How To Write Songs On Guitar
Published September 12, 2003
You would think that a book called "How To Write Songs On Guitar" would be relatively simple and straightforward, but you would be wrong.
Maybe you would notice that it's sub-titled "A guitar-playing and songwriting course" and would think that it's instead a more rigorous step-by-step guide to playing and writing songs on guitar. That would be wrong too.
This book isn't a course or a "how to" guide, but instead a grab bag of ideas and observations about songwriting, mostly expressed using a lot of music theory. If you don't know much about music theory, this book probably isn't going to give you much help. While I personally can figure out various musical things on paper if pressed, I don't tend to apply it much in the normal course of songwriting. I'm open to learning, but what explanations there were in this book were very brief and not much help.
There are a lot of chord dictionaries and big lists of progressions from other songs. And while the author does touch on some classics and the occasional more modern pop hit in the progression lists, I wasn't familiar with the majority of the songs he held up as examples. And for some reason in most cases only the title of the song is provided as well, making it difficult to track them down the songs if I wanted to.
Perhaps I am biased by being a music dummy, but the sections I enjoyed the most were the ones that talked clearly about songwriting techniques without a lot of theory. The chapters on songwriting methods and song structures were interesting and had some ideas in them that I might not have come up with on my own, but they were very short and probably not worth the price of the book.
All in all, I wouldn't recommend this book to beginners thinking about giving songwriting a shot. I might recommend it to people comfortable in music theory who have no idea about songwriting, but I've never met anyone like that before.
- How To Write Songs On Guitar
- Published: September 12, 2003
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- Section: Books
- Filed Under: Books: Arts, Books: Reference
- Writer: Brad Sucks
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Comments on this articleComments
an interesting book to check out about songwriting is Songwriters On Songwriting.
i just loving reading about the thought processes involved.
Thanks for the suggestion Mark. That one's actually on my wish list along with Tunesmith, Melody in Songwriting and for some reason Money Chords.
I've never really run across a book on playing guitar which was useful (Mel Bay, I'm gonna kick your ass).
The best experience I had was with a Toronto Board of Education continuing education class on Jazz guitar 20 hours instruction (10 - 2hr classes) with 15 students for $25. A bargoon, because the best way to learn to play is learning to play with and in front of others.
Also, the music is less lame, it gives you confidence in trying to master material you never thought you could play (eg Kind of Blue).
Unfortunatly, the programme seems to have been cut because the government is trying to "fix" the education system by destroying it.
If more people learned to play music, and had the proper resources, I think the world would be a better place.
forget all of those instructional-type books...the one to get is Ralph Denyer's The Guitar Handbook.
lots of cool info in there from beginner chord charts to blues playing, open keys, etc.
IMHO, the one resource a songwriter needs to become a better songwriter is: the White Album by the Beatles. That just about covers it. Electric Ladyland might also be of use. On the other hand, so might a Ramones record. And how bout Cash? Oh yeah, and...Nevermind. Lists are futile.
The best way to improve songwriting skills is to listen to as many diff types of songwriters as possible. That will definitely make a difference.
that last comment is right on. there are parallels in 'regular' writing. there aren't a whole lot of published writers who aren't voracious readers.
The best way to improve your songwriting skills is to write some songs.
Brad Sucks writes terrific songs. Don't believe his "music dummy" subterfuge for a second.
I know what he's looking for though. Sometimes you feel like what you're doing just can't be "it". There has to be more, something you're missing. Usually, it's a decent bridge. So get cracking. Need inspiration? Need a deadline? Need somebody to kick your ass?
www.songfight.org
:)
JB
I have read the book. As some guy said above, It is really not suitable for a beginner.
THIS IS NOT WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
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Thanks Brad and welcome - suck you do not.