The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Art of Songwriting


Book Description

Now newbie songwriters can learn the craft—and sing their own praises online Beginning songwriters can hit the right note by starting out with the basics in this guide, including: • How to create melodies • How to create many different harmonies • Techniques using deliberate rhythm and stylistic changes • How to enable one's songwriting to grow and evolve • How to deal with songwriter's block • The best places to upload one's work for maximum exposure and opportunities




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Songwriting


Book Description

A comprehensive book for today's amateur musician interested in creating and writing his or her own songs, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Songwriting, Second Edition, is the most complete and up-to-date book available. Beating coverage from other series competition, Oscar-winning (and Grammy and Tony award nominated) author Joel Hirschhorn shares his firsthand knowledge of coming up with ideas, rhyming schemes, hooks, melodies, lyrics, and even titles - everything readers need to create their own hit songs! This new edition features coverage of the music business along with the ins and outs of selling a song including working with publishers, producers, artists, managers, accountants, agents, and even attorneys. Best of all, this newest edition features special chapters on genre songwriting - with all new coverage of Latin music, Rock/Blues, Children's music, writing for television, film, and more.




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arranging and Orchestration


Book Description

Instruction and tips for creating arrangements, structuring compositions, and writing for various styles of music.




The Songwriting Secrets Of The Beatles


Book Description

Thirty years after The Beatles split up, the music of Lennon, McCartney, Harrrison and Starkey lives on. What exactly were the magical ingredients of those legendary songs? Why are they still so influential for today's bands? This ground-breaking book sets out to explore The Beatles' songwriting techniques in a clear and readable style. It is aimed not only at musicians but anyone who has ever enjoyed the work of one of the most productive and successful songwriting parterships of the 20th Century. Author Dominic Pedler explores the chord sequences, melodies, harmonies, rhythms and structures of The Beatles' self-penned songs, while challenging readers to enhance their appreciation of the lyrics themselves with reference to the musical context. Throughout the book the printed music and lyrics of The Beatles' songs appear alongside the text, illustrating the author's explanations. The Songwriting Secrets Of The Beatles is an essential addition to Beatles literature - a new and perceptive analysis of both the music and the lyrics written and performed by what Paul McCartney still calls 'a really good, tight little band'.




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Bass Guitar


Book Description

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Bass Guitar will show you exactly how to master the fundamentals of bass and develop your own playing style. In this Complete Idiot's Guide, you get: detailed advice on everything you need to learn to play bass, from choosing the right equipment to playing and improvising on your own; the low-down on scales, chords, arpeggios, and more; clear explanations that will have you reading tablature and music notation in no time; tips on getting the most out of your practice sessions." - back cover.




Musical Composition


Book Description

An invaluable introduction to the art and craft of musical composition from a distinguished teacher and composer This essential introduction to the art and craft of musical composition is designed to familiarize beginning composers with principles and techniques applicable to a broad range of musical styles, from concert pieces to film scores and video game music. The first of its kind to utilize a style-neutral approach, in addition to presenting the commonly known classical forms, this book offers invaluable general guidance on developing and connecting musical ideas, building to a climax, and other fundamental formal principles. It is designed for both classroom use and independent study.




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Rock Guitar


Book Description

Provides instruction for playing rock guitar including reading music, playing chords, scales, and improvising.




The Songwriter's Idea Book


Book Description

In her first two books, Sheila Davis classified the major song forms and enduring principles that have been honored for decades by America's foremost songwriters. Those books have become required reading in music courses from NYU to UCLA. In The Songwriters Idea Book, Davis goes one step further, giving you 40 strategies for designing distinctive songs. You'll break new ground in your own songwriting by learning about the inherent relationship between language style, personality type and the brain. • You'll go, step by step, through the creative process as you activate, incubate, separate and discriminate. • You'll learn to use the whole-brain techniques of imaging, brainstorming and clustering. • You'll expand your skilled use of figurative language with paragrams, metonyms, synecdoche and antonomasia. • You'll be challenged to design metaphors, form symbols, make puns and coin words. • And, you'll learn how to prevent writer's block, increase your productivity and maintain your creative flow. Over 100 successful student lyrics from pop, country, cabaret, and theater serve as role-models to illustrate the "whole-brain" songwriting process.




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition


Book Description

Write the songs that make the whole world sing. A step-by-step guide to writing music, this book shows musicians how to compose simple chord progressions and melodies, and leads them through more advanced compositional techniques and musical forms. Designed for composers of all types of music, it includes instruction on composing stand-alone melodies, using different scales and modes, themes and variations, orchestration, and composing for film, theater, and videogames. -Perfect complement to The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Songwriting -Includes a comprehensive glossary of musical terms, as well as an appendix of various computer-based composition tools -Easy-to-use oversize trim




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing the Ukulele


Book Description

While other books get caught up in the novelty of the ukulele-how to accessorize them, who the best ukulele players are, etc.-this book covers in crystal clear detail everything beginners need to know to enjoy playing this tiny, four-stringed instrument. From strumming and finger picking to playing different genres and playing as part of a group, this book covers all the bases. And it includes a rich audio CD complete with music samples and ukulele exercises.