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Songwriting For Beginners: ‘Just Enough’ Music Theory

(This is an article in the series “Songwriting For Beginners”. We are filing the series under the Songwriting Basics category.)
Question: How do you stop a guitarist from playing?
Answer: Put music in front of him.

That’s me. I can’t read music and I doubt I ever will. However, over the last three years, I’ve learned just enough […]

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Songwriting For Beginners: Making Your Song Stand Out

(This is an article in the series “Songwriting For Beginners”. We are filing the series under the Songwriting Basics category.)
Great beginning and great ending
One of the first things I learned was the importance of focusing on the beginning and ending of the song. A great beginning will get folks wanting more; a great ending will […]

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Songwriting For Beginners: Song Structure

(This is an article in the series “Songwriting For Beginners”. We are filing the series under the Songwriting Basics category.)
The great thing about music is that there are so many different possibile structures. The structure I focus on is American folk music. Within this category, the possibilities are still endless, but hopefully I can give […]

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Songwriting For Beginners: Coming Up With Song Ideas

(This is an article in the series “Songwriting For Beginners”. We are filing the series under the Songwriting Basics category.)
There are many approaches to getting ideas for songs. Below are some that I use and recommend. The basic idea, in almost all of these approaches, is the free capture of ideas rather than starting by […]

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Songwriting For Beginners: Your first song.

(This is an article in the series “Songwriting For Beginners”. You can find more beginning articles here.)
I’ve heard so many people say, “I’ve always wanted to write a song, but never have.”
To this I say, “everyone is a songwriter, it’s just the degree of artistry that sets songwriters apart.” At age six, my daughter […]

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