Songwriting Exercise: DADGAD tuning

If you’re stuck in a rut where the same chords seem to forever pop up under your fingers every time you pick up a guitar, here’s a little curve ball for you: retune your guitar to DADGAD and see what horizons this new tuning opens up for you!

To learn more about DADGAD, see this link

Original song: … There when I said it

…There when I said it

This song idea came when the opening line came to me:

I know this girl who never smiled
I guess her skin was on too tight

Exercise: in the style of Jack Johnson

Imagine that Jack Johnson commissioned you to write his next song.

If you are not familiar with Jack Johnson’s music, listen to it here.

While I won’t discourage you to use the instrument you usually use to write, you may want to dust off that ukulele!

Exercise: Write a song with these chords…

Here’s a chord structure with which I played the other day:

Am – C – Bm – Em

Use it for your verses. You can use whatever structure you wish for your chorus and bridge, if you decide to have them.

Have fun!

Songwriting exercise: island edition

For this exercise, your goal is to write a song where the islands – be they tropical, the British Isles or any other island that strikes your fancy – play a central role, almost as if they were a full-fledged character in a story… feel free to post a comment to this post with a link to your song!