Product Description

The most thorough guide to songwriting for the amateur musician. Written by an Oscar-winning and Grammy and Tony award nominated author, this is the most comprehensive book for today's amateur musician who is interested in creating and writing his or her own songs. It reveals everything the reader needs to know, including coming up with ideas, rhyming schemes, hooks, melodies, and lyrics; selling songs; working in the industry; and even coming up with titles.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65138 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-04
• Released on: 2004-05-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781592572113
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Back Cover
Song has been a part of people's culture since the beginning. From classical and rock and roll to country and jazz-- there are hundreds of thousands of budding and established songwriters burning to write the next great hit. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Songwriting is the one-stop resource for all inspiring songwriters to learn how much musical training is needed, how to put together the basics of a song for various popular genres, how to tailor songs to different industries (TV and film), how to get great ideas, where to find collaborators, publishers and agents and how the Internet is impacting the world of songwriting.

About the Author
Joel Hirschhorn is the winner of two Academy Awards for Best Song. His songs have sold more than 93 million records and have been recorded by such artists as Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Roy Orbison, Frank Sinatra, and Julian Lennon. He has scored numerous movies, has garnered several additional Oscar nominations for Best Song, and has been nominated for two Tony Awards for his musical scores. He does regular scores for the television shows JAG, South Park, and The Simpsons.

Customer Reviews

Fooled this idiot
This, in spite of the title, is not a book about writing songs. It's a book about being a songwriter, about the music industry as it applies to songwriting. If you're not familiar with the writing of songs but would like to learn the basics for fun if not profit, look elsewhere. Where else, I can't tell you. Certainly one would learn more from studying a songbook of hit songs.

Not to say there isn't some helpful stuff in the book. There's a chapter on rhyme that couldn't hurt the aspiring songwriter. But most of the information is about how to break into the business with a smash hit, how to avoid the pitfalls you'll encounter on your upward journey to the big time. The instructions on playing the lottery are simpler and free. Same odds.

First rate
I bought this excellent book after my therapist encouraged me to explore my creative side after my wife left me and I lost my job. I may be "quite frankly an insupportable liability to the business" and an "utterly lamentable" bedfellow, but thanks to Citron's tremendous guide I'm tapping a rich vein of material and banging out some fine blues numbers. Soon I plan on getting involved in a whisky-fuelled knife fight in a flop-house in Mississippi for messing with someone's woman.

Excellent Songwriting Guide
After reading "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Songwriting" I wanted to pick up a pen or go to a piano and write. The author, Joel Hirschhorn, made me feel I could compose a hit. He also has great chapters on record production, as well as helpful lists on who to contact when you want to sell your songs.