Songwriting
Whenever I find myself struggling to come up with ideas or going through the process of rewriting/reviewing songs that I have written, I refer to these resources to remind me of the tools and principles of hit songwriting. I highly recommend these resources and hope you learn a lot from these amazing educators.
- “Writing Music for Hit Songs” – Jai Josefs
I actually bought this book probably close to ten years ago and never bothered to read it until very recently. Wish I read it a long time ago. Its probably the best overview of songwriting from a music theory standpoint. There is a lot about harmony, which is an area that most people find boring, but I never realized how important it is to understand at least at a very high level until I read this book.
- “Six Steps to Songwriting Success: The Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Marketing Hit Songs” – Jason Blume
This is also an outstanding overview of songwriting principles and the business of publishing. The focus is different from Jai Josef’s book in that there is very little about music theory or harmony, but this book is amazing and is a must read.
- “The Songwriting Sourcebook: How to Turn Chords Into Great Songs” – Rikky Rooksby
This book is completely about harmony and chord progressions/turnarounds. I found this to extend all the information I learned in Jai Josef’s book and it took the music theory to another level. Its probably harder to understand and it assumes more knowledge, so I would read “Writing Music for Hit Songs” first (and probably a few times before you tackle this one. A great resource for working out chord progressions – it really shows you how to polish chord progressions to make them appropriate for your songs.
This website is probably more like Jason Blume’s book content-wise in that it doesn’t get very heavy into music theory, but its very useful nonetheless. I haven’t read Robin’s book, but I’m sure its outstanding based on the articles I’ve read on her site. She provides a lot of songwriting ideas that perhaps the other books don’t really get into to get you started and inspired.
Hit Theory: The Art and Science of Hit Songs 