Ask The Readers: What is your favorite songwriting book?
By Don • Aug 7th, 2008 • Category: Songwriting Books/DVDs, Songwriting Resources, Songwriting Tools
We’ve reviewed several great songwriting books on Blogging Muses, and some not so great. So we wanted to know what Blogging Muses readers’ favorite songwriting books were.
My personal favorites are How to Write Songs on Guitar: A Guitar-Playing and Songwriting Course, and John Braheny’s The Craft & Business of Songwriting
What I would like to do is put together a list of Blogging Muses “Reader Recommended” books on a Resources Page (a page I am working on now) and would like your input.
To participate, put your favorite book in the comments below. Also provide a one or two paragraph summary of what you like about the book.
If you have a website of your own you would like to promote, put that in the URL field and I’ll definitely give you a link back to your site as a thank you for helping build the resources page.
Authors
Even if you are an author of a book and want some self promotion, that is fine too, just put together a real good one or two paragraph summary of what you think makes your book great.
This should be fun. Ideally I am hoping some readers will introduce other Blogging Muses readers to books they might not have hear about before. I think everyone will benefit.
Happy Songwriting!
Don is the founder, writer and editor of BloggingMuses.com. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina, USA.
Contact Don | All posts by Don
Here's Some (Theoretically) Related Posts
We’re looking for people to review songwriting books.(Editor's Note: At this time we are only asking for reviewers in the continental United States. Sorry!) As the traffic and
Hits and Heartbreakers Songwriting Book Released
Ryan Michael Galloway has released his songwriting book Hits and Heartbreakers - Songwriting Fundamentals for Love or Money. Clocking in at
A year ago in songwriting. What were we writing about April 2006?
Another month down and another month into 2007. It seems like just yesterday we were entering these items for April
Book Review: Lyrics - Writing Better Words For Your Songs
Last year we reviewed the book How To Write Songs on Guitar by Rikky Rooksby. It still stands up as
Songwriters Tech Roundup
We live in an age that is a technological boon for songwriters. Over the last 5 months we have highlighted
Jimmy Webb’s Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting
is a great book! It provides an interesting and inspiring account of one of the great American songwriters at work.
Webb can get pedantic at times–he is a stickler for precise rhymes, for instance, and doesn’t think much of songwriters who have to resort to near rhymes. This comes from his deep admiration of the craft of songwriting–e.g., the Cole Porter style of lyrical perfection. But sometimes what needs to be said trumps the songwriter’s craft, and the right rhyme just isn’t the right word.
Still Webb’s book is an excellent read, and it will certainly inspire your songwriting!
Thanks for the recommendation on the first book on writing songs on guitar.
.
I have personally enjoyed Songwriters On Songwriting by Paul Zollo
I feel that everyone who is genuinely interested in good music should take a read.
Zollo intimately interviews some of the most interesting songwriters that
we have ever listened to (Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, R.E.M, Steely Dan, Harry Nilsson
even Lenny Kravitz and Alanis Morrisette..)
and asks some fantastic questions about their influences, their lyrics
, songwriter process and about their life in relation to their writing. Read it.
Also, Frustrated Songwriters Guide.. a very interesting book
with a method you could use to write songs.. It basically enhances
the concept of using more of you “creator” than “critic” and
has some methods of getting yourself in the mode of writing.
like the book above, this book is more of a practical approach
on intuition and feeling than of specific chords or theory.