Songwriting Success: How to Write Songs for Fun and (Maybe) Profit

by Michael Lydon

What makes a lyric memorable or a melody catchy? Should I start with the music first or the lyrics? Does the chorus come before the verse? Writing songs requires so many music and language skills that the beginner is often overwhelmed. Songwriting Success breaks down the craft of melody and lyric writing into easily digested lessons that anyone can follow, regardless of their musical knowledge. Michael Lydon shows the beginning songwriter how to integrate the craft's many skills into a seamless artistic and commercial whole. Songwriting Success includes a special CD taking the budding songwriter who can't read music (or prefers to learn by listening) step-by-step through the songwriting process, from initial idea through crafting melodic hooks and catchy choruses to creating a final 'demo' version for marketing the song. From putting pen to paper to getting your song heard, Songwriting Success offers a quick, fun, and useful introduction to the world of songwriting.

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Sophie Bowns · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was reading it from a lyrical / lyricist point of view. It was definitely aimed at musicians rather than writers.

[David Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is definitely for beginners, so I'd probably look elsewhere if you have any songwriting experience at all. It's got some good general information about all aspects of songwriting. I thought the section on melody had some good tips and also some interesting observations about the process of coming up with and further developing a melody.

The section on song forms was interesting but not terribly detailed.

I glanced through the first section on lyrics and noted some very good examples.

The very first chapter in the book addresses the topic of learning to read music. I wouldn't think it would be very easy for someone to learn to read music out of a book, but I think it might just be possible with this book. It's very well written, sticks to the basics and explains things very nicely.