Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

This book is full of inspiration and great ideas. This book is also written in a format that allows you to flip to any section without being confused. Some of the chords in the book I have never seen before and have added twists to my music. This book suggests several different songwriting techniques to use as well as songwriting quotes from 60's rockers like Paul McCartney and more modern writers like Kurt Cobain. After reading this book, I was inspired enough to write three great songs within a couple weeks that I have played for my band, who like them. An important note is that this book will instantly transform you into a songwriter. This book is more of an inspiration handbook that suggests things for everyone. It is a book of suggestions and allows you to set the standards, so you don't get stuck in a rut. There are also no formulas in the book to write songs so you can write for any style such as rock or the blues.

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.

This is the best (and most comprehensive/complete) songwriting book in existence. Seriously. I am a 26-year old multi-instrumentalist who has studied my fair share of songwriting books and techniques... I listen to, write, and study virtually every style of music (even oldschool country and some R+B).

What Rikky Rooksby has done is create an easily understood book on modern (and not-so-modern) GOOD songwriting... how to make interesting chord progressions, how to write memorable melodies, what songs use certain chord progressions (from the popular Beatles stuff all the way to The Smiths (!!) and Sixpence None The Richer!) It's the only book I have seen that spotlights lesser-known amazing legendary alternative groups and their songwriting. Too many books these days show you how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.... what the hell is that? Who wants to learn songs like that? Rikky's book focuses on why the great pop/alternative/folk songs in history ARE great, why they work, what elements make them work, etc... you wanna write good solid songs that people will remember? Catchy, full of great hooks, etc... This book is IT.

In the back of the book he even lists 24 CD's you should buy (and/or study) to improve your songwriting, and he cannot be more ON when it comes to what he chooses:

1. The Beatles- 1967-1970
2. Bob Dylan- Blonde on Blonde
3. Beach Boys- Pet Sounds
4. Love- Forever Changes
5. Burt Bacharach- The Look Of Love
6. The Band- The Band
7. Motown Chartbusters Volumes I-V
8. Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits
9. Led Zeppelin IV
10. Bruce Springsteen- The Wild the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle
11. Joni Mitchell- Hejira
12. Carpenters- Their Greatest Hits
13. Queen II (EXCELLENT choice)
14. Fleetwood Mac- Rumors (yet another excellent choice)
15. ABBA Gold
16. Siouxsie and the Banshees- Juju
17. Bob Marley- Legend
18. REM- Life's Rich Pageant
19. Kate Bush- The Sensual World
20. Madonna- The Immaculate Collection (quite possibly the most perfect pop record EVER)
21. Nirvana- Nevermind (it's about time SOMEONE recognized Kurt Cobain's genius)
22. Jeff Buckley- Grace (yet another AMAZING artist who tragically lost his life way before he got a chance to impact the music world)
23. Bjork- Post (absolute brilliance)
24. Radiohead- OK Computer

It's such a diverse list, from stuff you might hate that your parents or older sister love (Beach Boys/The Band), to stuff that my generation fully appreciates (Nirvana, Siouxsie, Radiohead, Kate Bush)... even though I love the oldschool stuff, too... the best songwriters draw from ALL decades of music.

Rikky also has a section where well-known alternative and pop songwriters talk about the songwriting process (Morrissey, Tori Amos, Elvis Costello, Clapton, Peter Buck, etc.)... and he has a section that highlights random pop and alternative songs and why they WORK.... why they're great... I cannot say enough about how brilliantly-written this book is... I would love to contact Mr. Rooksby and let him know how much this book has helped me.

The book is VERY inexpensive (for how much stuff it covers!!!) and I highly suggest it to anyone and EVERYONE, especially an alternative rocker. One band I wished he would have featured in his book is Jets To Brazil... now that is a band which knows about hooks, great lyrics/chord changes... songs that will be remembered for a thousand years. But still.... Rikky pretty much covered EVERYTHING... seriously.

I have been playing guitar off and on for about four years. I've learned a LOT from this book)..... you won't be disappointed if you pick this book up, seriously.

I hope everyone out there reads this review and buys it... it's just without a doubt, something you cannot do without, if you're serious about songwriting (on guitar or ANY other instrument).

I've bought half a dozen guitar chord books over the years, always trying to figure out just why something I play on guitar sounds good/interesting/different to me. Most of those "2000+ Chords!" books had none of the chords I played. Not only did this book actually contain those chords (a coincidence? it's not at all a chord dictionary), it helped me understand their relationships to one another.

The only thing that would make this book better is if the publisher could get a deal with the 1,000+ songs referenced by the book so I could get them all in MP3 format on a single DVD. Then I could instantly follow the theory and the practice in my practice.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's so dang COMPLETE. I've never seen anything like it! If you're a songwriter this book is a MUST HAVE. One warning: this book isn't for raw beginners. You should have basic knowledge of guitar and song structure before going in, otherwise you'll quickly bog down in unfamiliar terms and become frustrated. But for those who have been working on guitar and songwriting and have hit a plateau (you know what I'm talking about -- when you're using the same techniques, progressions, and melodies over and over again and you can't seem to break out of it) this book will inspire you and give you the tools to do better/different things.

I've spent quite a bit of money on songwriting books, yet this seems to be the only book I use anymore. It won't teach you how to play guitar (tuning, how to hold the guitar, etc.), rather it assumes you have a basic understanding of the guitar and moves forward from there.

Whether you know only how to strum three chords, or whether you're a walking chord dictionary and can shred a 12 minute solo--if you want to write songs this book is for you. Rooksby goes over everything you could possibly want to know about constructing a song. The information in this book is comprehensive, well paced, and divided up in a logical, easy to follow way. There are also lots of well-illustrated and very helpful colored diagrams.

If you have a guitar and have even an elementary knowledge of the instrument--if you want to learn how to write songs on it you need this book. It will take you from hummer and strummer to legitimate songwriter. I can't recommend it enough. This is my Bible for songwriting.

To be honest, I've owned this book forever but after seeing someone ask about it on another forum, I just wanted to log in here and write a quick review of it as a warning to potential customers because I found it so poorly executed. This book basically consists of Rooksby very quickly presenting a topic in overly simple terms and then citing hundreds of examples of existing known songs that are supposed to illustrate his idea. This sounds like a great idea in principle but in execution it all falls apart. The examples read like pure fluff and do not cover any detail whatsoever, he does not even go into high level things like chord progressions, etc, from the examples. I presume this is due to copyright restrictions, etc. It would have made much more sense to license a few decent examples and really show how they illustrate the point. Or heck, the book is about song writing, why not actually WRITE a few over the course of the book??

The CD that came with the book is literally content-free, too. There's almost nothing on it. Again, this is in spite of all of the external music cited (some of it obscure) and due to the lack of specifics in the book. The CD can literally be thrown away without harming use of the book. It appears to be included in the book as reassurance that there is something there... i.e. a marketing move more than a useful resource for the customer.

So, really, in spite of the hundreds of general examples cited in the book, there is not a single specific detailed piece of information I can remember off hand. Ie. almost no tab, chord diagrams, or sheet music style content. Almost nothing specific about the guitar's interaction with the rhythm section and the specifics of writing for the rhythm section or vocal melody are covered either. And of course, the tell-tale item: nothing is composed/written by Rooksby for the book.

Looking at the presentation, its very slick. The book looks nice, the layout is great, the writing style is enthusiastic, its easy to WANT to like it but when it comes down to it it's good looking book that doesn't achieve its objective. I regretted the time I spent reading this book hoping for it to get better... Thankfully it's extremely short too, but I won't even bother going there at this point. ;)

So, basically, this book is just flat out not useful and the time spent looking for a different, more suitable, book on the topic will be rewarded many times over.

Also, avoid Rooksby's "Riffs" book as well, it suffers nearly the exact same set of problems as this one.

This is a must have for any guitar player trying to write songs, especially the singer / songwriter type. This book is filled with ideas for songs and how to incorporate the guitar into your songwriting. What I like most about this book was the numerous chord progressions listed and what mood each progression can create. It gives examples of songs that use the progressions and what genre of music they fit best. I loved this book and use it regularly. If you are looking to write music and lyrics this is a must.