Songwriting Books: Tear 'Em Up!

Don't be alarmed by the title of this post — I'm not suggesting that you destroy your songwriting books. Quite to the contrary, in fact. Books are one of the best tools available for aspiring songwriters who want to hone their craft. What I want to do with this post is share a technique I've discovered — one that helps me get more out of the books I buy, and which I'm sure would do the same for anyone who tries it.

Guide to Electric Pianos, Organs, and Other Vintage Keyboards

Thanks to modern digital sampling, musicians and songwriters now have available to them, at reasonable cost, the sounds of vintage instruments that would otherwise be hard to find and expensive to acquire. In order to use these sounds authentically in my own demos, I've done a bit of research into the electric pianos, organs and other keyboards that were used during the 1960s, 70s and 80s, including who used them and what recordings they can be heard on.

While it's not about songwriting per se, I'm sharing this information on Better Songwriting as it may be helpful when the time comes to record demos of your songs or perform them live.

Blues Chord Progressions

In my previous post I discussed the "three-chord trick", and the importance of the I, IV and V chords. The use of these chords in popular music has its roots in the blues, and the best way to really see how they work together is to examine some common blues progressions.

I-IV-V Chord Progressions (aka "the Three-chord Trick")

I can't think of a better way to kick-off a songwriting blog than with a look at the "three chord trick". It turns out that just three chords, known as the I, IV and V chords, are the fundamental building blocks of nearly every genre of popular music, from rock and country to reggae, gospel and more.