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SONGWRITINGLESSONSONLINE.COM
7 Reasons Why Your Music Doesn't Sound The Way You Want It
To
(And How To Fix It)
By Ryan Buckner
7 Reasons Why Your
Music Doesn’t Sound
The Way You Want It To
(And How To Fix It)
By Ryan Buckner
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 2
Table Of Contents
Is There Really Such A Thing As “Wrong Notes” In Music? 3
Writing Songs With A Live Instrument Versus Virtual Instrument 6
Reason #1: Your Music Has No Sense Of Structure 7
Reason #2: The Music Is “Too Basic” 12
Reason #3: The Ideas In Your Song Are Too Complex 15
Reason #4: Your Melodies Are Arranged In An Awkward Manner 19
Reason #5: Your Chords Do Not Flow Well Together 23
Reason #6: You Lack Knowledge Of Different Instruments 29
Reason #7: Your Song Lyrics Lack Creativity 32
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 3
Is There Really Such A Thing As “Wrong
Notes” In Music?
Most likely, there have been times when you were
either writing a song or playing an instrument and
you used notes that did not sound good to you
within the context of the music. Upon doing this, it
is easy to label these notes as “wrong notes” and
move on. However, before getting into the main
points of this eBook, I would like to take a moment
to challenge this common way of thinking in order
to help you think a bit deeper. Although many
people commonly think of “bad sounding” notes as
wrong notes; there is also a common competing
idea that says “There are no wrong notes in music”.
Hmm well, which one is it!?
To add some clarity here, I’d like you from now on
to think less about the notes themselves and more
about your ‘intentions’ as a songwriter and
musician. There are certainly useful rules or
techniques for creating ideas that most of us agree
upon (basic example: using ‘major’ chords to
express being “happy”)…
Digression: There is a lot to be said about the universality of
these rules. In fact, this subject is much more deep than
you might expect, as its validity has been debated amongst
music theorists and philosophers alike. However, this
conversation is outside of the context of this eBook.
…For the purposes of this eBook (and your growth
as a songwriter), focusing on expressing ideas first
will help you grow much faster as a songwriter. In
the end, the purpose of writing music is to express
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 4
ideas, so it only makes sense to begin thinking
about what you want to express first rather than
what notes sound “wrong” (since wrong is based on
context).
In any given situation, what are your intentions
with the music you are creating? What are you
trying to express? How accurately does your choice
of notes express your thoughts in your music?
What note choices are the best for expressing what
you want to express? These are all important
questions to ask yourself.
Consider the music of avant-garde pianist, Leo
Ornstein. Popular for his highly experimental piano
music, Ornstein wrote highly abstract piano pieces
consisting entirely of what most people would call
“wrong notes”. That said, Ornstein was no
amateur; being highly versed in music theory, he
wrote complex, virtuosic pieces with involved
rhythmic themes (for examples, search for
“Impressions of the Thames” and “Arabesques”).
Although most people would listen to his music and
become turned off due its atonal nature, it could
hardly be said that he did not write his music with
any degree of intentionality. He was certainly
aware of the different emotions he was creating
with his music and could scarcely be compared to a
beginning songwriter who was simply playing
random notes in hopes of making something
“good”. With this in mind, Ornstein could be
considered a great (though perhaps extreme)
example of why “there are no wrong notes in
music”.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 5
By writing music with the goal of achieving your
intentions rather than “avoiding bad sounding
notes”, you will not only open the doors for higher
levels of musical expression; but you will also open
your mind to improving your songwriting skills ‘in
the moment’. The more you are thinking in the
moment, the faster and more effectively you will be
able to learn from your mistakes and achieve your
desired goals in songwriting.
Consider this as you read through the remainder of
this eBook. The truth is, any of the ‘mistakes’
mentioned in this eBook could actually be done on
purpose in a way that sounds very good to many
people. The crucial idea to understand is: If you are
writing music and something does not sound as
you intended it and/or you have not even
considered your intentions, ‘this’ is the sign that
you may have used the “wrong notes”. I encourage
you to work hard to increase your understanding of
how music works together with self expression so
that you can both create music that you love and
enjoy putting your ideas out into the world.
With that said, in each of the 7 “reasons that your
music doesn’t sound how you want it to” covered in
this eBook you will be given several ideas to
consider in order to help you write your music the
way you intend it to sound. By applying the ideas in
this guide, you will be able to quickly problem-solve
different songwriting situations and improve your
ability to more accurately express yourself in
music.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 6
Writing Songs With A Live Instrument Versus
Virtual Instrument
With the accessibility of music songwriting
software, it is not uncommon for many songwriters
to write a lot of their music entirely on their
computer. This can be very useful when you are
not skilled on a particular instrument(s) and/or
when you want to use sounds that cannot be easily
recreated without a computer. Both real
instruments and virtual instruments are great tools
of musical expression. That said, both approaches
inspire different methods for songwriting. For
example, you are much more likely to program a
pattern into a virtual instrument without knowing
how it sounds first. On the other hand, you are
more likely to improvise a pattern on an instrument
that you can play first before deciding to use it in a
song. Keep this in mind as you read this eBook and
think about how the different ideas discussed apply
to your own songwriting method.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 7
Reason #1:
Your Music Has No Sense Of Structure
If you are unsure about how to piece together a
song so that all the parts within it work together in
a coherent manner; you will likely end up with this
problem.
Things you might be thinking to yourself if you are
having this problem in your songwriting:
• “…this song feels unbalanced.”
• “…this song doesn’t flow together very well as
a whole.”
• “…part of this song seems to take up a lot
more space than the other parts.”
Why does this happen?
If you are having this issue, it’s likely that you have
not invested enough time into determining a
direction for your song to go in. This situation
commonly occurs when a songwriter takes various
ideas (that may be totally unrelated) and simply
places them one after the other without any clear
reason for doing so. This results in a continuous
stream of melodies or chords one after the other
that vary in length and feel more like separate
“blocks” of ideas rather than smooth, flowing
music. This method is frequently used when a
songwriter feels as if he/she is lacking in ideas, has
little experience writing for a specific style of music
(or in general), or does not know how to put a song
together in a balanced manner with any kind of
understandable form.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 8
How can you avoid this issue?
Don’t worry so much about the specific melodies,
chords or other aspects of your music just yet.
Instead, begin your song by thinking of the way
you will put it together. For this approach, you
want to think about ‘what’ you want to express
specifically and combine it together with a balanced
structure that will make up the foundation of your
song. By thinking of a structure first, you will not
have to worry about becoming frustrated later on
when you realize that your song “isn’t going
anywhere” or “has too many new ideas”.
Here are a few examples of different song
structures that are organized in different ways to
give you an idea of how you can prepare your ideas
in advance and give your song direction:
Music with vocals/lyrics:
1. A very common an effective song structure used
in nearly all styles of music:
Chorus
Verse
Chorus
Bridge
Chorus
2. A song structure with added depth; a pre-chorus
to prepare the chorus and a solo section; a bridge
to present new ideas; a break to setup the solo
section:
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 9
Intro
Verse
Chorus
Verse
Pre-Chorus
Chorus
Bridge
Break
Solo Section
Chorus
3. Here is a basic example of connecting the ideas
you want to the structure of a song:
Chorus (Main idea you want to get across in song)
Verse (thoughts that lead you to the main idea)
Chorus
Bridge (some alternate thoughts you had toward main idea)
Chorus
Outro/New Section (A new idea/changed your mind about the
main idea)
The following are song structures for instrumental
music. When no lyrics are involved or there are
many sections in your song, letters are an effective
way to keep your ideas organized:
4. Since no vocals are involved, melodies or other
noteworthy musical ideas are what define the main
idea of a particular section. A number may be
placed by the letter to denote that there is
something significantly different in the section, yet
the section still contains the main ideas it is
recognized for (such as a specific melody or series
of chords):
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 10
Idea A (main melody)
Idea B (new melody)
Idea A2 (played with harmonized notes in main melody)
Idea C
Idea B (melody played over the rhythm section of idea A)
Idea A
5. This example gives basic detail on how you
might organize your ideas along with the structure:
A (upbeat/fast, melody 1)
B (upbeat/fast, melody 2)
A2 (upbeat/fast, melody 1, new rhythm section)
C (slow section, melody 3)
D (slow, solo section)
C (slow section, melody 3)
A (upbeat/fast, melody 1)
Additionally, work on finding ways to smoothly
transition from one section to the next. This can be
done by using similar musical ideas that the current
section you are working on has in common with the
next section. Here are some examples of things
you can do to transition from one section to
another:
1. Use a similar rhythm section (parts played by
drums or chords played under the main
melody)
2. Write both sections with musical ideas that
contain similar note rhythms.
3. Use similar lyrical content.
4. Keep both sections in the same key/use the
same chords (in the same order or
rearranged).
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 11
5. Speed up the notes of one section just before
the next one begins to create a sense of
“departure and arrival”.
As a final comment, the idea of structure can be
applied both to your song as a whole as well as on
a smaller scale to things such as melodies. While
writing with song structure, remember: you do not
need to always write everything with perfect
symmetry; experiment also with structure that is a
bit ‘unbalanced’ and see how it feels.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 12
Reason #2:
The Music Is “Too Basic” And Lacks Creative
Ideas
You will certainly come up with many songwriting
ideas that you don’t like in your process of
becoming a better songwriter. However, the more
you practice, the better you will get at expressing
your thoughts clearly through music.
Things you might be thinking to yourself if you are
having this problem in your songwriting:
• “…this music sounds really boring/lame”
• “…this musical idea doesn’t express anything
interesting”
• “…I can’t think of anything to write.”
Why does this happen?
One of the leading causes of “boring” music that is
“too simple” is a lack of variation. This normally
occurs in situations where songwriters try too hard
to make their song melodies exactly even in length,
write music using scales in a “non-musical” manner
or otherwise follow plain/conventional songwriting
patterns. As with any of the points mentioned in
this eBook, this commonly occurs for total
beginners due to a lack of experience or a lack of
having anything to actually express musically.
How can you avoid this issue?
In order to avoid writing music that is too simple,
conventional or just plain boring; you will need to
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 13
think outside of the box and focus on getting the
most out of each note you use in your music.
Here are some potential solutions to use if your
music feels too basic:
- If you find yourself applying a generic pattern, do
something to tweak it a little. For example, if you
are using your instrument to write a melody and
you find yourself simply running up and down the C
major scale; try removing one or two notes from
the scale or focusing on the rhythm of your notes
by holding the 4th note you play longer…then
holding the 7th longer, 10th, etc. (create your own
pattern). Also, experiment with emphasizing
specific notes while using other notes to “fill in”
between them.
- Do your melodies sound more like exercises than
actual melodies? If this is the case, try focusing on
rhythm (as mentioned above) while mixing
together different sequences of notes. For
example: A sequence of 4 notes could be A B C D,
B C D E , C D E F, G F# G# A, etc. Additionally,
focus more on ‘how’ the notes are being played by
utilizing techniques specific to your instrument such
as vibrato (for stringed instruments). Think more
about what it is that you want to express, then try
to use your instrument as a medium to express it.
Regardless of your skill level, the result will be
more expressive than if you were simply playing
through a scale or programming a pattern into a
sequencer.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 14
- Think of all the musical elements as you write.
How can you use loudness and softness to enhance
your music? How does rhythm affect the expression
of what you are writing? Can you add in more
instruments or harmony to add some interest to
your melody? Can the chords you are using be
arranged in a different order for a different overall
feel? If you are writing a melody, can you get a
better sound by writing it with two almost identical
halves (a question and an answer), two halves with
separate musical ideas, three parts or more, a
combination of all of the above? etc.
The more you focus on “expressing” an idea
through music rather than simply plugging in
exercises you play on your instrument,
conventional songwriting chord formulas and so
forth; the easier it will be to come up with ideas
that are more creative and leave you with the
feeling that you have created something unique.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 15
Reason #3:
The Ideas In Your Song Are Too Complex For
Their Own Good
As a songwriter, it is easy to get caught up in the
excitement of self expression. This can lead you to
trying new ideas you haven’t explored fully yet
(which is good). However, until you understand
how to integrate songwriting techniques (or the
music you play on your primary instrument)
together with the ideas and emotions you want to
express, the result may be a mess of technical, yet
uninspiring musical ideas.
Things you might be thinking to yourself if you are
having this problem in your songwriting:
• “…this musical idea doesn’t express anything
interesting.”
• “…I want this song to sound complex and
interesting, but I’m not sure how.”
• “…I can’t think of anything to write.”
• “…this music lacks a good melody.”
Why does this happen?
A big motivational factor for many musicians is to
have the appearance of being highly skilled and
technical. When it comes to songwriting, this desire
can be observed through songs that contain
elements such as complex rhythms, advanced
harmony, articulate lyrics or technical instrumental
passages. However, the desire to write intricate
and complex music can often result in a
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 16
complicated mess if you have not yet mastered the
songwriting concepts you are trying to use. In just
about all cases, songwriters who are unsatisfied
with their music because it is “too complex” need
to focus more on expressing an idea rather than
utilizing a bunch of technical ideas with the goal of
winning the approval of others. The truth is, the
more expressive and emotional your music is, the
more you (and others) will enjoy it. Your music
does not ‘have’ to be complex in order to achieve
this goal.
How can you avoid this issue?
If you are skilled at the instrument you play,
understand advanced music theory concepts or can
write thought provoking lyrics, you may have a
strong desire to showcase your abilities. This is
totally understandable (and fun ☺); however, if you
are want to use your skills to write songs that
sound the way you want them to, consider the
following points:
1. How can you use your playing skills to enhance
musical expression in the song you are writing?
If you are a highly technical instrumental player,
begin first by thinking of an idea or emotion that
you want to express in your music. Then think of
how you can use your specific technical skills to
achieve it. Next, play your instrument to create the
part in your music. If you notice that you are not
accurately expressing your idea with your playing,
stop for a moment and try to pinpoint the reasons
why. Chances are, you are focusing on the goal of
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 17
impressing others rather than expressing your
desired idea.
2. Do the complex parts you have written add
anything to the music that a less complex part
wouldn’t add? If so, what do they add? If not, how
can you alter your music (or compromise) to make
it more accessible while still retaining the
expressive intention you originally desired?
For example, you could be writing a solo section for
an instrument that uses fast, technical passages.
Let’s say you listen to it and decide that you like
the speed, but the solo lacks direction as a whole
because it never slows down to emphasize any
specific notes. You could change focus by trying to
cut back a little on the speed of the solo in order to
focus more heavily on giving it a clear direction
with more recognizable/sing-able melodies.
3. Are you trying to say too much at once?
For example, a lot of songwriters try to use their
knowledge of music theory in their music.
Unfortunately, they have not learned how to
connect the abstract “theory” aspect with emotion.
This gives them the ability to write chords with
complicated harmony; however their music does
not accomplish much because they do not
understand how to express themselves with it. One
way to avoid this is to continually associate specific
emotions with chords and other musical ideas as
you use them. To quickly be able to express your
specific emotions with music, create a list or chart
that contains the different musical ideas you have
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 18
used to make music. Over time, this list will build
and you will start to notice familiar characteristics
in different ideas. Additionally, by simply writing
this down, you will greatly increase your ability to
retain them in your conscious mind. This will enable
you to write more expressively off the top of your
head, giving you less moments of “writer’s block”.
‘
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 19
Reason #4:
Your Melodies Are Arranged In An
Awkward Manner
One of the first things that musicians write in a
song is a melody. A great melody can be one of the
most memorable aspects in a song, and as such
holds a lot of value in the eyes of a songwriter.
That said, if the melody you are creating in your
music does not quite sound how you want it to, you
may be making one of several common songwriting
missteps.
Things you might be thinking to yourself if you are
having this problem in your songwriting:
• “…this doesn’t sound right.”
• “…the melody feels rushed”
• “…the melody feels unbalanced”
Why does this happen?
Although there are several musical causes to why
your melodies may not sound how you want them
to, your choice of ‘how’ you write songs can also
have a major affect on your results. For instance,
awkwardly phrased melodies are a common
occurrence if:
a) You have not gained at least a decent
understanding of how notes, scales, chords,
instruments or rhythms will sound (and feel) in any
given context ‘before’ they are played.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 20
b) You use a songwriting program or sequencer as
one of your primary songwriting tools.
Musicians who use this method to create songs are
in the habit of programming in note
rhythms/scales/chords first, and then listening to
them to see if they sound good. When combined
with other songwriting strategies, this method is
not a ‘bad’ method at all. In fact, it is quite useful
as a learning exercise if you do not know how the
rhythm (eighth notes, triplets, etc) or pitch of the
notes will sound ahead of time (this is the case for
many songwriters). It is also great for
experimenting with new virtual instruments to get
a feel for them…
How can you avoid this issue?
…With the above paragraphs in mind, this approach
often leads to awkward combinations of rhythms
and pitch that can have a very “unresolved” feeling
to them. The truth is, any rhythm or pitch can be
creatively made to sound interesting and engaging
if you make enough effort. However, most
songwriters who program notes into software or
sequencers with hopes that something good will
‘pop out’ at them, do not know what they ‘want’ to
hear yet. As a result, they may end up writing
melodies with some of the following characteristics:
1. Lack of balance due to one part of the melody
being much longer than the other. This is a matter
of lack of an understanding of structure (as
described earlier in this eBook). Most melodies
have a balance in terms of length. Consider how
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 21
many measures long you want your melody to be
ahead of time and whether or not you want it to be
made of a basic question and answer structure –
The first half of melody ends in a way that feels like
it needs to be resolved and the second half ends in
a way that feels resolved - or perhaps a melody
that builds continuously to a climax (or any
combination of the two types).
2. “Rushed” feeling rhythm because the most
important parts of the melody end abruptly on a
weak beat (or in between beats) or are not held out
long enough to give the idea a nice melodic feel.
This can also create an awkward transition between
two different musical ideas/melodies. To help
remedy this, work on giving your melodies a “sing-
able” melody. To do this, sing the melody you want
to make out loud (or in your head at least) ahead
of time, and try to recreate it in your songwriting.
3. Notes that sound “wrong”. This usually happens
when notes are used from a different scale/key.
However, the root problem for “wrong” sounding
notes is that they are not resolved to “good”
sounding notes and are used in isolation without
any identifiable purpose. In other words, it sounds
more like you didn’t know what you were doing
than you were trying to make the music sound
unique or tense. Any time you use notes in a
melody that are from a different scale/key when
compared to the rest of the music (or chords being
played below the melody), keep in mind how you
will resolve the notes to balance out a feeling of
tension and relaxation. Look for notes in the key or
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 22
scale you are using for your song that are close by
the out of key (chromatic) notes you are using.
Also consider how you are emphasizing these notes
based on how long they are being held out and if
they are on a strong beat or a weak beat.
A lot of times, musicians write music mostly at
random by simply selecting a single note rhythm
(such as continuous eighth notes) and entering in a
scale pattern or sequence. Although you can still
get good ideas from this, consider using a
combination of songwriting strategies to improve
your results. For example, try writing ‘some’ of
your melody with your instrument or by singing it
and ‘some’ of it by programming it into your music
software. By playing your instrument or singing to
write a melody, you will naturally come up with
different ideas based on certain patterns you are
used to. When combined with the more “random”
approach used in sequencing/programming, you
can get the best of both worlds.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 23
Reason #5:
Your Chords Do Not Flow Well Together
If you are having trouble specifically with getting
the chords in your song to sound good together,
you are likely inexperienced in terms of connecting
notes/chords to ideas or are unaware of several
methods that great composers have used over the
centuries to give their chords smooth and flowing
qualities.
Things you might be thinking to yourself if you are
having this problem in your songwriting:
• “…these chords don’t sound right together.”
• “…these chords don’t feel smooth when they
transition to one another.”
• “…this chord doesn’t feel how I want it to.”
Why does this happen?
There are generally two things that cause the
chords in your music to sound out of place or
awkward:
1. A misunderstanding of what chords really ‘are’ in
the context of writing good music.
2. Little or no understanding for how chords work
together to express ideas and emotions.
How can you avoid this issue?
If you lack understanding for how chords work, you
probably think with the mindset that chords are
merely chunks of notes that you can plug in here
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 24
and there to make music. This mindset is severely
limiting for both your musical expression and your
ability to write high quality music. Instead of using
this mindset, focus on treating every note in the
chords you choose as its own separate melody. By
zooming into a detailed level and following the
‘melody’ created by each note, you gain much
more control over the direction of your music as a
whole. Additionally, you will benefit from learning
how to smoothly lead one note to the next.
Generally speaking, learning how to smoothly move
from one chord to the next is considered to be the
sign of “good” songwriting ability. This topic is
expansive, but here are a few basic ideas that you
can use whenever you write chords:
1. Focus on moving from one note to the next by
either a half step or whole step whenever possible.
Whenever different musical lines make large
“leaps” (moving by more than a step) from note to
note, it can sometimes sound erratic and
undesirable to our ears. Moving by short distances
from note to note has the affect of a smooth
transition when we listen to it and is more pleasing
(in general). As you are writing, think of how each
single note in your current chord moves to a closer
note in the next chord. This will put you into the
mindset of treating notes in your chords as
individual melodies.
2. If two chords contain some of the same notes,
repeat those notes whenever switching between
these chords. For example, if you are playing an A
minor chord (notes = A C E) followed by an E minor
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 25
chord (notes = E G B), find the E note that is being
played and repeat it in both chords. So if you are
playing a piano part in your song that contains an A
minor chord followed by an E minor chord, find the
exact “E” note (white key) that is shared between
the two chords and repeat it for both.
3. Don’t use only chords in root position, use a
combination of root position chords and
“inversions” to add depth to your music and allow
for smoother transitions between chords. For
example, rather than writing a series of chords that
goes like this…
C – Am – F – C
…you could use inversions (also “slash chords”) to
keep the same lowest note throughout and give
continuity to the music:
C – Am/C (C is lowest note played) – F/C – C.
In order to make your chords both smooth and
highly expressive, you will need to also understand
the emotions that different chords and chord
combinations create. Most people would simply say
that you must “learn about music theory” in order
to do this; the truth is you learn a lot on this
matter without even cracking open a single
textbook! You see, there are a lot of musicians who
learn all about music theory but still cannot write
great songs because they only understand the
abstract “theory” of music. This is useful
information to know, but you can really only take
advantage of it if you understand how to integrate
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 26
it together with the “non-theoretical” emotional
aspect of music. Surely, there have been a lot of
great songwriters who have written incredible
music in spite of the fact that they did not go to
university for music nor study music theory. (…I
would still highly recommend that you learn about
music theory as it is a vital tool for anyone who
wants to improve the quality of their music.)
That said, a very basic but effective way to improve
your ability to write chords that express the ideas
and emotions you want them to is to take note of
how different combinations feel. Here is an exercise
you can use to do this:
1. Choose one major key and one minor key of the
same name (example A minor and A major, E
minor and E major, etc.)
2. Observe the order of the chords in each scale.
Example:
A minor =
Am (1st chord in key)
Bdim (2nd chord in key)
C (3rd chord in key)
Dm (4th chord in key)
Em (5th chord in key)
F (6th chord in key)
G (7th chord in key)
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 27
Next, take 3 - 5 chords from each scale and
arrange these chords into 5 groups with 5 different
variations, like this:
Selected chords from key of ‘A minor’: Am CM Em
FM
Group one: Am Em C F
Group two: Am C Em F
Group three: C F Em Am
Group four: Em Am Em F Em Am
Group five: F C Am Em Am
(…repeat for major key)
Observe which number that goes with the chords
you chose. Example: Chord 1 in A minor is Am,
chord 2 is Bdim, chord 3 is C, etc. Match up each
number to each chord.
3. Finally, play each individual group several times
to get a feel for the emotional qualities that each
chord conveys when moving from one to another
and as a whole with the group. Before moving on
to play the next group of chords, write down the
emotional qualities you noticed. As you do this,
also pay attention to the number from the previous
step. By doing this, you can quickly identify how
any combination of chords will sound in a basic
major or minor key by simply understanding how
“chord 1” feels, how “chord 1” moving to “chord 6”
feels, and so forth.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 28
4. To add more interest to the chords in this
exercise, add in a chord from a different key to
your groups. For example, in A minor you could
add in the chord “Bb major”. In this case, you can
refer to it as a b2 chord in A minor since you
lowered the note of the 2nd chord. Songwriters
often use notes from different keys to add ‘flavor’
to their music, and you can greatly expand your
music by experimenting with notes from “outside”
of the key. Also, as you do this, make sure to keep
track of whether the new chord is higher or lower
than another chord in the key (as mentioned
above). This way you will have a solid system for
remembering how different chord combinations
sound. The more you take time to connect chords
with emotions, the easier it will be to quickly find
the chords you want to use for your songs in any
given situation.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 29
Reason #6:
You Lack Knowledge Of How Different
Instruments Are Used
In order to become a complete songwriter, you will
need to learn how to write for not just your own
primary instrument, but for many others. Until you
gain an understanding of how various instruments
are (intended to be) played, you will be very
limited while trying to write music for them.
Things you might be thinking to yourself if you are
having this problem in your songwriting:
• “…how do I write music for X instrument?”
• “…I don’t know how instrument X is supposed
to be played.”
Why does this happen?
If you are accustomed to writing music for only one
instrument (likely the instrument you play well),
you might have a hard time writing music for other
instruments. This can be due to not understanding
the different techniques available to other
instruments, the general way they are used or how
to get the best sound out of the natural structure of
the instrument. This leads to music that may
contain good ideas, but ultimately is not as good as
it could be because it lacks the depth needed to
make each instrument stand out on its own using
high quality songwriting. A great example of this
could be guitar players who have great guitar skills,
but when they sit down to make a song, it contains
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 30
very bland drum or bass parts that function mostly
as “filler” parts in the song rather than well-written
ideas that increase the quality of the music as a
whole.
How can you avoid this issue?
If you are unsure about how to write great music
with a certain instrument, it will highly beneficial
for you to listen to songs that contain that
instrument and analyze how the musicians use it.
You will often notice many nuances that you didn’t
notice before while focusing intently on a specific
instrument/part in a song. It’s easy to feel like your
songs are “good enough” by simply plugging in
instruments to play parts in a very general
manner; however, the more you focus on bringing
out the unique qualities of the instrument, the
more it will stand out on its own (rather than
simply being a part of the background or filler) and
make your music better as a whole unit.
One common songwriting mistake is to write parts
for an instrument in a way that doesn’t make sense
in terms of how the instrument is actually used. For
instance, consider how it would feel if you wrote a
vocal part for a singer with a ‘bass’ singing range
that consisted of all high notes. It might sound
strange (even unintentionally funny); and by doing
this, you are not taking advantage of the natural
build of the instrument (in this case the singers
vocal cords). If you want your music to be of high
quality, take the time to research ‘how’ the
instruments you are writing for are used in order to
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 31
get the most out of the way they are naturally
built. That said, make it your focus to learn the
subtleties of every instrument that you want to
write songs with. For example, if you want to write
rock music, research the techniques and styles of
musicians who excel on each of the typical “rock
instruments”: drums, guitar, bass, vocals,
keyboard, etc.
To do this, make a list of 5 different musicians for
each instrument, listen to how they play (while
listening, focus ONLY on their parts and not the
other parts in the music), and write down
everything you notice. As you are doing this, keep
in mind the different musical elements and how
they are being used effectively by these musicians.
A couple of questions you might ask yourself while
listening/studying these musicians are: “What
techniques do they use that are specific to their
instrument (may require a bit of extra research)?”
And “How do they use these techniques to build
and release tension or otherwise make the music
more interesting?” In addition, contact
accomplished musicians you know (or find forums
online) and ask them about their instrument, and
its appropriate use in songwriting. By doing this,
you will surely get some useful advice to consider.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 32
Reason #7:
Your Song Lyrics Lack Creativity
If you do not have a lot of experience writing lyrics
for songs, you might struggle at first when trying to
think of ideas that accurately express your
thoughts.
Things you might be thinking to yourself if you are
having this problem in your songwriting:
• “…these lyrics don’t make any sense.”
• “…I don’t like the way these lyrics sound.”
• “…My lyrics sound cheesy”
Why does this happen?
If you are a songwriter who has more experience
as a musician rather than a lyrics writer, may have
a lot of excitement for writing songs… yet dread the
process of lyric writing because you are not
accustomed to writing out your ideas in the form of
written words or poetry. This lack of experience
and the anxiety around it frequently leads
songwriters to procrastinate on lyric writing. This
slows down their progress for becoming more
complete songwriters and often slows down the
process of completing an entire song. As a result,
some people resort to using short cut clichés and
end up feeling unsatisfied or embarrassed with the
lyrics they write. Some people may even be too
embarrassed to write lyrics because they are not
used to expressing themselves so openly in this
manner.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 33
How can you avoid this issue?
The topic of writing better song lyrics is vast (and
could take up a book on its own), but here are a
few easy and basic solutions you can use to
improve the quality of your lyrics:
1. You feel like your lyrics are too cliché or lack
creativity.
Like with any ‘wrong’ notes in music, you can make
any lyric work well to express your thoughts if you
put enough effort into it. The key to using cliché
lyrics or lyrics that are ‘less conventional’ is to
make it work with who you are as a person.
Consider the things that are most important to you,
things you talk about to others, ‘how’ you talk to
others in everyday speech and the general
vocabulary you use when trying to get a point
across. If you feel that the lyrics you are writing
are congruent with who you are, you will be much
more satisfied with them in the end. If the lyrics
you write don’t match up with the idea of how you
would like to express yourself, look for 3 – 5
alternate ways to express the same idea and try it
out. You will find that there are so many variations
in speech, that your options for expressing specific
ideas are nearly endless.
2. Is it the content or the delivery?
The reason you don’t like your lyrics currently may
not be due to the lyrics themselves, but the way
you are writing them. A common example of this is
when people write lyrics by using an excessive
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 34
amount of rhyme. Under some circumstances,
rhyme is a very effective rhythmic tool for lyrics
writing; under other circumstances, it can feel as if
the songwriter is “trying too hard”. The best way to
approach this is to balance out your use of rhyme
with passages that do not include rhyming lyrics,
and instead rely more on the ‘musical’ aspects of
the song to emphasize rhythm.
3. You don’t feel like you have much to say/don’t
know what to say.
A lot of songwriters frequently feel a sense of
writer’s block when it comes to lyrics (or music for
that matter). The truth is, there is always
something to write about depending on how closely
you examine your life, experiences and emotions.
For example, consider two contrasting songwriters:
Songwriter A says to himself “I feel angry and I
want to write a song about it!”, and stops on that
point. Songwriter B says “I feel angry amd I want
to write a song about it! Someone lied to me. Why
do I feel angry? Why did they lie? What in
particular did they lie about? What would it be like
if I reacted to that person in a variety of different
ways? What causes people to lie in general? How
does lying affect relationships? How can I describe
this situation using a metaphor? etc.” In this case,
it is obvious that songwriter B when compared to
songwriter A has many more options that he can
use for the foundational basis of a song. Whenever
you are looking to write lyrics, keep this in mind
and try to keep asking yourself as many questions
as possible in order to give yourself more options.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 35
Additionally, the more you try to gain new
experiences and learn, the more you have to write
about. Although you can become very inspired to
write lyrics based on your emotions alone; your
ability both create emotion and write structured
and articulate lyrics that express interesting ideas
is what will make your music truly great. Don’t
allow yourself to be satisfied with living a mundane
life of that consists only of television, video games,
internet, working, etc. If you want to write great
music/lyrics you need to continuously inspire
yourself by learning new things and gaining new
experiences. This simple, yet effective advice will
be the cornerstone of your ability to write inspiring
music. Think about it, who is going to come up with
better song lyrics, someone who is continually
learning, meeting new people, traveling and
gaining new skills or someone who stays at home
and does the same routine every day? Go out and
do new things you’ve never done before… question
the way you think now… focus on looking at your
life from different perspectives… As a general rule,
if at any point you feel uncomfortable trying
something new in your life, that’s good because it
means you are making progress!
As a final note, I encourage you to use a journal
(yes, actual write down your thoughts!). By
journaling on a consistent basis, you will sky rocket
your ability to express your ideas and emotions
through words. This will translate into an ability to
write better and more expressive song lyrics and
music in general.
© Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc. Page 36
So you’ve finished reading this eBook? Here is
the next step to take right now…
Learn how to transform all of your thoughts, ideas
and emotions into music that expresses your own
unique songwriting style with this powerful
songwriting course.
This e-book is under international copyright protection. It cannot be copied, sold, rented, loaned, or distributed in any way whatsoever, without written
consent of Guitar Mastery Solutions, Inc.
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