Six Reasons Why Boring Songs Bore, (and How to Fix Them)

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.
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Good songs usually present a balance of unique ideas with tried and true techniques. Usually, you’ll want that balanced in favour of the predictability that tried and true offers. A song that is too unique will often leave listeners confused, and boredom quickly sets in. However, the opposite situation of too much predictability also causes boredom. What’s a songwriter to do?

Getting a song out to the listener actually requires two important steps. Step one relates to song structure: you need to write a song that is architecturally strong. Step two relates to song presentation: the way you perform the song can often have as much or more impact on the listener’s reaction as the solidness of the songwriting technique.

Good songs exhibit a rather nebulous quality called momentum. That attribute refers to song energy. Energy keeps listeners interested because when energy slowly builds, it causes the listener to stay with it in much the same way that a good drama keeps people watching by building to a dramatic climax. Good lyrics have a way of forcing the audience to keep listening for “what happens next”. Good chords present tension and resolution at all the right moments in a manner that keeps listeners hooked. Good melodic development, hand-in-hand with instrumentation, usually provides a contour that works with lyric and harmony to entice the listener forward.

Boredom sets in when one of those elements is neglected. Why songs fail can be a complicated issue of one element simply not working well with another. There are things you can do to ensure that your song keeps listeners hooked. Here are some of the regular suspects that keep listeners from connecting positively with your song. Some of the factors relate to song structure, while others relate to the final presentation:

1. Chord Progression with Too Many Chords. A chord progression takes the listener on a journey, and too many chords is like trying to see too many landmarks on that journey. Your brain just can’t process it all. If you find that you’re using 16, 17 or more chords in your song, try to scale back.
2. Chord Progressions that Don’t Offer Resolution. A chord progression is a bit like breathing in the sense that a breath inward causes a “tension” that is resolved with a breath outward. Success is when there is a balance of tension (breathing inward) and release (breathing outward). Good chord progressions offer the sonic version of the same thing. Chord progressions will have moments of tension (dominant chords, suspensions, etc.) and then release (tonic chords or other harmonic resolutions). Check your chord progressions to be sure that moments of creative license are balanced with a good dose of predictable resolution.
3. Instrumentations That are Boring. If your song structure is strong, but you then present the song with a mindless strumming guitar from beginning to end, you could be short-changing your song’s effectiveness. Look for ways to involve other instruments. It’s amazing what simply adding a few french horn notes, a flute solo, or using a different chording instrument can do to the success of your song.
4. Melodies That are Too Flat. Some songs, if the lyric is making an important social or political comment, will do nicely with a flat melody. But if your melody is boring you, it will likely bore the listener as well. Find ways to incorporate leaps into the melodic structure, and do it at moments that support emotion-laden words in your text.
5. Songs That are Too Slow or Too Fast. Experiment with the tempo of your song. You’ll see that tempo has a major impact in the overall effect of your song’s presentation. If it feels that the energy of the song never rises enough to support the lyric, try a faster tempo. If the whole thing sounds energetic but frantic, slow it down just a touch.
6. Songs That are in the Wrong Key. Most singers like to place a song somewhat comfortably within the outer boundaries of their vocal range. But if a lyric is intense, you may be missing an opportunity to support that lyric with the proper intensity in the voice. (Peter Gabriel singing the end of “Supper’s Ready” on their Foxtrot album is a perfect example of how a high tessitura can add to the effectiveness of the voice.

So once you’ve written your song, your job is just beginning. Now you need to ensure that the listener gets the full impact of what you’re tying to communicate to the world.
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When Do I Use Chord Inversions?

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.
Follow Gary on Twitter for songwriting tips, news and more.
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An inverted chord means that you’ve moved the root of a chord to some upper position, leaving a note other than the root as the lowest sounding note. It’s a really great device that will add colour to your musical palette. But chord inversions have to be treated with a bit of care; randomly opting for an inversion can lead to a chord progression that sounds a bit disorganized.

A triad is a three-note chord that includes a root, a third and a fifth. For example, in C major, a C triad is comprised of a C, E and G played simultaneously. With the root on the bottom, you get this triad in its most stable position.

By moving the root upward and away from its bottom position, you now have the 3rd of the chord as the lowest-sounding note (C/E). This triad, called a first inversion triad, is slightly less stable, in the sense that we usually don’t end musical phrases with this type of chord. Ends of phrases need the solidity that comes from having the root at the bottom.

One other possibility for triads is to place the 5th at the bottom, and this gives us an even-less stable triad (C/G). This chord begs for a resolution to G (i.e., C/G  - G – C).

But to say that a triad is unstable is by no means a criticism. In fact, you will find that musical progressions sound fresh and interesting when they are comprised of a balance of root position and inverted chords. The question is… how do we know when to use them?

Here are some quick tips to guide you:

1. Use an inversion to animate a static bass line. If your progression requires your bass to do a lot of jumping by 4ths and 5ths, you can smooth this out and get the line moving by using an inversion. Here’s an example: C  F  C  G  C, with each chord played for 4 beats. Try modifying it with inversions (each chord played for 2 beats:) C  C/E  F  F/A  C  C  G  G/B  C
2. Use an inversion to make a boring progression more interesting. Related to point 1 above, if your progression has you dwelling on one chord for a long period of time, get the bass line involved by creating inversions.
3. If your melody line moves from the 3rd of a chord to an upper root of the chord, you can mirror that motion by moving the bass from the root of the chord up to the 3rd. It creates interesting interplay between melody and bass.

There are times when you need to be careful about using inversions:

1. If the melody and bass line are on the same note, don’t invert the next chord if it means both melody and bass move to the same note (i.e., avoid parallel octaves).
2. Be careful about leaping to inversions if there seems to be no good need or reason. For example, this might be hard to make work: C  F/A  Dm  G/B… etc. These inversions will often result in the ear being confused.
3. Avoid inversions if it means that the bass note following the inversion is an augmented 4th or diminished 5th away. In other words, this will be a bit hard on the ear: C  G/B  F, because the bass moving from the note B to F will be somewhat unpleasant.

Inversions can be a great way to make an otherwise boring progression a bit more interesting, and can get some motion in your bass line, but as with most elements at your disposal, be careful how you use it.
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Sia’s “Soon We’ll Be Found”- Two-Part Verses and Other Goodies

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.
Follow Gary on Twitter for songwriting tips, news and more.

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If you don’t know the music of Sia, you’re missing a real treat. Her music is a perfect example of how songwriters need only venture minimally outside the box to create fantastic music. “Soon We’ll Be Found” is a case in point. By using simple harmonic modulations and other formal elements, Sia demonstrates simple devices that other songwriters could and should be using.

The first formal element of interest is the use of the two-part verse, the first eight bars being in C minor, with the second eight bars brightening to the relative major:

Cm  Fm  G  Cm  Fm  G  Cm  Fm  G  Ab  Bb ||Eb

The Ab and Bb are pivot chords that exists in both keys of C minor and Eb major, providing a seamless way to modulate to the relative major key. The song then proceeds with the second part of the verse, now in major. So songwriters, if you’re writing a song in minor, and are tiring of the constant mood of that key, modulating to the relative major is easy to do with a flat-VII.

The next interesting harmonic device Sia uses is the so-called “modal mixture”, or borrowed chord. The second chord of this part of the verse is Abm, where one would normally use Ab. A borrowed chord is one which normally exists in the minor side of the key, but is “borrowed” to add an interesting harmonic flavour:

Eb  Abm  Eb  Abm  Eb  Abm  Bb  G

On we go to the chorus, and the chord progressions here pull the listener back and forth from the key of C minor to Eb major, and back again. You might think that the harmonic structure is more ambiguous in the chorus than it was in the verse, but what’s actually happening is that the chorus represents the melding of two different harmonic organizations we found in the verse. While part 1 of the verse emphasized minor, and part 2 accentuated major, we get both living in close proximity in the chorus. In that sense, the verse harmonic treatment is what allows the chorus to work so well.

Sia has one more interesting goodie for us. It’s not often that we get to hear Augmented Sixth chords in popular music styles; it is usually a classification of chord reserved for classical composers. An Aug 6th is a chord usually built on the flat-VI degree of the scale, and most often resolves to the dominant chord. In this song, we find it in the bridge. The first time we hear it (at 2′ 24″) it simply moves immediately to Cm, but the second time, (2′ 35″) it resolves to G in preparation for the return of C minor. The Aug 6th is a really useful “predominant” chord that gives you a new way of approaching the dominant chord other than from IV.

These devices are very simple to use, and require almost nothing more than a bit of musical imagination. They add a sense of creativity to your music without throwing the balance too far toward unpredictable, and turn something mundane into something that captivates the listener.
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Good Lyrics: Always Consider the Natural Pulse

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.
Follow Gary on Twitter for Songwriting Tips, News and More .
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Nothing kills a lyric faster than forcing words into a rhythmic scheme that just doesn’t work. What you should be after is a natural flow. For that reason, it’s really important for songwriters to recite their lyric as if it were prose, tweaking it until it feels easy to say, and conveys exactly what’s needed. Rhyming and rhythmic schemes need to take a back seat to natural pulse.

Say the following line to yourself:

Here we are, back where we began

This line is an easy one; it’s easy to see what we mean by natural pulse. Certain words get more of an accent than others:

HERE we are, BACK where we beGAN.

When you set a line like this, you’ll want to ensure that the natural rhythm of the words are supported by the rhythm of the music. For example, it’s hard to consider the word “here” to be anywhere except the beginning of a bar – the strong beat. It can’t be placed on the 4th beat of a bar easily, because it disrupts the sentence’s natural pulse, giving us: “here WE are…”

While this seems easy enough, problems can arise when inner meaning or subtext is inadvertently changed by misplacing an accent. Subtext is the implied meaning of your words. For example, if you say, “We’re going to be late,” the meaning is clear. If we say “Take your time, life is long”, and say it with a sigh, the ironic subtext shines through.

Often with song lyrics, subtext is changed by simply placing the accents in different places. Misplacing those accents can be a missed opportunity to portray subtext. Consider this line:

I don’t want to be with her anymore…

The first step in setting this line is to say it naturally, allowing the inherent pulses to come forth. But this line can be said in a variety of ways, all conveying a different subtext:

1. I don’t WANT to be with HER anymore;
2. i DON’T want to BE with her anyMORE;
3. I don’t want to BE with her anymore;
4. i DON’T want to be with HER anymore;

Depending on how you set the words, you’re communicating a different thing. Version 1 puts the emphasis on “her”, with the subtext conveying that there is another woman in the picture. Version 2 simply tells the audience that you simply don’t want to be with this or any person right now. Version 3’s emphasis on “be” expresses a sense of impatience, while Version 4’s stress on “don’t” and “her” adds a feeling of irritation that wasn’t there in Version 1.

Setting these words will mean that you must consider these accented words, and place them on the strong parts of musical phrases. In 4/4 (common) time, those words will work best on beats 1 and 3, with the other words falling in between.

If your songwriting formula has you starting with melody, or at least with melodic shapes, always consider the possibility (perhaps the probability) that you’ll need to modify the specific rhythms of that melody to support the intended meaning of your text. Don’t let mis-matched melodic and textual rhythms rob your lyric of important inner meaning.
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Talent vs Knowledge: Which is More Valuable?

by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.
FOLLOW Gary on Twitter, for songwriting tips and news.
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Talent – the word refers to a natural ability; to describe someone as talented is to say that they have an innate understanding of the intricacies of their field, and can produce something impressive, even if they lack an ability at times to explain it. Knowledge, conversely, is an understanding that is acquired through study and experience. In the songwriting field, both are usually necessary.

The most prevalent misconception regarding the disparate concepts of talent and knowledge is that knowledge can obliterate talent. This opinion, sadly, this is probably the cause of many fine musicians refusing to seek out the kind of instruction that would make them better at what they do. I hear, far too often, people expressing a fear that studying music theory will quash creativity.

Those in the sports world also use this term talent to describe naturally gifted athletes. But it seems that there is more of an understanding (and I believe, a correct one) that one can be talented but lack an understanding of how to put that talent to proper use. Sports people, it seems, are more likely to talk about the concept of discipline as a necessary addition to talent, with that discipline developing from a melding of talent, knowledge and experience.

In songwriting, my observation has been that more people suffer from a lack of knowledge than they do from a lack of talent. I truly believe that for most of you reading this, if you are frustrated with your songwriting lately, you are probably experiencing something that can be fixed with a bit of understanding. And that’s good news, because I believe that talent can be enhanced by understanding.

So what are the things that songwriters can and should be doing?

1. Read about songwriting – educate yourself! Learn about how good songs work, and discover ways to incorporate those things in your own music.
2. Talk to other songwriters about how they learned to write. Take advantage of their own personal journey in the songwriting world, and learn the lessons they’ve spent years learning for themselves.
3. Play your music for others and get their opinions. Be open-minded, and don’t feel offended if a listener tells you that they didn’t like your song. If they didn’t like it, chances are others didn’t either. (This isn’t an indication, by the way, that the song has problems, since not all songs are liked by everyone. But it is a great starting point for looking at your songs honestly, and for beginning the fixing process.)
4. Discipline yourself as a songwriter, and set a regular time every day, or almost every day, for writing. Keep a journal of your efforts, and keep every song fragment that you write.

The point here is that while adding to your talent is a difficult thing to do, your only real hope in achieving that is by increasing your knowledge. Talent is, of course, valuable, and we’ve all got varying amounts of that commodity. But knowledge is something to which we can keep adding. Learn to see each new day as a day to become more knowledgeable, and, over time, more talented.

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Song Analysis: Rob Thomas’ “Someday”

by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.
FOLLOW Gary on Twitter, for songwriting tips and news.
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Rob Thomas’ latest single, “Someday”, from his “Cradlesong” album, features at least a couple of techniques that will interest songwriters. One is the concept of introducing a new melody as a “replacement chorus” in the latter half of a song; another is the overlaying of a persistent melodic fragment that could be best described as a “melodic badge.”

First, here’s a look at the song’s formal design:

FORM

Let’s deal with the new melody introduced in the last minute of the song. It is introduced at the 2′ 50″ mark, and provides the song with a great variation on the typical verse – chorus – bridge format. It would be typical (and perhaps too predictable?) to simply repeat the chorus again. It’s likely that after three renditions of the song’s chorus, the writers felt there was nothing much new that could be done to it, and keeping the song fresh was a concern. In such a circumstance, developing a new melody based on the old harmonic progression was a small stroke of genius.

MELODY

The song uses a background melodic figure, first presented in the introduction, as a type of musical adhesive, drawing the various formal elements together. The figure plays on three notes of the Bbsus4 chord, never really resolving (you might expect to hear the Eb from that chord resolve downward to D, but doesn’t happen), and this lack of tonal resolution imbues it with a strong sense of forward motion. Because it does its work mostly in the background, it can be thought of as a kind of musical “badge” rather than a hook pre se. And because the figure never develops or changes in any way, it would not be proper to think of it as a motif.

HARMONY

Except for the bridge, the song uses the same I – IV – ii progression (Bb Eb Cm) throughout. Harmonic fatigue is a risk if you choose to use the same chords, but you can combat this by moving the melodic plateau higher for the chorus. The melody for the verse dwells on the 3rd of the key (the D in the key of Bb major), while the chorus constantly hits on the note F.

So the compositional devices that songwriters should make note of that make this song work are:

1. Use of a melodic badge that provides cohesion throughout the song, remaining constant regardless of the changing harmonies beneath it.
2. Use of a unique melody introduced in the latter half of a song that provides something novel and fresh, useful especially when the harmonic treatment of the verse and chorus are identical.
3. Use of plateau pitches that provide a foundation for the notes of the melody to focus on, moving upward as the song moves from the verse to the chorus.

The real beauty of “Someday”, and the techniques used, is the simplicity of the final product. It’s a reminder that great songs are measured in how individual elements support each other, and that most songs do quite well with just a touch of innovation and a healthy dose of predictable structure.
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How Melodic Shape Can Determine a Song’s Success

by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website:
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You would think that a beautiful melody is what we’re all after when we write songs. But you could make the case quite easily that the world’s most successful songs over the past five decades do not necessarily have melodies you’d call “beautiful.” Like deciding to wear a gorgeous dress with a pair of work boots, success in songwriting is all about how different song elements integrate.

General opinion would probably be that a beautiful melody is “contoured”, with a pleasant mix of stepwise motion and leaps. Such melodies are great partners for an emotion-laden poetic lyric that uses lots of imagery and allegory. But probably doesn’t describe most hit songs, most of which deal with issues of love using fairly direct, every day language, not necessarily poetry.

And in fact, if you automatically default to creating melodies with a flamboyant shape, you may inadvertently compromise the lyric and even the underlying chord structure. There are many factors involved in creating successful melodies. Here are some you’ll want to keep in mind:

1. Songs whose lyrics describe political or social-consciousness issues, or hold strong opinions (i.e., lyrics that use forthright language and terminology) will make good use of repeating note figures. In such songs, you’ll want to think about plateau pitches: let each successive section of your song dwell around a pitch higher than the preceding one.
2. Songs whose lyrics describe love, affection, tenderness or compassion will make good use of melodies with a motivic leap. Such a leap is the kind that you’ll want to repeat throughout your song, a sort of leitmotif (a musical phrase that actually represents a person or emotion).
3. Lyrics that describe a sequence of events (i.e., tell a compelling story) work well with mainly stepwise motion. Save melodic leaps for emotional moments in the narrative.

You should note that lyrics in the first category above can also include love songs that describe a persons determination to “win the love of their dreams.” And keep in mind that songs like this, featuring many repeated notes, can be contrasted nicely by using repeated note figures in one section and a more moving, animated line in another.

All this is simply to say that as always, melody and lyrics are very difficult to consider separately. Lyrics are your main tool of communication to the listener, and melody should always support that message.

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Building Energy: There’s a Progression For That

by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website:
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In general, the energy near the end of your song should be more than the energy at the beginning. That rising energy is not a constant; it ebbs and flows in a generally-upward direction, much like a successful stock market chart. The latter part of your verse as it moves into your chorus needs to be featuring rising energy, and you can use your chord choices to help.

Let’s set up a typical scenario: A song in C major, with a verse and a chorus that both begin with a C chord, and are both 32 beats long. If this is the case, you’ll gain an energy boost for your chorus if the verse ends on the dominant chord (G or G7). This creates a strong sense of expectancy and tension that is resolved by the chorus’ C chord.

Now, let’s invent a progression for our verse. Try two beats for each chord:

C  Eb  F  C  || C  Eb  F  C

That will do nicely for the first 8 beats of our verse. We now want to create a progression that gets us from the verse to the chorus. Here’s a great technique: Take the verse progression and transpose it upward by a 4th. For the listener, it’s as if you’ve at least momentarily changed key, and it gives the entire song a shot of energy:

C  Eb  F  C  || C  Eb  F  C || F  Ab  Bb  F

As you can see, it moves the energy somewhat aggressively in an upward direction. We’ve now got to add four more chords that get us not just to the chorus, but begs for the chorus. In other words, we need to let the final chord of the verse be G. Try this:

C  Eb  F  C  || C  Eb  F  C || F  Ab  Bb  F || F  Ab  Bb  G||

If you look at the roots of each chord, you’re looking at a series of upward-moving bass notes (upward musical gestures create energy), then an abrupt transposition upward (creating more energy), building to a dominant chord at the end, which sets up the chorus to be the most energetic part of the song.

Returning to do Verse 2 means that you can allow energy to dissipate a bit, which is perfect for rebuilding the energy plan. And you should try variations on this. For example, you may want to start the chorus on the vi-chord (Am) to give a sense of variety, and maybe avoid those distinctive flat chords, for the same reason.

And of course, hand-in-hand with chord energy are all the other tools you should be using to contour the energy of your song: varying the instrumentation, dynamics, vocal and instrumental range, and lyrical content. Successfully controlling these factors gives you a song that listeners will want to stick with and listen to over and over.
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Can You Fix a Tin Ear?

by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website:
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Whether you call it “having a tin ear” or “being tone deaf”, many musicians feel the great frustration of not being able to accurately label the sounds they’re hearing. It’s a sophisticated activity when you think about it: we’re essentially listening to the air vibrate, and then identifying what that was. But if those kind of listening skills are in short supply, is there any hope for you?

I teach aural skills at university, and I’ve changed my view on this over the years. While there is a window of opportunity that is wide open in childhood, slowly closing as we age, I believe that adult musicians can make great strides in training their ear, and I’ve seen it happen.

A big step toward improving your ear is to learn a bit of basic music theory. Even if it’s just the nuts and bolts of being able to name notes on a musical staff, and learning how to write out some simple scales, this knowledge will get you going in the right direction. It’s part of basic music literacy.

Beyond that, I strongly believe that transcribing music will strengthen your aural skills more than any other musical activity. Here’s what I get my own students to do: I give them sound files of different pieces: solos, duets, trios, and so on. I give them a month per song to write down what they’re hearing. I encourage them to sit at a piano, or with their guitar, and find the notes they hear. Most students find this frustrating at first, but then become surprised by how much they are learning.

This kind of transcription exercise is a bit like learning a language by speaking it. At first, you feel that you’re getting no where, and then – you realize that you’re getting better and better.

I like transcription exercises more than simple “identify the interval” or “identify the chord” exercises, because it presents real music in a musical context.

The older you are, the slower progress can be, but you mustn’t give up. I have seen people of all ages improve with these kinds of transcription exercises. If you are in your late teens or early twenties, the window of opportunity is definitely closing, but it is not closed, and you will be surprised by how much progress you can make. There are lots of sites that can play intervals and chords for you, and tell you if you’re getting close.

Singing is also a great ear trainer, especially singing that requires you to match other singers, like in a choir. And singing in choir is great because you can couple your singing training with your ability to sing what you are seeing printed on the music in front of you.

It is normal for ear training to be a long, slow process, even at the best of times. So be patient, and you will see improvement.

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Gary Ewer has written six songwriting e-books designed to get you writing the songs you’ve always known you could write. Read about those e-books here.

It’s Hard to be Unique if You’re Using the Same Tired Formula

by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website:
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Structure is everything in songwriting; without structure, you’ve got a song that listeners just won’t understand and can’t get into. It’s why we talk so much about the form of a song. An easily discernible form makes it more likely that listeners will remember a song. Because song forms aren’t usually unique (often, some variation on the verse-chorus-bridge format), it’s the method, or formula, you use that will make your song distinctive or not.

If you start the composition process the same way every time, you may notice a “sameness” in the results. If you’re looking to be unique, you need to break out and find new methods of putting a song together.

For example, with students of mine who start the songwriting process with a chord progression, I notice a similar backing rhythm and tempo in all their songs, coupled with what sounds at times to be an uninteresting melodic shape. Those who start with interesting poetry often place the emphasis there, and other song elements can feel disorganized.

Where you place your focus at the start of the process can often determine how the song proceeds from there. And that is where the sameness can happen.

It’s important to note that there is no one right way to start a song, and that’s actually the point of this posting. As there is no one right way, you will reap the benefits of starting your next song differently from the last song you wrote. By choosing a unique way to start your song, you have a better hope of developing a new songwriting formula. And that new formula will likely take you in a unique direction.

If you feel comfortable starting your songs with the chords, and then adding the other elements, it’s time to break out and try something new. Try creating a melody that has shape and direction, and you’ll likely notice that that melody is implying an underlying chord structure you never considered before, and you’ve just started something unique!

Songwriting partnerships are a great way to ensure that you have a better chance of creating something fresh and distinctive. Two or more people throwing ideas into the pot may seem complicated and frustrating, but if you’ve got a partnership where all partners treat each other’s ideas with respect, you’ve got the potential for something great to happen. And in my opinion, some of the best songs in the world have come from these kind of partnerships.
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