Stuck for an idea? Need something to get the juices flowing?
One way to find new songwriting ideas is to use a scale you’re not familiar with:
1. You could try a Japanese pentatonic scale eg. ABCEF.
2.You could use the dimished scale E F#G A Bb C C# D# E (as the lead guitar does at the beginning [...]
I amused myself today by creating a chord choices flowchart:
Click Here
Here’s a link to the song, which won’t let me embed for reasons I don’t really understand…
Justin Timberlake’s Cry me a River might be guilty of stealing the title of a much better song, and having truly dreadful lyrics but I happen to think it’s an okay little ditty that does some interesting things.
Specifically, it [...]
Character
The Mixolydian is a mode I associate with country, blues, heavy rock and the Beatles. It isn’t the only scale used in those styles, and it isn’t limited to those styles, but with it’s dominant seventh tonic chord and the emphasis on the seventh note of the scale, it always conjures up images of old [...]
I just stumbled across this video, via this post.
It’s from this website.
First off, let me make clear that I have a very low opinion of sales pages like this one. I know they’ve been shown to work, that they’re ‘good marketing,’ but I really don’t like them.
However, don’t take that us an opinion of the [...]
This morning I had a comment on my previous post on how to harmonise with primary chords..
Emelia asked why I couldn’t harmonise ‘Oh When the Saints’ with a D minor chord.
Now fitting chords and melodies together is a big subject, and there’s lots to say on the matter. The point I want to make [...]
This is the opening section of a new Ebook I’m writing ‘How to Harmonise’.
What Does Harmonise Mean?
The most common subject people search for on www.songwright.co.uk is ‘how to harmonise’. When I talk to people, they seem to mean two slightly different things by this: how to add chords to a melody, or how to add [...]
NB.I’ve since written a follow up to this post which can be found here
I watched Eurovision 2009 on Saturday. I even drank Bucks Fizz and managed to get through the interminably long scoring section without getting bored and turning over.
I’ve watched Eurovision for the last three or four years, and the standard is getting better. [...]
‘How to Harmonise’ is by far the most popular search item for this site.
Taking inspiration from this, and knowing this is the topic that interests you most, I’ve begun putting together a little ebook together.
Yes, like Worksheets for the Songwriting Guitarist, it won’t cost a thing except an entirely no obligation you-can-leave-any-time sign-up [...]
There’s a moment in ‘mission documentaries’ (those TV programs that involve members of the public overcoming some lifestyle problem, or solving some idiot task) that is always illustrated by the same kind of music. It’s the moment of triumph, where we see the contestants suddenly smiling and wearing clothes that fit them, their lives changed [...]
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