Righting Wrongs in Writing Songs

Book excerpt: This book gives both aspiring and seasoned songwriters a powerful new approach to writing songs, focusing on common obstacles in the songwriting process and techniques to help songwriters overcome them. Each chapter goes to the root of a specific songwriting problem and provides exercises to help readers over the hurdles and put their new skills to work. Topics include writing approach, purpose, structure, melodic significance and construction, basic music theory, word meaning, word design and arrangement, chords, and how they are all pieced together. Along the way, a song is created to act as a case study and a demonstration of what each exercise can result in. The lessons are fun, informal, and include fresh suggestions and exercises born out of the author's experience in teaching songwriting at the college level. The book's companion website provides audio clips to accompany the relevant exercises and examples presented in the book. This book is able to cover all of the major aspects of songwriting while keeping everything entertaining and enlightening. It really doesn't matter what level of a song writer that you are . . . I very highly recommend it. - Seattle Post-Intelligencer