Compose Yourself!: Songwriting and Creative Musicianship in Four Easy Lessons

by David Alzofon

Improvising a melody, crafting a catchy tune -- doesn't that take a ton of talent? "Talent helps, but anyone can learn to speak the language of music." That's the message of Compose Yourself, a radically new course in musical creativity inspired by the author's lessons with Jef Raskin, the UC San Diego music professor and Silicon Valley guru who created the Macintosh computer, and renowned jazz guitarist/educator Howard Roberts, founder of Musicians Institute, Los Angeles."Compose Yourself" is currently being serialized by American Songwriter magazine. The author is posting instructional videos that match the content of the book on YouTube on the "Songwriting ABCs" channel. These videos show the reader how to read music, while the dialog games bring theory to life and raise your "Musical I.Q." (Imagination Quotient). The 198-page method book was written with intermediate guitarists in mind (all examples are tabbed), but works on any instrument and any musical style. Ideas are copiously illustrated with brief, easy-to-play examples from Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, and hundreds of references to modern songs that you can easily find in a couple of clicks on the Internet. In the final lesson, you put it all together to write your own pop song or instrumental.Short on ideas? Not a problem. Compose Yourself offers MC2 ("MC-squared") -- a secret weapon for effortlessly tapping into your subconscious creative powers.David Alzofon writes "Measure for Measure," a feature column for American Songwriter magazine. Five free e-books are offered in conjunction with the column, which use the songs of The Beatles as fuel for thought. He is also the author of "Mastering Guitar" (Simon & Schuster) and a former Assistant Editor for Guitar Player Magazine. He currently teaches guitar in San Diego, California.

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 21, 2011