Tag Archives: Harmony

Some Observations On Why, “Call Me Maybe” works so well, and Tools You Can Use In Your Songwriting

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The biggest song in the country right now is “Call Me Maybe.”  It is the fun, pop summer song of 2012, written and performed by Carly Rae Jepsen. It is #1 on the Hot 100 chart right now.  I first started hearing it when I was in Nashville a couple months ago. It started to explode across the airwaves and dance clubs everywhere. It is one of those songs that is infectious and gets stuck in your head. Earworms, as some call them.  I have been listening to it and analyzing it and finding some cool things in the songwriting structure that make it work. So I wanted to give some of my observations on qualities that you and I can use in writing our next ‘hit.’

One of the big things that sticks in your head when you hear this song is the melody. The melody is very catchy and uses one of the most powerful and essential concepts when songs become hits and that is contrast. Each song section, Verse, PreChorus, Chorus and Bridge all have contrasting melodic motifs happening. There is also some cool music theory happening as well.

Melodic Contrast: The verses – - The verses have a nearly static melodic contour that is nearly static. The verse hovers around the B note, which in this song is the 3rd degree of the G major scale. This is a trick that many songwriters use in the verse, and that is to not use the tonic note much in the verse. The tonic note is the G and it is not used much if at all in the verses. They save the tonic note for when the chorus comes around. Also these verses use rather quick fast notes, which makes it sound much more conversational. This is also a very useful and common trait of hit songs. When the prechorus comes around the melody bumps up and starts on the D note above the B in the verse, and the melodic contour contrasts to the verse because it becomes a descending contour and the phrases go down until the last line of the prechorus that builds up to the chorus. Also the notes are just a bit longer than the verse, which creates more contrast. Again this section only briefly hits the G note or the tonic. What not going to the tonic does is build up some tension, because our ears want to ‘go home’ or go to tonic, and it doesn’t happen until we get to the chorus. When the chorus comes in the notes get shorter and more rhythmic again, which contrasts to the prechorus. The melodic contour now becomes more zig zag by going down, coming up and the resolving to the tonic. It brings us home and releases all of the tension that was building in the verses and prechorus. It feels good and satisfies some of our subconscious expectations. The melody of the entire song is mostly G major pentatonic, which as I have mentioned in other posts is one of the most powerful and easy scales to use. When the song gets to the bridge it stays in the pentatonic scale, and still does a zig zag by going down and coming back up to the G, but the melody is different than the chorus and verse, and also just as catchy as the chorus, in fact at the end of the song, they repeat the bridge as if it is a chorus variation. Neat stuff happening in the melody of this song.

Lyrical Contrast and Structure: Just because it is simple doesn’t mean stupid :) – - The lyrics of this song actually follow many of the concepts that I have mentioned on this blog in the past. One of the big things that I noticed and loved was that the song verses do a great job of being decriptive and set up the Who, When, and Where. The 1st verse is very visual. Usually songs should be visual and have concrete details in the 1st verse, then go to more emotional and ‘big picture’ in the chorus.  This song talks about a wishing well/fountain, it sets the scene that the singer is throwing wishes at night. Words like kisses, pennies, dimes, etc really are visual words that paint a picture in our heads. Then when you get to the prechorus it talks more about the night and talks about wind, ripped jeans, skin, etc. Again more visual pictures, concrete images. Then when you get to the chorus, the emotional WHY of the song is exposed. It is still visual because we know the singer is giving her number to someone she just met, but it is not quite as visual and basically wraps up the song…..I might be crazy, but here is my phone number….call me….maybe?  In the second verse it explains kind of what happens next. The singer is falling is love, but the other person is taking time in actually calling back. One thing that is cool and is becoming a common trend in music now is the repeated chorus. The chorus repeats itself, so it gets stuck in our heads even more. Some contrast to keep it interesting is added by doubling the vocal track and adding additional drum rhythms and a synthy guitar-type part. This is an effective way to use repitition and still keep energy going. Also the last few lines are not the same as the first time around. Same melody, but different lyrics. The next part of the lyrics that is cool in this song is the rhyme scheme. Rhyme is very important in songs, it gives us sign posts and tells us where to start and stop. It also is a way to create contrast in the lyrics and change things up so they do not get boring.  Here are the rhyme schemes that I think are happening in this song:

Verse: AAABCCCB   8 line section.

Prechorus: AAAX   4 line section (contrasts to the 8 in the verse)

Chorus: XAXAXAXA  8 lines that repeat twice – same number of lines as the verse but different rhyme scheme. (again contrast)

Bridge: XAAAXAAA  8 line section, but this rhyme scheme is almost like the opposite of the scheme in the verse, which creates lots of contrast.

2 of the most powerful tools you have when writing lyrics is the rhyme scheme and number of lines. Both can be used to create contrast and prosody, so your song stays interesting and tells the correct story.

As you know writing songs is a mix of art and craft……know how and inspiration. These have been just a few observations that I have made while listening to and studying, ‘Call Me Maybe.’  Let me know if you have any observations of your own, or if you have any questions on the ideas I talked about. ~~ Chad

Songwriting Exercise: Songwriting Assignment

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If I sit and wait for the inspiration bug to bite me, I am usually waiting a long time. That means I am not writing very often, and for me that is not good, because I am not practicing the craft at that point. I am not growing. So how do I start to attract the bug instead of waiting for it? One way I find works for me is to give myself detailed songwriting assignments. These assignments are basically a list of parameters that I need to fit my song into. I make structural decisions before I even start writing the song. I think I picked this habit up from doing songwriting assignments for Berklee College of Music. Each week we would have certain concepts we were learning about, and we would have to use them on purpose.  Now my personal song assignments end up being very similar.

So this week I am giving myself and assignment that I will share here. I will be working on it  this week and I will post a demo of the song when I get it done. If you want, you can try the assignment for yourself and post YOUR results here too. Would be great to see what you come up with!

My Assignment This week: Write a Song with These Parameters

*notice how I try to contrast parameters in each section

Topic: Will be inspired by what the chords make me feel like

Structure: Verse/Chorus/Verse/Chorus/Bridge/Chorus

Verse: 6 lines – rhyme scheme AABCCB

Chorus: 5 lines – T – - – T (T is title line, – is line not the title) – Rhyme Scheme ABABA

Bridge: 4 lines Rhyme scheme XXAA

Verse: C minor or C Aeolian mode – 1 chord per 2 measures  1:2

Chorus: Ab Lydian mode – 1 chord per 1 measure 1:1

Bridge: Bb Mixolydian Mode – decide harmonic rhythm later

Verse: Melody starts after the downbeat

Chorus: Melody starts before the downbeat

Bridge: – Melody starts on the downbeat

Verse: Mostly 8th note patterns in melody

Chorus: Half Note based melody

Bridge: Quarter note based melody

So it looks like alot, and it may be for someone not used to making these decisions before writing songs, but it is not quite as complex as you may think. So give it a shot. I am going to be working on my song this week and will post the results on my blog.

If you have any questions on this, please ask, I will do my best to answer each one.

~~ Chad

 

Free Songwriting Lesson/Coaching Session

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People usually understand the idea of a songwriting class, or seminar…but I find that, at first, my clients are a little confused by 1 on 1 songwriting lessons.  They understand piano and guitar lessons, but maybe not quite songwriting lessons…..Doesn’t everyone know how to write songs? You just write.   Well….yes and no.  We all have been listening to songs since our parents played or sang us lullabies.  Songs are not in short supply. We hear them all the time. We know what great songs sound like, so we can write them, right?  You do hear them, but do you really know what is going on mechanically with the lyrics, melody and harmony that make it a great song?

In my songwriting lessons, it is my goal to share with you the knowledge and know-how to write better songs than you have ever written.  Songs that people not only like, but LOVE. Songs that connect and get people emotionally….and maybe even financially invested in you. (Insert smiley faces and dollars signs)

How can I teach that? Well in my lessons, I break down songwriting concepts into very basic and fundamental theories and ideas. Some of those concepts are hidden in plain sight, we hear them subconsciously and don’t really know what is happening….but what if you DID know what was happening and could do it on purpose? THAT is what songwriting lessons are about. We will look at your current writing….or maybe you haven’t written yet, but want to know how. We will break it into very simple, yet powerful chunks and nurture your creative songwriter.

So right now I am offering anyone who emails me, and lives in the Minneapolis or the Twin Cities area a free 1 hour songwriting lesson/coaching session. Yes, I said, if you live in Minneapolis, I will meet with you in-person and give you a free 1 hour lesson/session. That is worth $60!  —- WAIT….but what if I DON’T live in Minneapolis?  Well for you guys, I am offering a free song critique. I will critique one of your songs and give you some pointers on how to make it better. That is a $20 value….FREE.

All you need to do is EMAIL ME.  Also be sure to follow this site and sign up to get my email updates….I am working on booking some new songwriting classes, workshops, and I am working on some new songwriting E-Books!

~ Chad

Technology Changes, Craft is steady – So Learn the Craft of Songwriting

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Hendrix didn’t invent the electric guitar, but man did he know how to make music with it….
How we make and record songs is always changing. But what makes a great song has not really changed much over time. Great songs are made of memorable melodies, harmony and lyrics. Whether that happens through an acoustic guitar, or a computer, it kind of is the same thing that happens between the music and the listener.

So my thought on this is that if you study the craft of songwriting, you can apply to ideas and techniques to no matter what technology comes along. So keep studying lyric writing, music theory, writing songs, the craft, etc. Then make some great songs using what ever technology is available at the time. Technology changes quickly, but real craft does not. Do you agree?

~~ Chad

MN Association of Songwriters presentation this Wednesday!

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Hey Everyone,

I wanted to let you know that I am going to be presenting this week at the Wednesday night meeting of the MN Association of Songwriters. We meet at the McNally Smith College of Music in St Paul, MN from 7pm to 10pm.  This week I will be doing a presentation on how to use hit songs to get ideas for you own songs.  We will look at Lyrics, Melody and Harmony and many ways that you can analyze hit songs to get tools that work. It is this Wed April 25, 2012 at 7pm. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Hope to see you there….if you are in the area :)

~ Chad

Using the Same Chord Progression in Your Verse and Chorus

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Have you written a song that has the same chord progession in the verse and chorus? I have. So have many hit songwriters.  Using the same chord progression in the verses and choruses is a solid option when writing songs, but you have to be careful. You have to insert contrast in other aspects of the song, so it doesn’t get boring.

So let’s look at ways that you can make a cool song using the same chord progression in the verse and chorus.

Let’s say our progression is the popular, I, IV, VIm, V progression. For those of you that are not familiar with the roman numerals, it is the 1, 4, 6, 5 degrees of whatever scale or key you are playing in. For example in the key of C, the chords would be C – F – Am – G.  So that is the progression we will use: C-F-Am-G.

One trick I like to use is to play with the harmonic rhythm of the progression between sections. Harmonic rhythm is how frequently the chords change. I would say the most common harmonic rhythm is one chord for every measure, or bar. In 4/4 time, that means the chord would change every 4 beats.

So let’s say our verse looks like this:

||C   |F    |Am   |G   ||    *each vertical line is a measure line. This example is one chord per 4 beats….

One option for our chorus would be to change the harmonic rhythm to 2 chords per measure. This increases the harmonic rhythm and adds some forward energy, and most importantly, contrast. So the same progression would now be…

||C F |Am G |C F |Am G ||    - – Same chords, but it adds just enough contrast and energy to work.

You could also keep the chords and rhythm the same, but you would then need to create even more contrast in your lyrics and melody. We will talk about melodic contrast later. Back to chords…

If your song has a bridge, you would probably want to start it on chords you haven’t started on before. You could still use a combo of the same chords from the verse and chorus….

Like maybe ||Am  |C  |G  |F  ||

This is a fun, simple way to add harmonic contrast to your songs. The key, as always is to make sure you change things up in each section, so your song takes us on a journey and doesn’t get dull. There are other ways, but I will talk about those in future posts. Follow this blog to get emails when new articles are posted.

Let me know if you try this out….how does it work for you?

~ Chad

Contrast: One of the Most Important Songwriting Tools

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Have you ever listened to someone give a speech and their voice stayed at the same volume and tone the entire time? I bet you probably tuned out and started thinking about laundry, dinner, sports…..everything except what the person was talking about. They probably had good things to say, but how they said it pretty much killed the hope of it connecting with people.

This can happen in songwriting too. Sometimes we all write songs that make our listeners nod off. How can we avoid making people bored? One word…CONTRAST.  But how does this apply to songwriting?  It is probably one of the most important parts of writing songs that keep people listening over and over. Listen to your favorite songs, I bet you find that each section contrasts to the other….they are different.

Contrast bascially means, “opposite” or “not alike.”  People get bored when there is no variation, or we hear the same things over and over. Many new songwriters write songs that have basically the same note ranges in their verses and choruses. These songs lose the audience really by the time the chorus is over. People want to hear different things, they want to take a trip through the song. So one obvious way songwritings can achieve this is to write songs that vary in melodic note. range. Make your verses the lowest notes in your song, set the floor. Then your prechorus should be a little higher….the chorus higher….then the bridge even higher. That is just one way to create contrast that helps your songs.  Songs are made up of Lyrics, Melody and Harmony, and there are ways to create contrast using all three of those things. It gives us writers lots of options and ways to keep our listeners happy. Be sure to follow this blog, because over time I will be diving deep into each part and showing you how to build in contrast.

Contrast is also very helpful when you get stuck writing a song. For example, let’s say you wrote a verse that had 4 lyric lines, mostly short lines with fast notes, and was about describing someone or somewhere. Maybe you didn’t know where to go next….well the key to using contrast is to look at what you HAVE…..then do the OPPOSITE, or contrasting options to it.  In this example, you would try writing your chorus with more lines, slower, higher notes with long lines, and focusing on feelings instead of descriptions. This contrast gives the listener a break from the verse, and takes them away just long enough for it to feel good when the 2nd verse comes around.  So even though contrast is essential….so is repitition. If every song section was completely different, it would sound like a messy hodge podge. Listeners like familiarity too…..Kinda like we all love going on vacation, but we like coming home. But staying home all the time gets boring.

 

New Songwriting Class Starting in May

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Last night I wrapped up a group of song classes that I taught for the St Louis Park, MN Community Education Program. It was super fun for me, and I think the people in the class enjoyed it as well. We covered some pretty in depth stuff about songwriting. We focused on Lyrics, Melody and Harmony, and finding ways to use techniques to get the most out of your writing. It was every Tuesday night for 3 weeks in a row. Such a great time! Nice workshop environment.

Great news! I am going to be teaching another block of classes! This time around it is going to be 3 Thursday nights from 7 to 9pm on May 3, 10 and 17!  They have not started sign ups yet, but when they post the class info, I will post a link on here so you can get the details and sign up. I would love to have you in my class. Songwriting is such a great craft!

~ Chad

How to Use Hit Songs to Write Your Own Songs

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If you want to write songs that are commercially viable, or at least in the realm of mainstream popular songs, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you sit down to write. One way to write some pretty sweet songs is to really study songs that are already hits. Take what works for them, and incorporate those traits into your own songs.

First of all, using Hit Songs as a guide is not stealing or copyright infringement. There are qualities of songs that are not covered by copyright. Those things are Title, Chord Progressions and song structure. You are NOT allowed to copy lyrics and melody.

So how can you use a Hit Song to write your next hit? Follow these simple, yet powerful tips.

Step 1: What is the structure? — Is the song Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, etc. Listen to the hit song and write down each separate section. How many measures are there in each section?
You can use this structure as a blue print for your song.

Step 2: What is the Rhyme Scheme? — Write down the lyrics, or find them online. What kind of Rhyme Scheme does the song have? The most common way to show scheme is applying a letter to each rhyme sound. An example would be ABAB, or AABB, or XAXA. “X” means the line does not rhyme. Also put a “T” for each line that includes the Title. Pay attention. Does the rhyme scheme change in each section?
Try to use the rhyme scheme for your song.

Step 3: Use the Chord Progression. — You cannot copyright a chord progression…So if you are stuck and looking for a way to write your next song, start with the chords from the song you are analyzing. What chords are used in each section? Where do the chords change…Every measure? Inside the measure? Every Two measures? Do the chords change in each section? How do they change? What does it sound like if you transpose the key? Now you can change a few chords, change the rhythm, or leave them as is….BUT be sure when you write the melody you do not copy the original song.

Step 4: Analyze the melodic contour. — What does the melodic pitch look like in each section? Does the chorus start higher than the verse? Does the bridge go even higher? Do the melodic lines go up or go down….do they do both? Pay attention to what the melodies are doing. Do not copy the melody, but you can try out the same contour and how the ranges move.

By analyzing each of these categories in hit songs, you will soon learn what makes these songs tick…AND the best part is that your songs will get better and better!

Here is an example of what your song plan may look like, feel free to use this for a song, if you wish. This can be a guide for you as you analyze your favorite hit songs.

Verse: 8 bars = chords: ||G |em7 |C |D || x 2
melody contour has lines that mostly go down
A
A
B
B

CHORUS: 8 bars = chords: ||Am7 Bm7 |Cmaj7 ||x4
Melody goes up
T
X
X
T

2nd Verse same as 1st

Chorus

Bridge: 8 bars = chords: ||D |Bm7 |am7 |D || x2
Melody goes up higher yet
A
A
B
B

Repeat Chorus

Have fun analyzing and writing!! Let me know if this helps you at all.

~ Chad

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