Pro Songwriting: The Art and Business of a Songwriter

Wireframe your songs to tell a clear story with a beginning, middle, and end, using verses, chorus, and bridge to shape imagery and avoid clichés.

Explore lyrical economy by examining how Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi conveys complex themes with minimal words, using concise lines, imagery, and alliteration.

Explore how show, don't tell uses imagery in lyrics, using scenes like the girl leaving home from the Beatles to convey emotion with subtle storytelling.

Explore intertextual writing by showing how a line from In Memoriam inspires a verse in a co-written track, and craft your own response to a famous poem while noting copyright.

Discover how melody relies on tension and release across pop, folk, and jazz. Learn to craft a brief pre-chorus that signals excitement and lifts into the chorus.

Discover how repetition strengthens melody by making it memorable and singable, with examples from pop and classical music, and practice by repeating a line four times with minor note changes.

Explore prosody—the link between lyrics and music that reinforces a coherent message through melody, harmony, and chord choices, with examples from Hallelujah and something wonderful.

Discover why copyright mainly covers lyrics and melodies, why chord progressions aren't protected, and how registering with PRS for Music, Embro, or US agencies helps collect royalties.

Apply a melody checklist that links verse storytelling to a compelling chorus, considers pre-chorus setup, prosody, tension and release, and distinct chorus moments with hooks and vocal harmonies.

Explore how chords shape mood and meaning in songwriting by pairing major and minor progressions with the same lyrics, exploring prosody and crafting emotional stories through harmony.

Explore how a four-chord loop drives hits using a minor, F, G, and C over A to build groove. Vary the order and add bridges to create key changes.

Explore harmonic rhythm by varying how often chords change, boosting or damping energy and shaping melody within a four-four progression.

Explore song forms, the structures that shape songs across genres, and learn why knowledge of these forms is essential for aspiring or published songwriters.

Explore ABAB form, the Nashville formula, a verse-chorus structure widely used in pop songwriting. See examples such as gimme gimme gimme, wrecking ball, and let it go.

Discover the aaa form, a verse without chorus with a repeated block, illustrated by folk songs such as Black Velvet Band, Wild Mountain Time, and She Moved Through the Fair.

Explore AABA form as a 32-bar, roughly two-minute structure common in jazz and swing, with a 2-5-1 progression and bridge repeats, with examples such as Dean Martin's Sway.

Explore post form, a rare prog rock structure with no set structure, built from contrasting blocks, as heard in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Explore music theory for songwriters, including keys, key signatures, transposition, chords, and chord progressions. Learn diatonic and pentatonic concepts to write professionally with shared studio vocabulary.

Master keys and key signatures, learn quick hacks to read sharps and flats, identify relative minor, and hear how transposition changes mood using simple chord progressions.

Explore major and minor scales and tonality to boost your songwriting, composition, and improvisation, and learn natural, harmonic, and melodic minor patterns with their relative minors.

Master vocal harmony by pairing chords with your melody, practice ear training on major and minor chords, and record high and low harmonies in Pro Tools with panning and reverb.

Master transposition by changing a song’s key using semitone steps and capo three. Practice shifting chords and compare how the mood and atmosphere change with the new key.

Explore how intervals—the spaces between notes—shape patterns of sound, improve sight reading and harmony, use tunes to remember major, minor, augmented, diminished intervals from second to seventh and the octave.

Explore time signatures such as 4/4, 3/4, and 6/8, learn counting beats per bar, and practice tempo with BPM from 60 to 130 using a metronome.

Explore note values and phrasing, including crotchets, quavers, minims, and dotted notes, and see how ties and rhythm shape lyric emphasis in phrases like 'I love you'.

Compare diatonic and pentatonic scales, highlighting seven-note diatonic versus five-note major and relative minor pentatonic shapes, and show how these patterns shape melody writing and solos.

Explore the ancient concept of modes, from Ionian to Locrian, and how different mode patterns of tone and semitone shape distinct moods for songwriting and composition.

Explore chord shapes and professional chord sheets to help players learn songs quickly. Learn time signature 4/4, one chord per bar, and rests in the final bar guiding rhythm.

Improve your ear training with YouTube pitch drills in the key of C, then practice chord progressions and intervals using toned air dotcom.

Discover why co-writing boosts your skills and exposes you to tricks of the trade, and learn how Nashville writing and industry events help you find complementary co-writers.

master professional etiquette for co-writing by drafting a writer's agreement and equal contributions. stay professional, listen to others, avoid being late or a prima donna, and come prepared with ideas.

Explore methods of co-writing by pairing lyrics with melodies, crafting chords and riffs, top-lining, and critical eye feedback from fresh ears, all guided by briefs.

Explore common digital audio workstations, including Logic, Pro Tools, Cubase, GarageBand, Reaper, and Audacity; learn when to master for broadcast standards and seek expert mastering services.

Write to a loop by playing a reference and repeating it, then add a melody on top, and share results for feedback in the course q&a.