How to Write Songs on Guitar: A Guitar-Playing and Songwriting Course [Paperback]

Rikky Rooksby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

Now anyone can write and play their own songs on the guitar - with no prior training! This inspirational handbook teaches readers how to play guitar, while providing a solid foundation in songwriting techniques, using well-known songs as examples, easy-to-follow text, and graphics that explain and demonstrate lyrics, melody, harmony and rhythm. This book's straightforward style will have even those who've never played a guitar or written a song making music with ease.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A useful source of knowledge for those just beginning with either writing or guitar." -- Dirty Linen

"An extremely valuable source book for wannabe songwriters as well as a highly readable journey of the popular song." -- Guitarist

About the Author

Rikky Rooksby is author of several best selling how-to books for guitar players. A guitar columnist for Making Music, he has also written for Guitar Techniques, Bassist, and other magazines.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Miller Freeman Books; 1 edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879306114
• ISBN-13: 978-0879306113
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #677,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

234 of 238 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this and you will write songs! November 22, 2001

By K. Pace

Format:Paperback

I wish I had this book 5 years ago. I would be so much further along.

This book is similar to a boy scout manual. Turn to any page and you *will* find something vital to making music. The author never explicitly supports any one way of playing guitar or writing a song. On the contrary, the book teaches "if it works, and you like it, then who can say something is done wrong." The one criticism I can recall is when the author lambasts singers, esp. Whitney Houston, for endless and mindless scales decorating every other word in their songs.

If you have the patience to really STUDY and DIGEST this book, it will teach you the following:

*Basic chord shapes (many of which are left out of other books)

*Non-Basic chords (but later in the book and only the ones that you will actually use. WooHoo! No more Fm13b5b7 chords cluttering the world!)

*All of the chords in each key (You had better make a copy of this page and use that or you will wear out this page and lose it. I promise. Substitutions for the blues and hard rock are also included and explained.)

*Exhaustive 'study' of the basic chord progressions (e.g., I VI IV V, I V IV III, etc. and many examples of songs from the 50s to Fatboy Slim so you know what they sound like. The 'study' part is mostly left to you. This makes practice much more interesting. Play "Message in a Bottle" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit" instead of "Greensleeves". You are given the progressions for thousands of songs. Find the right key and the words and commence to rockin'.)

*Lots of tips on creating non-standard progressions (if it sounds good and you like it...)

*How others go about using inversions and keychanges in the real world (worth the price just for this info)

*Tips on lyrics (Don't sing "I Love You", rather sing "I Love You But You're Broke". In other words, it sends you on tangents and helps you develop your basic thoughts into more interesting lyrics. "I Love You But You Ran Off With A Monkey On My Birthday")

Like the other guy said, if you have ever felt like you could write a song but you are clueless as to how to go about it, this book will pull a song out of you.

Since I bought this book a year ago, I have it open every time I practice. My mouth waters every time I touch it because I know I will find something new and very useful. It is absolutely the most information I have found in one place.

I really can't say enough about this book, but I'm tired of typing and I think I've gotten my point across...

Oh yeah, buy this book.

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best songwriting book for guitar! February 18, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

In order to benefit from this book, several things should be true:

1) you should be a guitar player (duh) although the progressions apply to all instruments

2) you should already have some knowledge of chords and basic theory.

3) you should be somewhat caught up with and interested in current popular music from the 1950's through the early 2000's, since the author cites songs as examples of certain types of chord progressions. If you haven't heard the songs, the examples will be pretty meaningless. A companion CD would be great addition.

The book is logically organized and is printed on high quality color stock. I sat down and played through ALL the material once so I could associate certain patterns with the way they sound. I also refer to the book a lot when writing, since it has all kinds of useful charts and tools. If my studio burned down, this would be one of the first books I'd replace.

If you are a guitar player and are interested in expanding your knowledge of songwriting, this book is GOLD. Other books that I would put in the "indispensable" category with this one would be "Fretboard Logic" by Bill Edwards (learning the fretboard inside out) and "The Advancing Guitarist" by Mick Goodrick (playing philiosophy, motivation, advanced concepts). The later book is primarily geared towards the accomplished guitarist and tends towards jazz and fusion playing so may not be suitable for everyone.

49 of 52 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Valuable Resource May 2, 2005

By John Noodles

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

First off, understand this: This is not--nor is it meant to be--a guitar-playing instruction manual. If you aren't already familiar with guitar basics, you'll probably be mystified by at least some of what Rooksby presents here. He devotes a great deal of space, for instance, to discussing various chord progressions, but he does so almost entirely in the key of C & Am--if you don't know how to figure out how to go from, say, a II, V, I, VI, I, VI progression in C to the same in E (or whatever), you'll either be lost, or at the very least stuck in C until you get some theory basics under your belt. You don't need a lot, but you do need some.

Also, don't expect to find instruction on playing rhythm, or lead, or this style or that style, or scale patterns.... There are plenty of good books dealing with this sort of instruction; this one isn't one of those. And it doesn't pretend to be one of them. It might touch on some of these areas, but only as it relates to songwriting, specifically songwriting on guitar.

But this book does provide a wealth of progressions, and examples of popular songs that use those progressions. Rooksby also discusses harmony, rhythms, intervals, modes, and alternate tunings. In fact, he presents a BUNCH of alternate tunings, not just the most widely-used G/A, D/E, and drop D tunings (the most popular). He also provides an abundance of chords for each tuning--very handy!

The book also presents a useful, in-depth discussion of key changes within songs, what works, what doesn't.

There are also chapters on composing lyrics, structuring songs, finding subjects, avoiding cliches, making demos.

This is a great resource for any guitarist who already knows the basics, not just songwriters. If you are interesting in writing, or even just playing, popular music, this is a great book.