCasey, RichardRaymond Finch/K.C. and theSunshine Band
CD: Rhino/WEA: The Bestof KC & the Sunshine Band
Simple lyric
More, More, More,©1976 GreggDiamond
Gregg Diamond/Andrea TrueConnection
CD: Kama Sutra / Buddah:Andrea True Connection –Greatest Hits
Simple lyric
Shake Your Bootie,© 1976 HarryWayne Casey,Richard RaymondFinch
Harry WayneCasey, RichardRaymond Finch/K.C. and theSunshine Band
CD: Rhino/WEA: The Bestof KC & the Sunshine Band
Simple lyric
Disco Duck,©©1976 FretoneRecords, Inc.
Rick Dees/ RickDees and His Castof Idiots
CD: Rhino/WEA: Super Hitsof the ‘70s: Have a NiceDay
Simple lyric
193
Title Composer /Performer
Format/Label/RecordingTitle
Concept
CHAPTER 6
Downtown, ©1964Universal MCAMusic Publishing
Anthony PeterHatch/ PetuaClark
CD: GNP Crescendo:Greatest Hits of Petula Clark
Hook
Oh, Pretty Woman,©1964 BarbaraOrbison Music Co.,Orbi Lee Publishing,R Key DarkusPublishing,Sony/ATV AcuffRose Music
Joe Melson, RoyOrbison, RayRush/ RoyOrbison
CD: Madacy Records: Oh,Pretty Woman: RoyOrbison’s Greatest Hits
Hook
Superstition,©1975 Black BullMusic Inc, JobeteMusic Co. ,Inc
Stevie Wonder CD: Motown/PGD: StevieWonder – The DefinitiveCollection
Hook
Baker Street,©1978 UniversalSongs of PolygramInternational
Gerry Rafferty CD: Disky Records: BakerStreet [IMPORT]
Hook
Penny Lane, ©1967Northern Songs
Lennon &McCartney/ TheBeatles
CD: Capitol: MagicalMystery Tour
Song with no intro
All My Loving,©Sony/ATV MusicPublishing
Lennon &McCartney/ TheBeatles
CD: Capitol: The Beatles1962-1966
Song with no intro
Hello Goodbye,©Sony/ATV MusicPublishing
Lennon &McCartney/ TheBeatles
CD: Capitol: MagicalMystery Tour
Song with no intro
Title Composer /Performer
Format/Label/RecordingTitle
Concept
CHAPTER 7
Free Fallin’ ©1989,SBK April Music,Gone Gator Music
Tom Petty & JeffLynne/ Tom Petty
CD: MCA Records: FullMoon Fever
Melody with threepitches
Hard Day’s Night,©1966 Sony/ATVMusic Publishing
Lennon &McCartney/ TheBeatles
CD: Capitol: The Beatles1962-1966
Interesting openingchord
194
GLOSSARY
3rd The note of a chord or scale that is three notes above the root.
5th The note of a chord or scale that is five notes above the root.
7th The note of a chord or scale that is seven notes above the root.
Ad hoc design A song form in which the basic structure is invented for oneparticular piece, often using the structure of the text as its maincontrolling aspect.
Arpeggio Playing the notes of a chord in succession rather than at thesame time; also called a “broken chord”
Borrowed chord See “Modal mixture”
Bridge The part of a song usually before the final chorus. The text of abridge features an intensifying of emotions, and the overallenergy of a song increases through the bridge.
Broken chord See “arpeggio”
Cadence The concluding two-or-three chord pattern at the end of amusical phrase. All phrases end with a cadence.
Chord Three or more notes sounding simultaneously.
Chord progression A series of chords that is usually designed to emphasize a certainchord as the tonic chord. Progressions either strongly callattention to the tonic, or do so in less obvious ways.
Chord sequence See “Chord progression”.
Chorus Lines of text and melody that form the next part of a song after averse. The text of a chorus is usually more emotional than averse, and more conclusive.
195
Circle-of-fifths A sequence of chords in which the roots of each chord is fournotes lower than the succeeding chord. A very strong andpredictable progression.
Contrast In songwriting, the differentiation between various sections of asong by varying aspects such as loudness, range,instrumentation, etc.
Creativity The ability to use one’s imagination to create a work of art.
Demo A recording of a song that serves as a work-in-progress forimproving the final produced version. Demos will likely not havethe same polish as a final version. It is meant be a sketch.
Dominant The fifth note of a scale. A chord built on the fifth note is calledthe dominant chord.
Energy In songwriting, the overall power of a song. Songs that are quiet,reflective and pitched low have a low energy level, and songsthat are louder and pitched higher have a high energy level.Instrumentation is a major factor in the governing of energy.
Falsetto The ability, esp. with male singers, to sing notes higher thannormal. Many pop singers develop this ability to increase theirrange and modify their tonal output.
Form In music, the structure. Macro level forms refer to overall designs(e.g. verse-chorus-bridge) Micro level forms refer to phrasedesigns (e.g., AABA)
Genre A classification or grouping of artwork that all display a similarstyle or form. Country and blues are examples of two differentgenres.
Harmoniclanguage
The kind of chords that a song might use. For example, manysongs add 9ths to chords, as part of the basic harmonic languageof that piece.
Harmonic rhythm The pattern governing the predictability of chord changes; i.e.,quick chord changes = quick harmonic rhythm
Harmony The combination of several tones performed simultaneously.When melodies are written to infer the harmony by outliningnotes from chords, this is called implied harmony.
196
Hook A short, easily remembered element of a song that brings alistener back. Usually the part of the song that is most easilybrought to mind, and is meant to attract listeners.
Interval The distance between two notes; e.g., the interval between thetonic and dominant note of a scale is a perfect 5th.
Introduction The first bars of a song. Usually instrumental. Used to set up theharmonic language, tempo and style of the song.
Inversion Placing a note other than the root at the bottom of a chord.Placing the 3rd at the bottom is called “first inversion”; placing the5th at the bottom is called “second inversion”. In pop musicnomenclature, these are often referred to as “slash chords”because of the practice of showing the main chord name first,the bass note second, with a slash in between. (e.g., C/E meansa C major chord with an E in the bass.)
Lyric The text of a song.
Melody A sequence of notes.
Modal mixture Also called a borrowed chord. Borrowing a chord from a minorscale if in a major key; borrowing a chord from a major scale if ina minor key. (e.g. Fm is a borrowed iv-chord when in the key ofC major.)
Modulation Key change.
Motif A short musical idea (rhythmic, melodic, or combination of both)that forms the backbone of a song. A motif may or may not beimmediately noticeable as an important constructional element. A“hook” can be a motif. (See “Hook”).
Music theory The study of written music. Students of music theory learn toread and write music using graphic symbols. In western cultures,this usually means notes and rests on a five-line staff.
Outro The formal element in a song that serves as the end. In manysongs, the “repeat and fade” serves as an outro.
197
Passing chord A chord that usually occurs on a weak beat between two chordson successive strong beats.
Pedal tone A musical phrase in which the chord names change, but thesame note is held throughout in one particular instrument(usually bass).
Phrase In music, a musical thought. A song is made up of many phrases.Phrases can be divided into sub-phrases. Phrases are delineatedby cadences.
Refrain A short, repeated section of a song, usually occurring at the endof a verse.
Rhythm Pattern of sound that implies an underlying beat or tempo.
Riff A short, repeated musical idea, often associated with guitarplaying, similar in meaning to a “lick”.
Roman numerals Many musicians refer to the chords found in a certain key byRoman numerals. For example, the chord based on the first noteof a scale is given the Roman numeral I, and the one on the fifthnote is given V.
Root The bottom note of a chord; the note that gives the chord itsname.
Secondarydominant chord
In Songwriting, a major chord that usually ascends by four notesthat is usually minor; i.e., taking a minor chord and making itmajor is the normal way to create a secondary dominant.
Semitone A half step; the smallest interval in most pop music
Slash chord See “Inversion”
Song In the context of this book, any self-contained musical work of 3– 10 minutes, with lyrics. Usually contains verses and choruses,as well as an intro, a bridge, etc.
Sus2 See “Suspension”
Sus4 See “Suspension”
198
Sus9 See “Suspension”
Suspension The purposeful hold up of a tone in a chord before allowing it todescend to its normal location within a chord. Csus4 is: C-F-G,normally resolving to a C major chord: C-E-G. Sus4 and sus9(sus2) are the most common suspensions in pop music.
Talent Natural aptitude or skill.
Tessitura The range within which most of the notes of a piece of musicoccur.
Tonic The first note of a scale. A chord built on the first note is calledthe tonic chord.
Vamp Repetition of a musical phrase.
Verse Lines of text and melody that form the first part of a song afterthe introduction. The text of a verse is usually narrative orotherwise descriptive of events.
200
Index
AA Hard Day’s Night, 175Adams, Douglas, 92adjudication, 32All My Loving, 165, 193All Shook Up, 21, 188ambient, 144Anderson, Laurie, 143ASCAP, 185, 189, 190audience, 13, 21, 26, 27, 32, 34, 35, 56, 57,
88, 125, 135, 146, 154, 157, 159, 169
BBackstreet Boys, 131, 192Baker Street, 162, 168, 193bass, 23, 33, 112, 113, 114, 121, 144, 196,
197Beat It, 28, 37, 188Bea t les , 19, 21, 43, 52, 57, 61, 165, 188,
189, 190Bee Gees, 33, 105, 127Beethoven, 28, 160Big Yellow Taxi, 123, 191Billie Jean, 37, 38, 188bluegrass, 14, 22, 54blues, 13, 14, 54, 104BMI, 185, 191Bonoff, Karla, 105, 191Born in the U.S.A., 54, 189
Branch, Michelle, 143Bridge Over Troubled Water, 23, 57, 188Bush, Kate, 143By the Time I Get to Phoenix, 55, 189
CCampbell, Glen, 55, 189Carpenters, the, 117, 191Carrie, Mariah, 86Cash, Johnny, 55, 189Chicago, 43, 44, 159, 189chord progressions, 13, 72, 73, 74, 87, 92,
95, 97, 100, 121, 156chorus, 13, 20, 23, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48, 51,
52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 64, 66,67, 68, 70, 86, 87, 88, 98, 115, 116,117, 120, 130, 132, 133, 134, 138, 140,141, 142, 153, 154, 156, 157, 159, 161,189, 194, 195
Clapton, Eric, 113, 191Clark, Petula, 160, 193classical, 13, 14, 22coda, 44Cohen, Leonard, 27, 57Coldplay, 123, 127, 145Come Away With Me, 109, 191contrast, 50, 51, 195copyright, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184copyright infringement, 182country, 13, 14, 18, 22, 146creative, 10, 20, 21, 29creativity, 15, 29
201
Crocodile Rock, 108, 191
DDance music, 144demo, 32, 33, 35, 37, 41Denver, John, 146, 192Disco Duck, 152, 192Downtown, 160drums, 23, 33Dylan, Bob, 38, 190
EEagles, the, 149, 150Eno, Brian, 143Evans and Ham, 86
Ffalsetto, 127, 195form, 3, 12, 20, 39, 40, 41, 43, 48, 53, 54,
55, 57, 62, 70, 120, 128, 131, 153, 165,167, 169, 190, 191, 194, 198
Foxtrot, 56, 190Free Fallin’, 174, 193
GGabriel, Peter, 143Gary Ewer’s Easy Music Theory, 30Genesis, 56, 58, 190Goodbye to Love, 117, 191government, 181, 182, 183, 184guitar, 32, 33, 39, 53, 67, 77, 96, 104, 159,
161, 162, 163, 197Guthrie, Woody, 100, 191
Hharmonic sequences. See Chord
Progressionsharmony, 20, 35, 120, 195Harris, Jesse, 109, 191Hello Goodbye, 165, 193Henley, Don, 150, 192Hey Jude, 52, 164, 165, 189
hook, 13, 20, 21, 28, 39, 46, 148, 159, 160,161, 162, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169,188, 196
horns, 33Hotel California, 149, 150, 192Hound Dog, 54, 189house, 24, 25, 73, 74, 82, 85, 93, 121, 128,
130, 143, 157House of the Rising Sun, The, 55, 189
II Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe),
58I Walk the Line, 55, 189imagery, 56, 88, 140inspiration, 170, 171, 172, 189instrumentation, 23, 54, 62, 119, 195Intro, 43, 53, 61Invisible Touch, 56, 190Islands in the Stream, 105, 118, 191It’s the End of the World as We Know It
(And I Feel Fine), 43iTunes, 13, 188
JJackson, Michael, 28, 37, 38, 188jazz, 13, 22John, Elton, 108, 191
KKC & the Sunshine Band, 151, 192Kelly, Paul, 105
LLavigne, Avril, 53, 153, 154, 189Layla, 113, 191Leiber, Jerry, 54Livin' La Vida Loca, 38, 188Lopez, Jennifer, 147, 192Love is Everywhere, 146, 147, 192lyric, 20, 35, 122, 145, 147, 156, 196lyrics, 21, 27, 30, 39, 55, 72, 136, 142,
146, 147, 148, 149, 151, 152, 157, 159,197
202
Mmacro design, 42, 51, 52, 63, 69, 70Madonna, 52, 143, 189Maida, Raine, 53Martin, Chris, 123, 127, 143Matthews, Dave, 123McMartney, Paul, 22, 123mechanical rights, 185melody, 13, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27,
35, 39, 43, 44, 46, 54, 59, 63, 124, 125,126, 128, 130, 133, 134, 136, 137, 139,141, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150,156, 157, 159, 160, 161, 162, 164, 194,196, 198
micro design, 42, 63, 65, 69microphone, 33modulation, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119More More More, 152
NNever Gone, 131, 134, 136, 192Nilsson, Harry, 86, 190
OOcean, 118, 191Oh, Pretty Woman, 161, 163, 193One Flight Down, 109, 191Orbison, Roy, 161, 193outro, 44, 53, 68, 189, 196ownership, 182
PParton, Dolly, 105, 118, 191passing chord, 113, 114Penny Lane, 43, 165, 189, 193performing rights organization, 185Personally, 105, 140, 191Petty, Tom, 174, 193poetry, 27, 46, 55, 56, 59, 143, 148, 152,
157pop, 13, 14, 19, 50, 57, 79, 88, 97, 195,
196, 197, 198Presley, Elvis, 21, 54, 188
principles, 12, 29, 60, 74, 79, 130, 131,142
progressive, 144publish, 184, 185, 186publisher, 3, 180, 184, 185Put Your Hand in the Hand, 118, 191
RR.E.M., 43, 189radio, 33, 182, 186Rafferty, Gerry, 162, 193Red Sails in the Sunset, 38, 188Registered Mail, 182rhythm, 20, 35, 62, 63, 97, 143, 197rock, 13, 22, 54Rogers, Kenny, 105, 191root position triad, 112
Ssecondary dominant, 107, 108, 109, 110,
197Selling England by the Pound, 58Shake Shake Shake, 152Simon & Garfunkel, 23, 57, 188Simon, Paul, 28, 188simplicity, 21, 144, 157singer, 43, 118, 125, 126, 133, 142slash chords, 113, 196SOCAN, 185songwriter, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17, 32, 37, 38,
44, 48, 51, 53, 72, 79, 88, 90, 94, 101,116, 117, 123, 124, 128, 129, 130, 131,136, 142, 143, 161, 164, 188
Springsteen, Bruce, 54, 189Stefani, Gwen, 123Stoller, Mike, 54Superstition, 162, 168, 193Supper’s Ready, 56, 190sus4, 111, 112sus9, 111, 112, 198suspension, 110, 111Suzanne, 57, 190synthesizer, 33
203
Ttechno, 143tessitura, 127, 198The Restaurant at the End of the Universe,
92This Land is Your Land, 100, 103, 191Thriller, 37, 188trance, 144Twain, Mark, 1725 or 6 to 4, 44, 159, 189
Vverse, 13, 20, 21, 23, 24, 39, 42, 43, 44,
45, 48, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60,
70, 86, 87, 88, 105, 108, 115, 116, 117,120, 130, 132, 133, 134, 138, 142, 153,156, 157, 189, 190, 194, 195, 197, 198
WWagner, Richard, 17Webb, Jimmy, 55, 189Wild Honey Pie, 19, 21Without You, 86Wonder, Stevie, 162, 163, 193
YYesterday, 22, 24, 123, 124, 125, 188You Can Call Me Al, 28, 188