#513192 - 03/27/02 06:48 PM
Songwriting books
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Virtual Jim
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Registered: 01/26/02
Posts: 585
Loc: SF Bay Area
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I'm cusious as to everyone's opinion on these things? Are they a surefire way to predictability or a very useful tool? Somewhere in between?
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#513193 - 03/27/02 07:37 PM
Re: Songwriting books
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Dak Lander
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 01/10/02
Posts: 7728
Loc: Temecula, LoCal, USA
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It's my belief that they are like all other instructional books. They can be tremendous help or do tremendous harm. You must know enough about your situation to be able to glean the information from the books that will help.
A good analogy is golf instruction books. Take the most common problem, slicing the ball. There are hundreds of books, tapes, magazine articles & etc about how to cure the problem. The thing is, many hold conflicting advise and it all boils down to knowing your swing and what flaws you have that cause the slice and then, and only then, you can get the right information to help. Without understanding your swing, you may use the exact opposite technique, tool or swing thought than what you need, and actually make your slice worse.
That same premise holds true for books on songwriting. If you have absolutely no clue as to what you are doing wrong, if anything, the diversity in advise from different writers of books can just confuse the issue. If you have a particular flaw and you know what it is, in conjunction with your other writing attributes/styles, you can then pick the book by a writer that is similar and has advise that pertains to you and your situation.
To just pick up a book, by whom ever, and consider it as gospel is a mistake. Reading several books by different authors will only help if you have an inkling and then you may be able to pull from the differences, what you need. Otherwise it'll just confuse you more.
So, in essence it's my belief that you must know your capabilities and needs before the books will help and then only if that particular book addresses the problems you have, and are aware of.
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#513194 - 03/27/02 09:08 PM
Re: Songwriting books
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LiveMusic
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 02/23/01
Posts: 4727
Loc: Louisiana
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Tell ya what, I cannot see how the first book below could be anything less than a MUST HAVE for any songwriter. But it's not an instruction book. If nothing else, you WILL BE INSPIRED. Just get it. In there are some of the greatest songwriters of all time telling their story of their career and how they work.
"Songwriters on Songwriting" (yep, the name of this forum)
Paul Zollo
"The Craft and Business of Songwriting"
John Braheny
"Writing Better Lyrics"
Pat Pattison
Extra Credit:
"A Hard Day's Write"
Steven Turner
The second one is a very good all-around book and I have several more but this one is good. The last one, it looks pretty good, although I have not completed it.
The last one is a very fun read. It's the "story" behind every Beatles song.
As far as instruction books in general, I'm the type that if there is something I am interested in, I am going to barrage my brain with a lot of research. So, maybe I'm not a good barometer. However, I feel that having read all of these books has helped me. If I would have stopped at Jimmy Webb's "Tunesmith," heck, I'd never write a song. Thank goodness I got beyond that. He's way too picky, IMHO. In fact, I only got about one third throuhg. He's hard as heck to read and I've got a pretty good vocabulary. But he uses big words just to use them, it appears. Words that I have no idea what he means. I don't know where he digs them up because NOBODY uses those words.
I think the most important thing I got from study is to realize that songwriting is more than an art. Yes, songs are written from inspiration. They come out of the cosmos somehow. But the vast majority, it appears that they are written by a skilled writer who has learned the tricks of the trade. That was a REVELATION to me. Heck, I thought to be a writer you had to be exceptionally gifted. Not so. Note that I said skilled, not blessed with some super-human world-class talent. SKILLED... LEARNED.
The reason that EXCITES me is because if it's a skill, I have hope. Because I'm willing to work at it. That's not a problem. If it can be learned, based on other things I have LEARNED to excel at, then that's kind of inspiring to me. I kinda like this songwriting idea. Yeah, maybe I can do this.
Another thing you can gain from reading these books is you can gain confidence. I did, anyway. Because the more I read, the more I could see myself being able to do this but I would recognize traits of other songwriters in myself. I may suck for the first 100 or so that I write but who's to say that I couldn't eventually get real good at it.
AND... if you ever have the notion of shopping a song or having anyone other than yourself record one of your songs, you'd better get the books and see what sells. Because they usually do go by the book. Sorry for the pun.
P.S. One thing I've learned through this reading is how diverse all the songwriters are. You have those who NEVER write until inspired. And then you have those who write on demand. (Think Lennon & McCartney, for one example.) And then you have those who write every single day. (Think Dianne Warren.)
_________________________
> > > smallGig.com < < <
For ~courteous~ musicians
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#513195 - 03/28/02 05:42 AM
Re: Songwriting books
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Dan South
10k Club
Registered: 01/04/02
Posts: 12993
Loc: Metuchen,NJ,UNITED STATES
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Anything that can provide you with inspiring ideas or practical hints is a plus. Sometimes a single idea can make a huge difference.
The downside is that books, articles, multimedia courses, etc. are a one way street. They give you instructions, but they don't provide any feedback to determine whether you've understood those instructions.
Imagine learning to fly an airplane by reading books. Sure, books can provide a lot of information about aeronautics, navigation, weather, etc. But without feedback, you'll never become a competent pilot. Maybe you can read the book and try flying until you get it. Maybe you'll crash. Luckily, songwriting is not as potentially deadly as operating an aircraft, so trial and error might be more feasible for us. Still, there's no substitute for good feedback, whether it's from an audience, an instructor, or a group of your peers.
_________________________
Thanks to all for sharing your wisdom, warmth, and humor. Our time together means a lot, and I should express that more often. I'm sorry that I never got a chance to say these words to DafDuc.
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#513196 - 04/02/02 12:59 AM
Re: Songwriting books
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rick'o
Senior Member
Registered: 10/23/00
Posts: 98
Loc: Brisneyland
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The one that always gets me out'a trouble:
The Songwriters Rhyming Dictionary - Sammy Kahn
It's the biz once you can work out how he phoneticized(?) his chapters
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