HƯỚNG DẪN SÁNG TÁC NHẠC (SONG WRITING)

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All original music samples within this book are the exclusive copyrighted property of Pantomime
Music Publications, except where otherwise noted within the text.

Copyright © 2005 by Pantomime Music Publications
P.O. Box 31177, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3K 5Y1
All rights reserved. Printed in Canada. This book is protected by Copyright. Permission must be
obtained in writing from Pantomime Music Publications for the use of any original text or musical
materials contained within this publication. Permission must be obtained from the publisher prior
to any reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise.

THIS IS NOT A FREE EBOOK.
This book, "The Essential Secrets of Songwriting", is sold only through Pantomime
Music Publications. If you purchased or received it elsewhere, you should be aware
that you are in possession of stolen property; it has been given away illegally and the
author has not received payment.

ISBN 0-9738946-0-1

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A MESSAGE FROM GARY EWER…

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PREFACE

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The Desire to be Creative – It’s Human… It’s You
When Good Songs Go Bad
Listen!

CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION TO WRITING MUSIC

10
12
13

16

What’s Good Music?
What Makes Good Form?
What Makes a Good Melody?
What Makes Good Harmony?
What Makes a Good Lyric?
What Makes a Good Hook?

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21
22
25
27
28

Is There a Composer in Me?

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
What Do You Need to be a Songwriter?

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29
30

Let’s Get Started!
Make a Demo Recording – Yes, already!

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32

Chapter 1 SUMMARY

35

CHAPTER 2- YOUR MUSIC FROM THE INSIDE

36

Learn From the Greats
The Success of Great Writers

37
37

Form
How Important is Form?
Good Form Means Good Design

Good Form Can’t be Accidental
Song Components Defined

39
39
40
41
43

Getting to Know Your Song

45

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Chapter 2 SUMMARY

CHAPTER 3- DESIGNING A SONG

48

49

The Blueprint
The Contrast Principle of Composition
Macro Forms
Energy – the Forgotten Formal Element
Micro Forms

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50
52
60
63

Micro Versus Macro

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Chapter 3 SUMMARY

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CHAPTER 4- HARMONY

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The Chord Muddle
Chord Progressions – A Mystery No Longer

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72

I. Chord Basics
The Basic Triads of Any Major Key

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78

II. How One Chord Moves to Another Chord
The V-I Progression
Why Some Progressions Work and Others Don’t
Making Good Two-Chord Progressions
When Progressions Sound Muddled

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79
79
82
85

What About Minor Keys?

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III. Integrating Balance When Building a Longer Progression
Building Progressions
Incorporating Balance
Harmonic Rhythm

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93
95
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IV. Expanding Your Chord Vocabulary
i. Adding a 7th to a V-Chord
ii. Modal Mixtures
iii. Secondary Dominant Chords

iv. Suspensions
v. Inversions

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100
104
106
110
112

Key Changes

115
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Don’t Go Changin’… Without a Reason
i. Half-step-upward modulation
ii. Miscellaneous Modulation (more than a whole tone)
Chapter 4 SUMMARY

CHAPTER 5-MELODY AND LYRIC

115
116
118
120

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Melodic Energy
How “Yesterday” Works
Don’t Write Counterintuitively
What is Falsetto and Tessitura?

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124
126
127

Writing Good Melodies
Getting Notes in the Right Place
Verse-Chorus Text Design
Song Sample
Shaping a Melody

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128
130
131
134

Creating a Melody by Layering Ideas
Let’s Write a Song

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Other Ways to Compose
The Text-First Method

The Rhythm/Beat-First Method

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143
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More About Lyrics
Too Many Words
A Good Lyric Isn’t Necessarily Deep

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145
147

Balancing Lyrics and Melody
The Balance of “Hotel California”
Dealing with Unremarkable Lyrics

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The Bridge

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Chapter 5 SUMMARY

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CHAPTER 6- THE HOOK
A Good Hook
Hook and Motif
Musical Lubricant
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159
160
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The Hook as a Basis for Your Song
The Myth of the Hook

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165

Recognizing a Hook

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Chapter 6 SUMMARY

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CHAPTER 7- INSPIRATION

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The Role of Inspiration
Misunderstanding Inspiration
The Steps to Honing Your Songwriting Craft

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171
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Chapter 7 SUMMARY

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CHAPTER 8- THE WORLD BEYOND COMPOSING – NOW
WHAT?
178
The Most Important Principle of All

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And now… what?

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Getting Your Song Ready… A Brief Tutorial
Copyright
Publishing
Mechanical Rights
Performing Rights Organizations

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184
185
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In Conclusion

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Index

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A Message From Gary Ewer…
I want to thank you for purchasing this ebook, The Essential
Secrets of Songwriting. It is the culmination of years of
thinking, researching and writing. My career as a musician
has been a rewarding mélange of job descriptions. I am a
composer, arranger, orchestrator, trumpet player, conductor
and adjudicator, as well as, of course, a teacher. I believe
that such a diverse job description has given me a unique
perspective for understanding and communicating musical
concepts. Through the process of writing this book, my CD
and song file collection has grown somewhat, as I have sought to study and compare
popular music from the 1950s through to the music of today.
I need to remind you (kindly, I hope!) that this book is not a free ebook. I am asking
that you please not give it away, or transfer it in any way to another person’s

computer. If you would like to make a hard copy of portions of it to aid your own
personal study, please do so. But the book cannot be given or sold to anyone
else, in any format.
If you would like to write me to comment on this book, or to ask a question, please
write me directly at I will do my best to reply, though
during the school year my teaching duties may keep me from being as prompt as I
would like. I can at least guarantee that I read every email that comes to me, and will
eventually reply.
Thank you for purchasing this book. Best wishes to you in all your musical endeavors!

If you acquired this ebook through channels other than via the website
secretsofsongwriting.com, Pantomime Music Publications would be very
grateful for any information you might be able to provide regarding the
transaction. Please write

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Preface

9


The Desire to be Creative – It’s
Human… It’s You
Because you are a human being reading this book, one fact can be
stated right away – YOU CAN WRITE MUSIC, no matter who you are.
This is something we’ve known about
the human race for some time now: the
ability to be creative is already there,

ready to be tapped, shaped, honed and

used. You can be a songwriter.

You want to be able not
only to write songs, but also
to do it well. There are lots
of songwriters out there,
but the vast majority,
probably at least 99%, are
not achieving any significant

“Music is a magical gift we must
nourish and cultivate… especially
now as scientific evidence proves
that an education in the arts
makes better math and science
students, enhances spatial
intelligence in newborns, and let's
not forget that the arts are a
compelling solution to teen
violence, certainly not the cause of
it!”

commercial success. That

— Michael Greene, Recording

shouldn’t really surprise us;

Academy President and CEO at the
42nd Annual Grammy Awards,
February 2000.

in the arts, most people are
working at an amateur level.
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I am a great supporter of amateur involvement in music, but it is
frustrating to me when I see very talented people who are stuck in the
amateur world. There are some really fine musicians out there, trying
to make it, trying to unlock the secrets of how to move forward in the
music business. And they are being
thwarted by circumstances within and
without of their sphere of influence. I
wonder if I just described you?
Amateur songwriters tend to look at the
entire business of songwriting as a
single-dimensional activity. It’s as if
they say, “I want to be able to write
commercially successful songs that I

The songwriting
business is a
multidimensional
world, involving two
major areas: creating
and marketing. The
marketing end of

the business will
not happen unless
you have created a
good song.

can sell to professional singers,” as if
it’s all just one big process. The songwriting business is actually a
multidimensional world, involving two major areas: creating and

marketing. The marketing end of the business will not happen unless
you have created a good song. Creating a good song is where the
process comes to a grinding halt for most people. THIS BOOK IS
GOING TO HELP YOU.

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WHEN GOOD SONGS GO BAD
It often surprises people when they discover how incredibly simple
most of the biggest songs of the past fifty years are. If you think that
songs are complicated art forms, you are about to discover one of the
most important principles of songwriting,
and why many writers’ songs might not be
working yet. It’s a principle that applies to so
much in our life – not just music: KEEP IT
SIMPLE. The biggest and best hits in the
songwriting business are songs with simple
melodies using a simple form, songs that are
easy for people to remember. Most songs in
the popular music realm use no more than five chords, often fewer.

And their melodies usually encompass only seven or eight notes, if
that!
This book is called “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting”, and that
word, “Secrets”, makes it sound like you’ll learn things that no one has
known before. But in fact, they are only secrets to those many people

who haven’t noticed what the pros have been doing. So few have
really known why the songs of the world’s best seem to work so well.
So what are the secrets? You’ll learn that form is one of the most
overlooked and essential components of a good song. You’ll learn how
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to create a verse that begs for a chorus. You’ll learn how to
contour a melody so that it makes sense. You’ll learn how to make
chord progressions work so that they don’t just sound like muddle.
And you’ll learn how to snag your audience with a hook that will
keep people humming your songs all day.

LISTEN!
If you aren’t listening to music on a daily basis, then start! Trying to
write songs without listening to the pros’ songs is like trying to draw a
picture of something you’ve never seen. If you’re really serious about
songwriting – start listening now! This book will refer to dozens of
songs and albums, all listed at the back. Most of the music can be
purchased in CD stores, on websites, or through Apple’s iTunes Store.
Listen all the time, and not just to one style of music. Let yourself
become influenced by different styles – pop, rock, jazz, country, blues,
or classical. Open your mind – let it grow!

Victimless Crime?
You’ll sometimes hear people calling the illegal downloading of music a
“victimless crime.” But is it? Always remember that getting the song
written takes time, requiring many steps to finally get it pressed on to a
CD for the awaiting pubic. Illegally acquiring the music means you are
assigning that entire process a value of $0. We know it’s illegal, but it’s
also disrespectful to the songwriter. Acquiring music legally is now a
relatively easy process, and most songs are available for download at a
cost of $0.99 per song from online services such as MSN Music Store or
Apple’s iTunes Store, to name only two.
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By listening to many genres, not just one, you will be subtly developing
your own personal writing style in a way will differentiate you from all
others. I know of people who deliberately try to limit how much music
they listen to, because they don’t want to be unduly influenced by
another songwriter. Big mistake!
Have you ever had that nagging fear that everything you write is
something that sounds familiar? And you wonder if you are simply
plagiarizing music already written by
someone else? The good news is that
you probably aren’t. But that fear is
more common in songwriters who
limit their listening experience to only
one or two favourite performers.
If you are a pop songwriter, listen to classical music. Listen to blues, or
country, or bluegrass. Even if you don’t like a particular style of music,
keep in mind that there are great songs in every genre. Great songs
are great because they work, and we need to learn why they work.

The more you listen, the more material you’ll have at your disposal.
And your musical brain will begin fusing ideas together in a way it
hasn’t really done before. The world’s best songwriters are able to
speak intelligently about many different styles and writers from many
genres.

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The best songs are a mixture of creativity and predictability.

Creativity ensures that you are writing things that no one has heard
before. Predictability ensures that you are using conventional elements
that make your song hum-able and memorable. Coming up with the
perfect balance and blend is what the successful songwriters do. It’s
what this book will help you do.
This book is for you, whether you are already a songwriter who wants
to make your songs better, or if all you have are fragments of ideas
that you want to learn how to fuse into great songs. You’re about to
discover that how you put those fragments together is what makes a
great song. And you are going to love the process!

Don’t fixate on “talent”. Fixate on writing good songs. If you get into a
system of writing good music, talent becomes a side issue. Not that
it’s not important… it’s just not worth worrying about. Think of it this
way… who’s the more “talented” artist, Monet or Rembrandt? Who
knows? And frankly, who cares?!

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Chapter 1Introduction to
Writing Music

NOTE:
Any songs mentioned in this text are listed by chapter of
appearance at the end in the Index of Song Samples. The index
includes
• copyright information
• authorship
• the performer typically associated with a given song
• the format of the recording referenced
• the recording label
• the recording title, and
• the musical concept the song demonstrates (if applicable)
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What’s Good Music?
“One good thing about
music, when it hits you,
you feel no pain.”

In his au tobiog raphy, Mark
Twa in sa id, “W agner’ s mu sic is
bet ter th an it sounds .” It’s a
fun ny way of sa ying t hat it ’s
pos sible to pla ce as much o r
mor e impo rtance on th e
str ucture of mu sic th an on the

sou nd tha t that struc ture
pro duces. And e ven th ough
“There's only two ways
to sum up music: either
it's good or it's bad. If
it's good you don't mess
about it; you just enjoy
it.”

Bob Marley

Twa in was tryin g to b e funn y,
you will meet p eople who fe el
an apprec iation for t he
arc hitect ure of certa in mus ic
whi le not actua lly en joying the
end resul t of t hat ar chitec ture –
the sou nd of it.
For the s erious songw riter, t his
can not be accep table.

Enj oyment mu st be the
Louis Armstrong

ove rridin g char acteri stic o n
whi ch we judge our mu sic. I n
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oth er wor ds, if you w rite m usic t hat sh ows a high l evel o f

int ellige nce in its c onstru ction, but t hat co nstruc tion d oes
not resul t in s omethi ng ple asing to lis ten to , who cares
about the const ruction? And while admit ting t hat be auty i s
in the ey e (or in thi s case , the
ear ) of t he beh older, this book
adh eres t o the premis e that
the sonic beaut y of t he fin al

“Great music is that which
penetrates the ear with
facility and leaves the
memory with difficulty.
Magical music never leaves
the memory.”

pro duct i s the ultima te aim in
son gwriti ng.

So what i s good music ? It i s
imp ossibl e for one pe rson t o
say that thi s pi ece of music is
goo d whil e another is bad, if
by good a nd bad we me an
Without form, music
tends to end up a
shapeless, directionless
blob.

Sir Thomas Beecham

whe ther o r not we lik e the
pie ce. On e pers on may like
cou ntry mu sic, w hile a nother
fin ds it revolt ing. O ne may
lik e a me lody be cause it is
rem inisce nt of a melo dy
hea rd in childh ood, w hile f or

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ano ther t he sam e melo dy mak es no real i mpact. For m ost
lis teners , the qualit y of a piece of mu sic de pends in lar ge
par t upon con text . I n pop mu sic, w e are more l ikely to
enj oy a p iece i f a mu sician or gr oup we happe n to l ike
per forms it. Th e song “Wild Honey Pie” i s of d ubious
qua lity, and we re it not fo r the fact t hat th e Beat les sa ng
it, we’d likely not e ven kn ow of it.
If writing good music happened by simply sticking to a formula, we’d
all be writing hit songs, and doing it daily. It is the mixture of many
different components, all working together in a way that can be best
described as “magic.” The re are aspec ts of musica l
com positi on, ho wever, that
are usual ly con sidere d a
pre requis ite fo r good music ,
and it is those aspec ts tha t

“Music is forever; music
should grow and mature
with you, following you

right on up until you
die.”

thi s book will concen trate on.
Whe n crea ting m usic, there is
so much t o talk about . But
any discu ssion withou t
men tionin g the fiv e basi c

asp ects of songwr iting is
jus t a wa ste of time.

Paul Simon

Ess ential ly, th ey are what
thi s enti re boo k is a ll abo ut.
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The Five Basic Aspects of Song-writing:

•

Form

•

Melody

•

Harmony/Rhythm

•

Lyric

•

Hook

Form is that aspect of music
that we talk about when
discussing the structure of music. For
example, verse-chorus-verse-chorus,
etc., is a type of form. Form helps to
lend an aspect of predictability of
design that is somewhat necessary in
most styles of music. All other aspects
of music (melody, harmony, lyric, etc.)
require some attention to form. Without
form, music tends to end up a

Form adds just the
right balance of
predictability and
innovation.
Form gives hints to
the listener of what
might happen in a

song, and keeps it
from simply being an
aimless random walk
through the woods.
Predictability does
not necessarily mean
boredom.

shapeless, directionless blob. Melody
needs to be fairly predictable while also
being inventive and spontaneous. The harmony within a song also
needs to be structured, while allowing for something impulsive and
creative. Lyrics should be an artistic attempt to draw the listener into

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a topic. And the hook is that vitally important, repetitious element that
reels your audience in and keeps them there.

What Makes Good Form?
Notwithstanding the various important aspects of musical composition
just listed, we can come up with a rather large list of songs that seems
to violate the importance of one or more of those features. But
essentially all songs, to be successful, need a perceivable,
somewhat simplistic form. For example, who could listen to “Wild
Honey Pie” by the Beatles and praise its creative melody or profound
lyrics? Mind you, “Wild Honey Pie” was not a hit, and the Beatles did
not pretend that it was anything more than… whatever it is. But there
are songs that did become huge hits for groups, where the lyric was

weak and the melody uninspiring. I’m not intending to alienate Elvis
Presley fans when I say that “All Shook Up” is not an amazing lyric.1
The melody of the verse is extremely simplistic, most of it
encompassing the interval of a perfect 4th.
But “All Shook Up” was a huge monster
hit. Why? Partly because of the person
who sang it, but also because of that
simplicity of form that I just mentioned.
Sometimes what we look for in a song is

1

“A well a bless my soul/What's wrong with me?/I'm itching like a man on a fuzzy tree/My friends
say I'm actin' wild as a bug/I'm in love/I'm all shook up/Mm mm oh, oh, yeah, yeah!”

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something that does not require us to think too hard, but rather
entertains us on a shallower level. Never underestimate simplicity!
Who can say what it is we’re really looking for in a piece of music?
Some say it’s the rhythm and energy, others say it’s the lyric. Dick
Clark would say, “If it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it, all
the better.”

What Makes a Good Melody?
A good melody takes us on a journey. That is true
whether we’re talking rock & roll, country, jazz,
classical, bluegrass… a good melody has a design
that makes us feel

like we’ve been
taken somewhere.
Consider Paul McCartney’s masterful
melody for “Yesterday”. It has a
shape: it starts fairly low, and rises
through the line, “All my troubles
seemed so far away”, then descends
toward the end of the line, “Oh, I
believe in yesterday.” This arch shape
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Constructing and using a
rhythmic motif is like
trying to decide what
colour brick to use for
your house. Making
certain that you are
consistent with your
choice of brick ensures
that your house has that
pleasant feel of
predictability.


follows the natural flow and meaning of the text. The energy builds,
then dissipates.
Most songs start in a very understated way, gathering power as they
go, finishing at a much higher energy level. The majority of songs do
this “power grab” in stages, starting at a relatively low energy level,
then building toward the chorus, subsiding again in the next verse,

building toward the next chorus, etc. Here’s a sample (but by no
means definitive) plan:

“Bridge Over Troubled Water”, by Simon & Garfunkel, is a good
example of a melody that starts peacefully, and builds with only a
slight ebbing of energy at the end of each verse. What makes the
energy level rise is a mixture of things: instrumentation – in this case,
starting with a simple piano accompaniment, then finishing with string
orchestra, drums, electric bass, etc. – an upper harmony line, and
dynamics (general volume level).

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It is impossible to consider melody without thinking about rhythm. One
of the features that makes “Yesterday” such a great melody is the fact
that there is a repeating rhythm– a rhythmic motif – that helps to glue
the song together. In the verse, each line begins with a rhythmic idea
consisting of two short notes followed by a long one. You encounter
this on the words “Yesterday”, “far away”, “here to stay”, etc. This
repeating rhythm helps to move the song along.

Choosing the brick for your house
Constructing and using a rhythmic motif is like trying to decide what
colour brick to use for your house. Making certain that you are
consistent with your choice of brick
ensures that your house has that
pleasant feel of predictability. Using
dark red large bricks on one side, light
coloured small bricks on another, and

wood paneling on the front would make

‘”The whole problem can
be stated quite simply by
asking, ‘Is there a
meaning to music?’ My
answer would be, ‘Yes.’
And ‘Can you state in so
many words what the
meaning is?’ My answer
to that would be, ‘No.’”

the house look disheveled and messy.
Motifs, whether rhythmic or melodic,
are the repetitious elements that make
music feel organized. A hook is a type
of motif we’ll read about later.
Aaron Copland

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What Makes Good Harmony?
As with melody and rhythm, it’s a bit tricky to separate harmony from
the other important components of composition. But to speak
generally, a good chord sequence, like a good melody, makes us feel
like we’ve been taken on a bit of a journey. And though that journey
may take us places we haven’t seen before, we like to know a bit
Plotting the basic energy
of most songs is like

looking at a graph of the
stock market:

about where we’re going before we

You can expect to see
some dips, but you want
the general trend to be
upward.

harmonic sequences we’re going to

How that energy ebbs and
flows is a very important
consideration for
composers.

(repeated) over and over again with

leave the house. Introductions to
songs will set us up for the kind of
encounter in the song. If the song
starts with a single chord vamped
a simple rhythm, we know that the
piece will likely not venture too far
afield in its use of chords. Good
harmony, like almost every other
aspect of music, will make us feel like
we’re taking a walk around the

neighbourhood, where we might see something out of the ordinary,
but most of what we encounter is pleasantly predictable.
I could stop here, then, and say that good composition is the result of
a carefully planned mixture of predictability and novelty; while that’s
25