Product Description

Songwriting: A Complete Guide to the Craft is both a comprehensive course for beginning and experienced songwriters and a rich source of new ideas, inspiration, and tricks of the trade for those who have already achieved professional standing. This fresh new edition not only contains all of the original volume's cogent advice on how to write the always-popular genres - the country song, the ballad, and the love song - but has been revised to include: * Examples of hard rock, acid, heavy metal, bubblegum, hip-hop, salsa, rap, gangsta, reggae, ska, soul, and many other of today's most recorded styles * Finding a song concept, distilling the hook, choosing a form, adding harmony, and selecting rhythm * An appendix telling how to copyright, computerize, notate, record, and sell your song * Full glossary of musical and songwriting terms, an explanation of rap-speak with a useful section on rhyme for rap songs, many musical examples of well-known songs, and a complete index Unlike other books, Songwriting emphasizes the art - without being arty - and technique of creating a song. For the novice, Stephen Citron goes step-by-step through the writing of a song presupposing no prior knowledge of notation, harmony, rhythmic values, or rhyme. For the more experienced songwriter, Songwriting will serve as a one-stop reference and as an endless source of fresh ideas.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #686068 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Released on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 356 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780879103576
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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About the Author
Stephen Citron (Los Angeles) is a composer, lyricist, and lecturer. He is also the author of Noel and Cole: The Sophisticates, as well as books on Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Weber, Oscar Hammerstein, and Jerry Herman.

Customer Reviews

Dated, but contains some interesting materials
This is a very engaging book, and is very enjoyable to read, though it definitely shows its age--the examples only run up through the early to mid 80s. If you are looking for all the latest information about current styles, this isn't your book.

Having said that, this is an extremely interesting book that has its roots primarily in classic Broadway musicals, and the kind of timeless songwriting that created standards that have lasted for generations (though other genres, from blues to country to rock, are also covered).

There's a lot of discussion of lyrics, rhyme schemes, various themes for songs, and the different structural parts of a song, but not as much discussion of writing a song line-by-line as Sheila Davis's excellent book on lyric writing.

There's also what seems to me to be an extremely thorough section on melodies, chords, harmonies, and common chord progressions. He discusses ways to fix up a stock melody, and even discusses when to use different intervals, and what they accomplish. I can't compare this with Jai Josefs's book--which I have heard good things about--because that is out of print as of this writing, and I haven't been able to locate a copy yet.

If you are just looking for a template to use to create songs that sound like what's on the radio, this book isn't your best choice. But if you want a broader background which you can then adapt yourself to styles that interest you, this is an excellent book to have.

Basic and More Advanced Songwriting in One Book
I am not a songwriting professional, but thanks to thoroughly reading Citron's book, and skimming "You Can Write A Song" by Amy Appleby (and utilizing internet chord and scale building resources), I have written five songs. It is a fun experience to write a song for the first time.

Since I am at the very beginning of my songwriting hobby, I look for books that explain the basics clearly, but also allow room for growth with more advanced techniques and chord usage. I also want to know the music theory behind the lessons, so that in the future I can write without the formulas provided in the books. With the exception of Citron's book, I have rarely found a songwriting book that moves beyond basic music theory. In the roughly 150 pages Citron devotes to music, he teaches rhythm, scales, chords, harmony, and more, so that you will know what a C6 "chord" is, and what the Lydian mode is, even if you don't care. He also teaches melody-building by starting with a motive, developing into a phrase, and finally into a period, which is a quite organized way to focus ideas. Maybe all of this is not necessary for a beginning (or straight rock) songwriter, but in an age where every Joe and Jane write songs, knowing more than the basics might put you at an advantage if you wish to make a career out of it.

Citron also covers lyrics. The first 125 pages are devoted to crafting lyrics (construction and form, types of song, rhyme, and word usage). He discusses how various styles have developed, such as rock and jazz. He covers important topics like accents, rhyme schemes, and poetical forms. At the end, he has a helpful glossary.

Overall, this book is appropriate for the beginning songwriter (with some musical experience). While much of what Citron writes is indeed for the more intermediate songwriter, he also covers the basics, explaining time signatures, note values, accidentals, etc. This is why I bought and enjoy this book: he explains the basics and then takes you to a higher level if you wish. If you don't care about ninth chords, modal scales, or other more advanced topics, then read it and forget it, but even some of the best rock, folk, and country writers have used more advanced chords and scales. Ultimately it took me getting out a keyboard, setting its rhythm, and playing chords to get me from reading about songwriting to actually writing. However, once I took that step, Citron's book proved very helpful in getting my songs ready. One drawback is that the book is from the 1980s, and he doesn't cover the newer genres. Another is that he covers so many genres that those seeking rock or country writing might not find the specifics they need. However, the fundamentals are the fundamentals.

Informative but dated
On the positive side, this book does have a lot of interesting content and does contain useful information on form, lyrics, harmony etc. A lot of the material is quite dated, however, and the focus of the book is clearly on pop songs and the musical theater. If you are mainly interested in writing such material, you will enjoy this book. On the other hand, if you are more like a singer-songwriter, in the Bob Dylan mold, or a rocker of U2 caliber, some of the advice in this book will seem anachronistic. Much of the content is quite dated and some of the interpretation of what the author considers "modern" music (i.e. post-1950s) is outright laughable and often inaccurate. An updated appendix which includes things like "punk" and "rap" is included, but is too superficial and generalizing to be of any use. While coverage of old material like Cole Porter, Hart and Hammerstain and the like is very good, the author is showing his disdain for anything more contemporary than Stephen Sondheim, and even Bob Dylan, the most important American lyricist since 1960 is barely mentioned. I still enjoyed reading this book, but as a guide to songwriting (esp. lyrics), it is not particurly useful.