modulation

All about bridges with Allister Bradley

Allister Bradley, Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and technical director of the Song Studio Songwriter’s Workshop in Toronto, and co-host of the Hooks & Ladders youTube show with Blair Packham, joined us to talk about three songs with great bridges.

We talked about:

How the bridge differs from the verse and chorus
How a good bridge changes the viewpoint, the key signature, or uses something you haven’t used in the song yet
How do you know if a song needs a bridge or not?

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Songwriting Challenge 2022: Listener Songs Volume 2

by Neel Modi

On this special episode, we share the second batch (of three) of listener answers to our 2022 songwriting challenge to write a song with the title Why Do You Cry?

We talked about:

The Music Theory Iceberg video
Best Free DAWs for Windows video
Tunebat: Song Key & BPM Finder app
varying your arrangement of melodies, lyrics, and chords
ensuring your verse 2 moves the song forward
protest songs: two different approaches
progressive music, and balancing complexity with simplicity

Download the lyrics for the songs:

Lynne Moe – Why Do You Cry?

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Poetry, Comedy, and Tragedy in Songwriting with Colm Gavin

by Neel Modi

Colm Gavin is a Dublin based Irish singer/songwriter currently signed to BEO Records home to The First Lady of Celtic Music Moya Brennan. Colm’s first two solo releases (Your Endless Slumber/A Voice For The Urban Darlings) both reached reached number 1 in the Irish Charts at the time of their release.… Read the rest

Writing, recording, and releasing a song in 48 hours with The Sun Harmonic

by Neel Modi

This week we welcomed The Sun Harmonic (aka Kaleb Hikele) back to the show to share his latest single A Dream I’ve Had with us. Kaleb was challenged to write, record, and release a song in 48 hours, and he totally did it!… Read the rest

Creating a Concept Album with Gilbert Neal

by Michael Proudfoot

This week Song Talk Radio welcomed Gilbert Neal to our studio.

A master song craftsman, Gilbert Neal – on his latest release Mistakes of Memory shows the depth and diversity of his influences: Leonard Cohen, Pink Floyd, ELO, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Stephen Sondheim.… Read the rest

Stark Naked and the Fleshtones: classic punk rock band

by Neel Modi

Stark Naked and Eugene Ripper of Stark Naked and the Fleshtones joined us to talk about their heyday in the early 80s as an awesome live band in Toronto.

We talked about:

how songs are shaped by band dynamics
working with the “right” producer
the punk music attitude
live vs.

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All About Key Modulations with Frank Horvat

by Neel Modi

Good friend, manic composer, and musically big brained Frank Horvat joined us to talk all about key modulations, with three example songs. We talked about:

the difference between borrowing chords and modulation
chromatic alteration, where a single semi-tone difference can change the contour of your chord progression
referring to the circle of fifths to see modulation that are close or far from your base key signature
using pivot chords to bridge the gap between key signatures
key modulation between different sections of a song vs.

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Deep Dive: Penny Lane & Strawberry Fields – how do they work? with Blair Packham

by Phil Emery

Songwriting master Blair Packham stopped by and we gave a deep dive on The Beatles Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane. Friend of the show Mike MacInnes sat in for Bruce.

Stuff we talked about:

John Lennon / Paul McCartney comparisons
Candy Flip’s version of Strawberry Fields
Key Modulations
Penny Lane Lyrics & Chords at UltimateGuitar.com

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