We all know one guy that decries and derides music theory as limiting creativity. News flash – it’s not true! Today I’m going to show you how chord...

 This week in Watch a Real Composer Write Music in Sibelius, we elaborate on the 3 bars that completely changed the piece from last episode. I also finish the first...

I love extended chords. Like, a lot. They’re so expressive and beautiful and are able to convey more complex emotions and feelings than just major, minor, or seventh...

Halloween holds a special place in my heart, so this week I’m exploring three ways to make your music sound scary using some of the same techniques as the greats...

It’s easy to write the same chord progressions over and over. And that’s fine, if it works, it works. But, with just a little know-how you can alter those...

For many of us, the chord progression is the backbone of a song. And while everything has pretty much been done, it hasn’t been done the way we would do it. Today...

Use musical textures, they’re your friend. I mean, we’re already using them, but we can also use them intentionally. Wild, right? I know, man. I know.

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If there’s one thing I can point to that helped my voice leading the most, it was an understanding of the 3 Types of Motion. 

I came away with easy voice...

I love a good harmony. It hits me right in the feels, and I bet it does for you. But how do we make harmonies sound good like that? 

In this week’s video,...

Writing music with alternating time signatures sounds fancy. It’s really not. It’s just taking the regular count and messing with it every other measure.

In...

Get ready to hear all the feelings, today. For some reason, using a metronome (or click) is controversial...

In my earlier years, I too was resistant to it, but I came...

When I was just starting out writing songs, chords were super mysterious to me. They carry so much emotional weight and create a scaffolding for the melody to play around...