7 Tips For Making Your Songs More Exciting
 
Matti Carter
 
 
 
Would you like to know how to keep an audience occupied and interested while listening to your music? How to make your songs more exciting just by modifying the structure a little bit? What can you add to or take away from your songs to make them sound better?
 
In this article I am not going to show you what a typical song structure looks like. Instead, listed below are 7 simple tips to improve your compositions, so that your listeners stay interested throughout your songs. These tips will help you whether you are just starting to write a song or if your song is almost complete. They will help you turn a mediocre song into a great song.
 
1.Create An Intensity Plan
 
Before putting together the song, you should know where the most and least intense parts are. Draw a line that describes how the intensity levels of the song change from start to finish. This will make it easier to put all the separate parts of the song together. E.g. you could draw a peak at the chorus, which is often the most intense part of the song. To make this peak stand out, you could make the area around the chorus less intense.
 
2.Create An Instant Hook
 
It is a good idea to start your music with something that will immediately grab the attention of the audience. A cool lyric or a catchy melody will do the trick. Capturing the listeners attention within the first 5-10 seconds of the song is a good way to make people want to hear the rest of the song. Remember to keep things interesting after the hook, because you don’t want to bore the audience at any time.
 
3.Keep Things Clear And Simple
 
You should be able to clearly communicate what you want to express with your music. This does not mean that your song can’t have difficult solos or complicated fills. Focus on making specific parts great quality instead of trying to add too many mediocre parts on top of each other.
 
4.Build Up The Highlights
 
It is up to you to decide where the climax points are and how to control the emotions that you want to express through them. To make the climaxes stand out well, build some tension and expectation to the listener, and gradually approach them. Sometimes there are several similar climax points in a single song. On other occasions, there is only one clear climax at some specific point of the song.
 
5.Add Surprises
 
A song can become boring if there aren’t enough creative things happening. Add a few surprises that you would not expect to happen. Be careful though, because adding too many surprises may make the song too complicated and confusing.
 
6.Repeat Catchy Parts
 
If you have a great chorus, you can repeat it a couple of times to make it memorable. If there is something really good worth playing over and over, you might as well do it. However, you do not have to repeat parts exactly the same every time. Sometimes what makes a song interesting is gradually varying specific parts throughout the song.
 
7.Make the Music Evolve Constantly
 
Something that is constantly changing is more exciting to listen to than something that stays the same for too long. This doesn’t mean that you cannot repeat some parts of a song. The idea is that you don’t bore your listeners with too much of one thing.
 
© Matti Carter
 
About The Author:
 
Matti Carter is a composer living in Helsinki, Finland. He composes, teaches and writes music related instructional materials. He also If you are interested in listening to piano music and original compositions, feel free to contact him.
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Master the Segovia Scales on Classical Guitar
Andrés Segovia is often referred to as the father of modern classical guitar and left an enormous legacy in the world of music. Among his many contributions the Segovia Scales are a fundamental part of classical guitar technique. These are not just exercises they are tools to develop precision, tone, finger independence and musicality.
The Segovia Scales are a set of diatonic major and minor scales for all 12 keys. Segovia arranged these scales to cover the entire fretboard, so you can develop finger placement and position shifting in a systematic way. They are considered essential for classical guitarists, a foundation for technical mastery and expressive playing.
Practicing these scales will make you familiar with the fretboard so you can move around the guitar neck smoothly. This is invaluable for improvisation, composition and sight-reading. Focusing on tone while playing scales will give you control over dynamics, articulation and balance between bass and treble strings. These exercises will demand precision in finger placement which will reduce tension and increase accuracy in position shifts. Right-hand dexterity will be developed by alternating between different finger combinations and musicality will be developed by applying phrasing and dynamics to the scales.
To practice the Segovia Scales effectively you should warm up gradually, start with slower tempos to focus on accuracy and relaxation. Using a metronome will help you develop a steady rhythm and rhythmic variations like triplets or syncopation will challenge your timing and make you more versatile. Applying dynamics like crescendos and diminuendos will add expressiveness and prepare you for similar techniques in repertoire. Practicing the scales in all keys will develop balance across the fretboard.
Common challenges when practicing the Segovia Scales are position shifts, even tone and relaxed hands. Position shifts can be smoothed out by practicing slowly and visualizing the target fret before moving. Even tone requires uniform plucking motion and right-hand finger strength. Excessive tension can be avoided by relaxing the hands especially in difficult passages.
Make the Segovia Scales a part of your daily practice by dedicating a small portion of your time to them and complement them with other technical exercises and repertoire. Use a practice journal to track your progress and see what needs to be improved and what you’ve accomplished.
The Segovia Scales are the key to mastery on the classical guitar. Practicing them with intention and musicality will develop the technical and expressive skills to become a great guitarist. Whether you are a beginner or advanced player these scales are a must have in your practice arsenal. Grab your guitar and let Segovia’s wisdom guide you to greatness.
 
About the author. Denis Rusakov teaches playing the classical and acoustic guitar in Kazakhstan, in the city of Karaganda. He puts his heart and soul into working with each student. If you need guitar lessons in Karaganda, contact Denis!