Songwriter Forum > The Writing Process

Book recommendations please

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sezmo84@hotmail.com:
Hi,
I have been searching for a good book or CD-ROM. My brother has been writing songs since a young age.

I noticed him looking at lyric writing online  courses but he cant afford them. I have no idea what to look for.

It would be nice to buy him a Christmas present that would help develop his passion if anyone can make any suggestions..
😀

CaliaMoko:
Does he want to write songs (words and melodies) or lyrics only? Pat Pattison has some good books on lyric writing.

adamfarr:
This one might be good: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/25/jeff-tweedy-on-songwriting-the-hardest-part-is-getting-started

TonyW:
I did a course on writing lyrics on Coursera run by Pat Pattison - it was very good and thought provoking (and also free - not sure now).  I bought one of his books subsequently which is also a good reference to lyric writing.

For composing the musical bits I have and can recommend books by Rikky Rooksby (if you compose by guitar).  Also another Cousera programme called Music theory - which amongst giving you a reasonable grounding in the theory talks about how you harmonise and build a chord pattern to fit your melody line OR vice versa if thats your approach.  Again this one is free (I know because I'm repeating it right now)

A real winner for me was an ebook from the Hookpad boys called Hooktheory 1 - it cost me a tenner (might be more now) but it was excellent and explained basic musical theory in terms of pop song hits.

I have a bunch of other stuff but these have proved to be my main stay.

Kind Regards Tony

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