New song number 1

We'll take a short break from the song "Butterfly Bush" to discuss a new song that I am writing. This might be a little more interesting because you will get to see the progression of the song as I'm writing it instead of relying on my ( admittedly bad) memory.

This song started out like many of my of songs do with me just fooling around on the guitar. It starts with a D chord and I was playing with a descending bass note from the root (the open D note on the third string) and the chords just spontaneously came out. The chorus chord progression quickly followed as well as the lyrics for the chorus. I'm not sure what inspired the quick progress I made on this song but I just went with it.

Here is what I have for the verse and chorus so far

Loving on the Road - Verse and Chorus by tazthecat


Here are the words for the chorus

Don't hate me, don't hate me
I was always true
When it comes to loving on the run
I will still want you

This not how a song usually progresses. I usually finish the chord progression and then work on the lyrics. Sometimes they come quickly most of the time not. Once I have the first cut of the lyrics, I get a rough idea of what the melody will be and how I want the timing and rhythm to go. I do several iterations of lyric and melody changes. At this point, I make any changes that are needed to the chords (usually to correct my tendency to use the same chord progressions over and over). I refine the lyrics, melody, rhythm, and chords one last time and the song is done! Finis. Clear a space on my wall for the gold record..... One small problem. I play this masterpiece to my voice teacher/songwriting coach and he gets the look like "Hmmm, that is interesting". he then points out about a dozen things that can improve the song and I'm back to square two (square one is creating something in the first place).


Ok enough with that, back to the song. I've got a good idea how the verses and chorus will go. Now it's time to write something for the bridge. Here is where the demon of overused chord progressions rears it's ugly head. My first try at the bridge was purely reflex and although it sounded good, it was predictable and lacked tension and interest. The chord progression is E7 - G - A - D with some passing chords added at the end. Here is that first try

Loving on the Road - Bridge Alternative 1 by tazthecat

So I reached into my bag of tricks and pulled out, wait for it, a key change. Not just any key change but from a major key to a minor key. I tried several chord progressions but ended up with a progression that started with Am (the fifth above D). The progression goes: Am - F - E - A. Hey wait you say... E and A are not in the key of Am. That's right but it sounded cool and I am not one to be afraid to switch keys at will. This is how the bridge chord progression sounds.

Loving on the Road - Bridge Alternative 2 by tazthecat

I hope you will agree that this is an improvement and at least it adds interest to the song.

That is all for the new song for now. I will keep you updated on the progress of this song.

Enjoy,

-Ron-

Butterfly Bush

Ok here in the first song I am going to discuss, "Butterfly Bush". First here are the words and chords for the song.

Butterfly Bush

Am Am11 Asus4 Am11
Sits and watches the butterfly bush
Am Am11 Asus4 - Am11 Am
A cat sits and waits for his prey
Am Am11 Asus4 Am11
Watch the flowers bob up and down
Am Am11 Asus4 - Am11 Am
In the breeze the blossoms play

Chorus
A D
I wish that my life could be that easy
Bm E
That a plant could provide such fun
A D
Simple pleasures that nature can bring
Bm E
Are bountiful if you can see

Bees and butterflies come on in
The cat tenses and waits to pounce
He jumps but they are out of reach
And safely float away with the wind


D Cadd9
A nearby pond and chirping birds
G Bm A
Are of no interest to him... to him
D Cadd9
He has his spot and does not move
G Bm A
Golden eyes focused on the plant.. focused on the plant

G Bm
Filled with all of natures toys
Am D
Permeated with so much joy
G Bm
he looks out at his new kingdom
Am D
creatures all around, he just wants to play


Sits and watches the butterfly bush
A man sits and waits for his day
Watch the flowers bob up and down
In the breeze the blossoms play

The demo of the song is here.

Butterfly Bush by rdlipps

I started writing this song while sitting on the porch and watching my cat CJ chase butterflies that were flying around a butterfly bush in the yard. CJ would hide underneath the bush and leap out at the unsuspecting butterflies. The beginning of a song came in to my head and I started writing down some lyrics (shown below). I wanted the song to have a light feel so I used open chords and used the Am, Am11, Asus4, Am11 progression. This chord progression moves up and down the neck and has a playful sound. That is one of the things you want to do when writing a song, have the feel of the lyrics match the music. The first version had a slightly syncopated but even rhythm but that was changed in the final version. I will discuss the changes later.

For the chorus, I use a technique that I find effective in adding a little tension and interest to a song and that is moving from the minor chord to the major chord. You will see this in other song I will discuss. The chord progression stays in the key of A throughout the chorus. The rhythm changes to a regular beat in the chorus.

The bridge brings yet another key change (This is a thing I also do frequently). This was not something I did consciously but when I looked at what key the chords fit into it tuned out to be in the key of G. When I write the bridge I first try to start with the chord that is either a fourth or a fifth above the root chord for the song. In this case there is also a change from minor to major Am -> D (Dm is the fourth above Am). So the chord progression for the first part of the bridge is D - C9 - G - Bm - A and this repeats once. In the key of G the scale degree for this progression is V - IV9 - I - iii - II. One thing to note is the A chord is major instead of minor. I wish there was some cool musical reason for this but that is just how it came out. Originally the last part of the bridge went like this after I wrote the chord progression and a first try at the melody.

G Bm A
Golden eyes focused on the plant.. on the plant
G Bm
Filled with so many of natures toys
Am D
He plays with so much joy

As you can see this is already different from my original handwritten lyrics. The only thing that completed the song was a slightly modified repeat of the first verse. That finishes the discussion of the first cut of Butterfly Bush. The next post on this song will describe how I changed the song to get to the final version.

Enjoy,

-Ron-

Take a listen to my songs

I have put some of the demo recording for my songs on soundcloud so that people can listen to the songs, get familiar with them, and have a point of reference for when I discuss my journey in creating the song. I will apologize up front for the quality of my singing. I am a songwriter and guitar player not a singer... You have been warned.

You can find my songs here at soundcloud

I will most likely be talking about 'Butterfly Bush' first.

Enjoy,

-ron-

Music theory part 2

This is the second music theory post and we will discuss intervals and chords. An interval is basically the distance between two notes as measured in semitones (see my first music theory post for a definition of a semitones). If you remember the table of modes from my previous post (shown below), there is roman numeral for each of the scales and that represents the interval from the tonic (the note C) to the starting note in the scale. These roman numerals will also come into play when I talk about chords.

So if we look at the C major scale and the corresponding roman numerals:

C D E F G A B C
I II III IV V VI VII I

The interval from C to the other notes are:

C is unison at zero semitones
D is the second at two semitones
E is the third at four semitones
F is the fourth at five semitones
G is the fifth at seven semitones
A is the sixth at nine semitones
B is the seventh at eleven semitones
C is the octave at twelve semitones

If we look at the minor scale and remember from the circle of fifths that A minor contains the same notes as the C major scale, we have the following notes

A B C D E F G A
I II iii IV V vi vii I

A is unison at zero semitones
B is the second at two semitones
C is the minor third at three semitones (designated by lowercase roman numeral)
D is the fourth at five semitones
E is the fifth at seven semitones
F is the minor sixth at eight semitones
G is the minor seventh at ten semitones
A is the octave at twelve semitones

Why do the third, sixth and seventh intervals have a minor in their name? Because they have a different number of semitones in the interval than the third, sixth, and seventh in the major scale and because they are the notes in a minor scale they are defined as minor third, minor sixth, and minor seventh. The second, fourth, and fifth are not minor intervals because they have the same number of semitones as in the major scale. The fourth and fifth are special in that they maintain the same number of semitones whether the scale is major (Ionian and Mixolydian modes) or minor (Aeolian, Dorian, or phrygian). That is why they are called perfect intervals. The other intervals are either major or minor depending on the mode. The table below shows the intervals that are contained in the seven diatonic scales.

In two of the scales (Lydian and Locrian) you see that the fourth is augmented and the fifth is diminished. Augmented means that the interval is one semitone higher ( also called raised a semitone) and diminished means the interval is one semitone lower (also called lowered a semitone).

Chords

Chords are made from at least three notes. The first common chord is the major chord. The major chord contains the root note, the third above the root and the fifth above the root. The root identifies the chord. For example the G major chord (commonly called just a G chord) is made up of the following notes.

G B D
I III V

To get any other major chord you just take the root, the third, and fifth note from the corresponding major scale. The other commonly used chord is the minor chord. This is similar to the major chord except you use the minor third in place of the major third. If we look at the G chord again but make it a G minor (Gm), it contains the following notes

G Bb D
I iii V

Like the major chord, you can form any minor chord by taking the root, the third, and fifth note from the corresponding minor scale. OK that's cool you say but are there other chords? Yes, you can add other notes from the scale to form more chords and here are some of the common ones:

Seventh chord: this contains the root, the third, the fifth and the minor seventh
Minor seventh: this contains the root, the minor third, the fifth, and the minor seventh
Major seventh: this contains the root, the third, the fifth, and the seventh
Diminished chord: this contains the root, the minor third, and a diminished fifth
Augmented chord: this contains the root, the third, and an augmented fifth

The other set of chords that I will discuss are the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords. Hey wait... The intervals only go up to seven, how can you have a ninth chord. Well the scale is cyclical so if you continue counting beyond the octave note you can get a ninth interval and that is the same note as the second interval. So this set of chords take the seventh chords and add a ninth (second), eleventh (fourth), or thirteenth (sixth) note to the chord. Below is a table that shows the construction of these chords

So those are the common chords use see used in songs. The last thing I will discuss is chord progressions. This is the series of chords that are formed by using the notes of a scale but having the root note be each note in the scale. For example in the C major scale, the notes are

C D E F G A B C

What is the C chord that fits in the scale, same with the D chord, and so on. Well the progression of chords is

Major - minor - minor - major - major - minor - minor diminished

For the C major scale that is C - Dm - Em - F - G - Am - Bm(dim)

Using roman designation again the progression is

I ii iii IV V vi vii(dim)

So we have the same relationship between chords and we do with notes. So in the key of C the Em chord is the minor third of the C chord.

So hopefully this will give you enough background on intervals and chords so you can follow along as I discuss the creation of my songs. Enjoy...

-Ron-

[Edit 7/17/11]
I forgot to add that all figures in this post were provided by Wikipedia

Music theory part 1

OK this is the first music theory post. I will try to keep to the important parts that pertain to my discussions on songwriting. The main points I will discuss are scales, intervals, and chords. This post will discuss scales. He we go...

The basic tonal building block in Western music is the note. There are 12 note names and these note names repeat over and over again and each of these cycles is called an octave. This series of twelve notes is called a chromatic scale. If you look at a piano each key is a note. The note names are:

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#
Bb Db Eb Gb Ab

So what are are those '#' and 'b' symbols. They are called sharps and flats and they increase or decrease a note by a semi-tone or half step (this will be discussed later in the interval section). The sharps and flats correspond to the black keys on a piano. I guess you are asking at this point why have letter names in combination with sharps and flats instead of just using only letter names and why have both sharps and flats when they look redundant? Well this has to do with the construction of scales.

Ok, what is a scale? A scale is a subset of notes that when played impart a particular sound to the music. Scales in traditional Western music generally consist of seven notes and repeat at the octave. Notes in the commonly used scales are separated by whole and half step intervals of tones and semitones. These seven note scales are called diatonic scales.

Ok but why are there sharps and flats. That's because the way diatonic scales are constructed, they contain every letter and each letter is represented only once in the scale (ie, a scale cannot contain an A and an A#). Why you ask.... because it is a convenient way to define diatonic scales. Seven notes in the scale and seven letters representing the notes, isn't that a coincidence. If a scale has an A and an A# then the A# is actually a Bb.

So how do you determine what notes are in a scale. Well it starts with the C note. If you start at C and progress through the letters with no sharps and flats, you have what's called the Major scale. The C Major scale contains the notes C-D-E-F-G-A-B and if you look at the list of notes you see that this scale by starting at a note and use the following progression

w-w-h-w-w-w-h

Where 'h' is a half step and 'w' is a whole step (two half steps)

You can now form a major scale in any key using this progression. Wait, hold on a minute... what is a key? Its just the note you started the progression on (and is also called the root note). So a specific scale is identified by the key and the type of scale (for example the major scale that is in the key of C is called the C Major scale or in the key of C Major). If no scale type is given, it is assumed to be the major scale (e.g., in the key of C really means in the key of C Major).

Now let's try this in the key of A

A B C# D E F# G# A
w w h w w w h

Now let's try this in the key of F (using sharps)

F G A A# C D E F
w w h w w w h

Since this scale has two A notes (A and A#) so we replace the A# with Bb. That is why we have both sharps and flats. Also another rule for thumb for the diatonic scales is that the notes in the scale can contain sharps or flats but not both.

So what are the different diatonic scales? Well they are defined by starting on a different note and progressing through the letters with no sharps or flats. The different scales formed using this method are called modes. Here are the seven scales (modes) that are possible.

In this table s is a half step T is a whole step and the white note is the start of the scale. The two most import scales are the Ionian scale which is also called the Major scale and the Aeolian scale which is also called the minor scale. You can use interval sequence from the table to form any scale in any key.

There is one other concept that is important to musical scales and that is the circle of fifths. The Circle of Fifths chart used in music theory shows the relationships among the twelve tones of the Chromatic Scale, their corresponding number of sharps or flats in the key, and the associated Major and Minor keys.

At the top of the Circle Of Fifths diagram, the key of C has no sharps or flats. Starting from there and going clockwise by ascending fifths (an interval that spans five notes in a diatonic scale), the key of G has one sharp, the key of D has 2 sharps, and so on. Going counterclockwise from the top by descending fourths (an interval that spans four notes in a diatonic scale), the key of F has one flat, the key of B♭ has 2 flats, and so on. The circle is commonly used to represent the relationship between diatonic scales. Adjacent keys on the circle of fifths represent Diatonic Scales that are a perfect fifth apart and share six of their seven notes. Furthermore, the notes not held in common differ by only a semitone. Thus moving to a new scale by a perfect fifth can be accomplished in a very musical fashion.

I hope that gives you a good introduction to the concept of scales. The next music theory post will describe the basics of intervals and chords. Until then enjoy...

A continued welcome

Hey its me again... Your songwriter extraordinaire (Ha!). I was thinking about the types of things that I want to post on this blog and it occurred to me that not everybody knows about music theory and because I want my posts to have as wide an audience as possible, I might want to give a brief tutorial on music theory. That way when I talk about major vs minor chords, scales, or intervals, everybody will be able to follow along. From time to time I might have a post with some additional music theory if its needed to explain a concept I'm discussing in my song.

I will work on my first music theory post tonight and I'm putting my recorded songs in a place were people can listen to them so I will be posting where you can listen to them soon.

Thanks,

Ron

Initial Message

Welcome to the songwriter’s diaries. I created this blog in order to capture my thoughts about my songwriting experiences and a way to capture my own progress as I am writing and my memories of what went into the songs I have already written. Although I am doing this for myself in order to put into words what inspired a song, how the song was put together, what were the influences and reason for changes to the song, and my general thoughts about each song, I also wanted to share these thought in order to let other see how I write songs.

Now I know what your thinking: who is this guy and why should I care about his thought on songwriting. He must be a successful songwriter that I’ve never heard of and he has songs recorded by some of the top artists. Well no, except for some of my own demos, nobody has recorded any of my songs. Well why should I care? Because it might be fun to see what went into writing a song or maybe you write songs also and are looking for another perspective from someone else who writes songs. Whatever your reason for continuing to read this blog, I hope you find it informative and entertaining.

I will be posting mostly on my recollections of songs I have already written at first because I want to capture what I can remember about those songs before my poor brain completely forgets everything. I will, however, be posting about songs I’m currently writing from time to time to give you a more in depth look into my songwriting mind. I will try to post something every day and so far I’m 1 for 1 :)

I hope you enjoy the songwriting diaries....


        Ron