John, over at Songwriting Apples has written a post about his ‘sound palette,’ the sounds and musical ‘colours’ that go into his songwriting.

Interestingly, the first things that spring to mind for him are instruments and instrument combinations: sparse drums, ‘soaring’ slide guitar. If I was to list my favourite sound colours it would be things like:

1. Sharp fourth chords
2. Major ninth chords
3. Chords a major third apart, eg. Bmaj9 to Eb minor
4. Close harmonies, especially with only a second between at least some of the notes.
5. Cross-word lyrics (ie lyrics that aren’t immediately obvious)
6. Characters, songs that are about well rounded people, rather than generic ‘diary entries’. (And isn’t it odd how songs from the songwriter’s own point of view tend to be the most shallow? Maybe some feelings can only accessed through fiction)

Just a few of my common songwriting themes. What are yours? Leave me a comment below, or drop me a line at tomslattermusic AT googlemail.com

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