This is a first in a series examining a song from four different dimensions: songwriting, arrangement, performance, and production. “Nowhere Man” from Rubber Soul is a brilliant little pop gem with biting commentary on humanity’s tendency to to stick to her/his comfort zones. The impactfulness of the song is perfectly orchestrated by …
The other day there was a question asked in a group for musicians. What’s the higher purpose of your music? Someone like Elizabeth Gilbert, whose book Big Magic I adore, would take issues with that statement. She encourages creatives to do it simply for the fun of it. Don’t overburden yourself …
If you study jazz, you start with the standards. But in my opinion standards also exist in the rock guitar lexicon as well — and this Jimi Hendrix gem is definitely one of them. It’s a seemingly simple tune which repeats just one verse progression over and over. Where does its …
So while some songwriters start with lyrics first, others start with the instrumental part first. If you write with a guitar, it’s not uncommon to start by strumming a guitar and stumbling on a cool chord or riff. Or if you are a singer who doesn’t play an instrument, …
So in my last post, I established that you don’t have to think theory, nor do you have to know theory at all, to write good songs. That said, knowing music theory gives you these huge advantages. Music theory helps you troubleshoot your songs. This I went over in detail in …