Best Songwriting book?

SeattleSean

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Hi fellow ukesters! I am interested in learning about songwriting. Amazon seems to have a lot of different songwriting books and I'm not sure which one to pick up.

Anyone have a recommendation for a good songwriting book?
 
I hope this thread gets some good answers, I am writing my own stuff at the moment and could do with some help
 
I ended up getting, "Melody in Songwriting". I was reading a music theory book (Edly's Music Theory for Practical People) and the author recommended this, so I picked it up. If anyone's looking for a really useful and not-too-dense music theory book, by the way, I really enjoyed this: http://www.amazon.com/Edlys-Music-Theory-Practical-People/dp/0966161661

And then here's a link to Melody in Songwriting: http://www.amazon.com/Melody-Songwriting-Techniques-Writing-Berklee/dp/063400638X

I just started working on (re)learning to play the keyboard, and my plan is to start on this songwriting book in a month or two after I've gotten some basic keyboard skills down, as I suspect it will be easier to compose on a keyboard than on a ukulele.

I'll be happy to come back here with a review of it once I've read through it, and would also welcome others adding any recommendations!
 
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I had some basic, but rather minimal, music theory in the back of my mind from school days, & I am finding Music Composition for Dummies an interesting read, may be what you are looking for.

Presently I have just started to write some little ditties, & I'm just putting some basic chords along to them.
(You can find my stuff in the Seasons threads, if you're desperate. :) )
 
"The songwriting secrets of the Beatles" By D. Peddler. Its brilliant
 
The best resource would depend on what exactly you wanted to learn about songwriting. I can recommend the following by Lisa Aschmann 1000 song writing ideas.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6796381-1000-songwriting-ideas

She herself is a prolific songwriter. She writes everyday sometimes several songs a day. She's also taught songwriting to musicians all around the country. What I find unique about Lisa is that she's a deep deep listener. She loves listening to what other people have created and can help you fine tune it. She's also a big believer in co-writing songs with other people taking the songwriting from a solitary act to a co-creating act.
 
I won't suggest any books, but i would recommand reading other artist's lyrics, Mariah Carey is absolutely talented when it comes to songwriting

DafontShowboxAdam4adam
 
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Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison. Or here's another one on my bookshelf: The Craft Of Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis. Both are good for beginners and amateurs, I often re-read a few chapters for inspiration before writing another text for a song (I don't like writing extemporaneous texts).
 

Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison. Or here's another one on my bookshelf: The Craft Of Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis. Both are good for beginners and amateurs, I often re-read a few chapters for inspiration before writing another text for a song (I don't like writing extemporaneous texts).

This one!
Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison
 
The music business is complicated, it’s competitive, and it’s a risky way to earn a living unless you understand the rules of the game. Those books are useful for anyone pursuing a career in the music business.Songwritingmediafıre minecraft is the bedrock of the music industry. The record industry captures songs on vinyl or in digital files and sells them to listeners around the world. The radio industry focuses on playing the best songs to the greatest number of people. And of course, artists around the world earn their living performing great songs.

Writing Better Lyrics – Pat Pattison​

Thanks!!
 
I might need some of those books. I wrote a handful of decent songs, but then the well went dry.
 

Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison. Or here's another one on my bookshelf: The Craft Of Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis. Both are good for beginners and amateurs, I often re-read a few chapters for inspiration before writing another text for a song (I don't like writing extemporaneous texts).
Pat Pattison has a video course that is offered through Coursera. You can pay for the course for credit (and actual feedback), or you can audit the course for free (i.e., watch the video lectures). Here's a link: https://www.coursera.org/learn/songwriting-lyrics#about
 
Btw, anyone heard of The Penguin Rhyming Dictionary?
In interviews that were replayed after his death, Stephen Sondheim said his favorite rhyming dictionary was The Complete Rhyming Dictionary, edited by Clement Wood, because he liked that the words are listed in columns rather than vertically in paragraphs, and he thought it would be less likely to miss a potential rhyming word while scanning words listed in columns. He also used Roget's New American College Thesaurus in Dictionary Form (ease of use). I've found them both to be very helpful.
 
Frankly, I just don't think that you can teach songwrting - you either have it or you don't. Sometimes it might take months or years to develop and fine-tune the craft, but in the end it is like any other creative skill - some level of natural ability has to be present. Trying to learn songwriting from a book, or a class or a video might be the authors best way to write, but it might not work for you at all. Be yourself, work hard, and let your God-given abilities and inspirations be your best guide.
 
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