Sometimes people are going to give you feedback. Some you asked for, others because people like giving unwarranted opinions. There are a few things to understand when receiving feedback.
Â
Everyone ...
Some people think good, artistic music needs to be advanced, inaccessible, and more pretentious than Kanye West with a Cigar and French Accent.
Others think music needs to be soulless, recycled g...
Do you know what notes you’re working with when someone says “This song is in the Key of E natural minor”? If you forget what notes are sharp or flat in a key, do you have any way to figure it out...
Do you know what notes you’re working with when someone says “This song is in the Key of E Major”? If you forget what notes are sharp or flat in a key, do you have any way to figure it out?
This ...
You know what isn’t fun? Someone testing you.
But melodies don’t have feelings, so we don’t have to worry about testing them.
That and these tests are very simple and yet unendingly helpful in...
Even when you get the hang of songwriting, arranging can be overwhelming. It’s a whole different beast. Now you need to take your vocal and guitar piece and turn it into a full performance with a ...
A huge part of a story is its flow. Does it move naturally from one part to another? Does it make you feel suspense, resolve, worry, and sorrow exactly when it wants? Does it push and pull your emotio...
How much music theory do you really need to know to write songs?
Do you need to know every bit of music theory your music major friends know? Do you need nothing?
I think there are 3 necessary bits ...
You might be wondering what multithreaded means. It comes from the computer concept of a processor running different applications at the same time or even different parts of an application at the same...
Rhyming lyrics. It can be good. It also can be bad.
I’ve seen it SO MANY times.
You’re just starting to dip your toes into songwriting. You’ve got some lyrics written down. You’re kind of proud of i...
Yes, be ok with writing badly.
I know we’re hard-wired to see failure as a bad thing. I know school teaches us we have one shot to get it right.
But real life isn’t like that. Real life is fail unti...
