This week the blog is getting polished and organized here and there.For instance, you'll see a long-overdue link for the Fearless Songwriter Challenge in the main menu now. (I also went through with Grammarly and fixed an absurd number of typos in the challenge's FAQ).Behind the scenes, I've been working on updating and clarifying the … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Pearl Jam’s Black

My phone has an alarm app on it that I love. It plays a recording of a singing bowl at progressively closer intervals over a period of time until I wake refreshed, bow to it, and start my daily sun salutations. Just kidding, I wake up benighted and drenched in groggy before beginning a spiral … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Chord Flow (Substitutes in the Key of C)

I've been writing and thinking about the principles behind chord flow every week for just about two years. Some of those early sheets could use a little polish. This week I decided to redo the sheet looking at how BEAD Guides Chord Flow organizes the chords in a key. Before it looked like this. Now … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Chord Flow (in the Key of C)

A few weeks ago, I talked about strong and weak beats in music in a post called The Beat of Falling Slowly. As is often the case, rules are made to be broken. And, if someone's going to break some musical rules*, James Brown is definitely one of the people to do it. Here's Adam … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Adam Neely on James Brown’s I Feel Good

The Rainbow Connection is one of those songs that I fell in love with a long time ago. Hearing it is sort of like running into an old friend and not being quite sure how I've let so much time pass without reaching out. It's just a sweet song.   There's a classic chord progression at … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Rhythm Changes & The Rainbow Connection