Complete Idiot's Guide to Songwriting [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Joel Hirschhom (Author), Joel Hirschhorn (Author) "I remember my mother standing over me, urging me to practice the Beethoven piece my teacher had assigned me for that week..." (more)
Key Phrases: visual lifestyle, tune writer, adult fairy tales, Hirschhorn's Hints, Trouble Clef, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
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.

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Alpha; illustrated edition edition (April 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028641442
• ISBN-13: 978-0028641447
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,009,322 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fooled this idiot, October 29, 2001

By A Customer

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.

76 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First rate, October 15, 2001

By	Henry Raddick (London UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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.

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I'm an idiot for buying this..., March 23, 2005

By	TommyT (South Africa) - See all my reviews

I have played guitar for a few years and thought that writing/singing songs would be fun. So I popped into the bookstore and got this. I thought it would be about songwriting. It's mostly not. Much padding, like long lists of titles, that help get the authors point across. Eg: "Use colors in your titles" Pink Cadillac, Red Red Wine, Blue Monday etc etc etc. In columns to fill space.

In short, most of the book is a pep talk, about how you, the reader, "have what it takes", if you change your outlook on life. Watch movies, read books etc all while trying to see the songwriting angle. This is sad, I'd think.

All i wanted was the craft side of it. The "structural rules", verse chorus verse, nuts and bolts. And some analysis of great songs. None here. Just boring namedropping, and "I'm a successful songwriter, who keeps an eye on other songs". He quotes some truely awful songs/artists, which is also off putting.

Avoid.

I dont want to write a commercial mega-smash for radio, sung by a plastic pop star. I want to write campfire ditties. This book discusses some obvious little "cheats" (which is how they feel), to get your songs to appeal to the masses.

To be honest, anyone who truely has the right stuff to be a mega-writer, probably won't need a book. (let alone one with the label IDIOT on the cover)

Rubbish