There comes a time in most guitarists lives where they want to write original material. Playing your favourite bands’ hits is great fun but writing your OWN songs is one of the most satisfying aspects of guitar playing. A thorough guide to writing songs is Rikky Rooksby’s ‘How to Write Songs on Guitar’.
This is the type of book where you will literaly learn something new every time you open the book. Rooksby delves deep into the four elements of a song – rhythm, melody, harmony and lyrics. In addition there is a chord dictionary, info on how to make a demo recording and a list of recommended albums to listen to. The text is also littered with references to over 1000 hit songs, which helps the theory to sink in and makes for very interesting reading.
I bought this book partly to write songs from scratch, but also to create second guitar parts. The singer in my band often comes to me with a chord structure and lyrics and it is up to me to add a second guitar part. This is not easy to do, but How to Write Songs on Guitar contains plenty of guidance and inspiration for this type of task.
What Will I Learn?
Songwriting Methods
How to write Rhythms, Melodies, Harmonies and Lyrics. Where to start the songwriting process. Breaking out of your usual habits. Using altered tunings (drop d and many more).
Song structures
How to organise the elements of a song – Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Middle Eight, Pre-Chorus, Outro. Rooksby gives many standard structures plus guidance on how to create your own.
Chords
Many chord sequences with examples of popular songs that use them (e.g. I-bVII-IV is used by The Who in the song Won’t Get Fooled Again). Explanation of keys and key changing. Large chord dictionary.
Buy This Book If…
- You want to break out of your regular songwriting style or you’re songs all sound similar.
- You sometimes get a mental block and struggle for ideas or inspiration.
- You are a songwriter or want to start writing songs. There is guaranteed to be something useful here for beginners and advanced alike.
Don’t Buy This Book If…
- You’re an absolute beginner. Get some basic chord changes and rhythm patterns down first.
More Info
Nice one =)) =^_^=
Nice one =)) =^_^=
Very interesting. I think you made valuable and valid points in this writing. I agree with you one hundred percent and am glad I had the opportunity to read this.