song writing books

[musix]

I want to improve my songwriting skills. could someone tell me which songwriting books have worked for them.

[Henri Devill]

Sheila Davis's..Craft of Lyric Writing..Also by her..The Songwriters Idea Book..They are pretty good the "Idea" book is better if you have written lyrics before.."Craft" is better to start with...
Good luck..

Don

[cjmusicman]

Idiot's Guide to Songwriting by Joel Hirschhorn is excellent. I highly recommend it. Packed with great info and incite into the music & songwriting business.

Good Luck,

cjmusicman

[Gidge]

"6 Steps To Songwriting Success" by Jason Blume and published by Billboard Books....

[hubb_99]

"songwriting for guitar"
is good if you're a guitar player

[tdukex]

"88 Songwriting Wrongs And How To Right Them," by Pat and Pete Luboff

"The Craft and Business of Songwriting," by John Braheny

"Tunesmith" by Jimmy Webb (If I was ever going to recommend a single book on songwriting, this is it).

Gidge, how do you like Blume's book? I was thinking of buying it.

[Gidge]

Depends on the still of songwriting you do, tdukex....its more geared towards country/pop/comeercail rock....concentrates on writing in certain styles as to be more commercial and how to present it as to be more marketable....if thats what you are looking for, this is your book...i love it.....

the 6 steps are:
1-developing successful song structures
2-writing effective lyrics
3-composing memorable melodies
4-producing successful demos
5-taking care of business
6-developing persistance

[jvasey]

"Written In My Soul", can't remember the author's name, but it's the guy that used to edit musician magazine. It's not really a how-to, but interviews with songwriting greats about the processes they use/used with alot of specifics.

[tdukex]

The Blume book sounds like a must read for me, Gidge. Thanks.

[musix]

thanks allot

[Krystof01]

Don't buy any. Use the money instead to buy a pen, pencil, dictaphone, notebook.

I am serious about the above. I wouldn't waste the money. If you want to know more about song sructure for instance, there is loads of info on the web. The rest should come from you. Looking to follow someone else's guidelines and form is unoriginal.

By all means buy the books. I'd even be intereseted to know how you get on with them.

Just my opionon.

[smellyfuzz]

Has anyone ever written a hit song after reading one of these books ?

[Gidge]

Talent cannot be learned in a book (as you well know)...however, if you are a talented songwriter and the only thing keeping you from getting that foot in the door is your lack of structure that a particular publisher looks for (just one example),books can help.....

you can be the greatest football player in the world, but if you lack the knowledge of the rules and regulations and basic strategies, you wont get far......

[smellyfuzz]

Although, once I fliped though one of these song writing books & the first thing I read was;

Do not write poety for your song.

[Krystof01]

Gidge, thta's my point about the internet. You can obtain all more than enough material that will give you the basic structures of a song and detailed analysis of each section, coupled with does and dont's-that's all free. Why then would you want to buy a book that gives you a very narrow opionion of songwriting.

I'd think about buying a book if it was written by McCartney, Dylan, Reed, Cohen................all about songwriting, but I bet there would be very little suprises even then on their methods. Buy their autobiographies instead and you'll see about where they came from. That is the biggest factor concerning songwriting in my opionion. Who they were, what/where they grew up around, who they met and then if they could still hack it when they made it into the big time.

[Gidge]

Krystof,

I dont disagree with you at all.....it will come down to the fact that people are different....some people wanna go to college/some people opt to get into the real world and get real world experience......I like a combo of both.....I purchased the Jason Blume book because he tends to write in similar styles that I do (just a WHOLE lot better) and I wanted tips from him specifically on how to slant the songs to be more commercial.....I can hear you rolling on the floor....sometimes I write totally for myself with no regard to commerciality, but other times I write hoping to actually get a song recorded....

maybe we should start a thread of our favorite songwriting tips websites?......

[Krystof01]

Gidge; If it works for you, good luck and keep buying those books. I'm not trying to put a 'downer' on these kind of books, it's just that there not for me.

I'll listen out for the plug for home recording on guitar mania,

Krystof.

[Gargamel]

Take the time to learn about modulation....

[Gargamel]

----contd.

modulation= key change. this is a great way to keep interest and add depth to your tunes.

[Krystof01]

Modulation, use a capo to start with.

[Nate]

Crap-- lost my post...

I think that Sheila Davis' books sucked, as do all of them I have read, with the exception of "Writing Better Lyrics" by Pat Pattison. His book is more involved with the technical aspect of writing-- constructing useful metaphors, rhymes--how to use the frigging rhyming dictionary, etc. It's more of a "how to write" instead of "how to write a generic crappy Dianne Warren hit song". His exercises seem pretty cool, too. Unfortunately, you need at least a small group to do them (I should find a writing group...)
If credentials matter, he designed the songwriting program at Berklee--BFD, it's still a good book.
I think the best advice I could give someone for improving their writng would be to READ. Not "how to" books, but just well-written books in any genre. Check out Nabokov-- his use of English was amazing- lots of alliteration and flow and humor, but it never seems forced.


Nate

[PaulB]

Personally, I think the Sheila Davis book(she's written three but
one of them is her best and I think its something like "The Craft
of Lyric Writing" but I'm not sure) is the best book on songwriting I've read...or at least lyric writing. Pat Pattison also does a good
job.

I don't automatically assume that just because someone can
do something, that they have the ability to tell others how to do it. IF they could, I think my parents would have done a better job of telling me about sex :-).

As far as there being stuff on the net about songwriting, yes there is, but quite often, it covers the same stuff in a surface
matter so that if you want to go deeper, then buying a book
probably helps.

Just my take.
PaulB