How to Write A Hit (or not) with Greg Wyard

This week SongTalk welcomed Pop-rock artist Greg Wyard – a singer-songwriter, guitarist and bass player who has been diligently working at his craft since he was ten years old. Greg moved to Canada from his native England at age 13 and settled in Toronto, earning a reputation as one of its most hardworking solo performers. Greg has a music degree from McGill University, and released three original CDs from which his songs “Something I Made Up” and “What Are You Trying to Prove” both placed in the Standard Radio National songwriting competition. An international performer, he has toured the United States, England, Malta, Australia, Norway and most recently Goa.

Unapologetically melodic in his writing, Greg’s songs can’t escape the influences of the music that shaped him – The Beatles, Crowded House, Squeeze – and he loves to write pop songs that surprise you with an intricate little guitar line here or an unexpected key change there.

As a cover performer, Greg has an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music. Known for his faithful reproductions of intricate classic rock songs such as Bohemian Rhapsody and Baba O’Reilly using just his voice and guitar, he can play any one of a thousand songs off the top of his head.

He released his third CD entitled Encore in 2014 and is currently writing songs for his fourth album and performing around Canada and the rest of the world.

For us, Greg brought in his new song – Working Like A Charm. Lyrics here.

Aside from playing his song live, we also talked about topics like:

• the role of cover songs for an artist
• how to write a song for streaming
• how re-working is the key to a complete song
• tricks for getting over writers block

Website: gregwyard.com

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