Songwriting : a complete guide to the craft
(Book)

Preface to the new edition -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- First considerations -- Concept -- Which comes first, melody or lyrics? -- Collaboration -- Finding and working with a collaborator -- How much technical training do you need? -- Supplies -- Part 1: Lyrics -- 1: Construction and form -- How and why we label form -- How and why we label rhymes -- Verses and choruses -- Folk songs -- Spirituals -- Blues, classic and pop -- Operettas -- 1900-1920 -- 1920s -- 1930s and 1940s -- Musical theater since World War II -- Late forties -- Fifties -- Sixties -- Seventies -- Eighties -- Nineties -- Twenty-first century -- Rock -- Rock and roll -- Beatles and the revolution in form -- Rock -- Acid rock -- Hard rock -- Bubblegum -- Folk-rock -- Seventies -- Eighties -- Country -- Your style -- 2: Types of songs -- Starting with parodies -- Things to remember when writing parody -- Writing lyrics to songs in the public domain -- Things to remember when writing lyrics to songs in the public domain -- Writing a lyric to already existing music -- Translations -- Story songs -- Dos and don'ts for story songs -- Descriptive songs -- Situations songs -- Some situations for song -- List songs -- Tips on the list song -- Social message songs -- Birthday songs -- Foreign or pseudo-foreign songs -- Patriotic songs -- Holiday songs -- Gimmick songs -- Nonsense songs -- Suggestions for writing nonsense songs -- Punch-line songs -- Inspirational songs -- Gospel songs -- Love songs -- Unsuitable concepts -- 3: Rhyme --What makes rhyme? -- Paper rhymes -- Identical rhymes -- Regional rhymes -- Imperfect and false rhymes -- One-,two-, and three-rhymes -- Inner rhymes -- Non-rhymed lyrics -- Rhyme schemes -- Original rhyme schemes -- Words that will not rhyme -- 4: Word usage -- Simile and metaphor -- Alliteration -- Onomatopoeia -- Words that do not sing -- Connecting the words -- Inverted language -- Filling out or telescoping a lyric -- Matching accents and meaning -- Inappropriate speech -- Poets' handbooks and rhyming dictionaries --

Part 2: Music

5: Melody

Basics of notating a melody

Staff

Sharps, flats, and naturals

Bar lines

Time signature

Time values

Major scale

Putting it all together

Transposition

Key signature

In which key shall I write my song?

Accidentals

Intervals

Motives

How to turn the title into a musical motive

Single-note motives

Two-note motives

Three-note motives

Motives of four or more notes

Where to take the motive

How to freshen a worn motive

Expanding the motive into a phrase

Expanding the phrase into a period

Range

Tessitura

Melisma

Sequence

Some rules for melody writing

What your song should include

A1

A

Bridge or release

A3

B and C

Coda

Interlude (trio)

Extension

Verse

Fade

6: Chords

Triads

Major triads

Minor triads

Diminished triads

Augmented triads

Triad abbreviations

Scale-tone triads

Numerical relationship

Seventh chords

Dominant seventh

Major seventh

Minor seventh

Altered chords

Diminished seventh

Scale-tone sevenths in series

Altering scale-tone chords

Inversions

Added sixth chords

Ninth chords

Eleventh and thirteenth chords

7: Scales

Major scale

Relative minor and parallel minor scales

Harmonic minor scale and melodic minor scale

Scale-tone triads in minor and scale-tone sevenths in minor

Other scales

Modal scales

Ethnic scales

Color scales

8: Harmony

Two-chord harmony

Two-chord harmony in minor

Three-chord harmony

Three-chord harmony in minor

Changing harmony for intensification

Imperfect cadence

II V I

I VI II V

Commercial bridge

Bridges in the minor

Bridges that modulate to foreign keys

Circle of chords

Diminished cliche

Old-fashioned ending

Bass lines

Ascending

Ascending through the augmented

Descending

Descending in minor

Chord substitution

Intensifying the chords

Suspension

Anticipation

Scale-tone substitution

Turnarounds

Evasion

Blues melody and harmony

9: Rhythm

Beat

Tempo

Meter

Rhythm

How rhythm fills the music

Syncopation

Rhythms of popular music

March

Fox-trot

Modified fox-trot

Shuffle

Boogie

Ragtime

Cakewalk

Polka

Alley cat

Gavotte

Minuet (menuet)

Waltz

Boston waltz

Country waltz

Jazz waltz

Gospel waltz

Charleston

Jazz rhythms

Jig (gigue)

9/8

12/8

Country

Disco

Tango (habanera)

Tango (Argentine)

Bolero

Merengue

Cha-cha

Conga

Guaracha

Rumba

Beguine

Mambo

Samba

Bossa nova

Paso doble

Reggae

Bo Diddley

Punk rock

After the song is completed

Getting a song on paper

Lead sheets

When preparing a lead sheet

Three-stave arrangements

Things to remember about three-stave arrangements

Two-stave arrangements

Things to remember about two-stave arrangements

Arrangements for a group

Professional copies

Getting your song recorded

Home demos

Studio recording

Copyright

How to copyright a song

Instructions for filling out copyright form PA

What you cannot copyright

How much can you quote?

Language of the music industry

Unions, agencies, and organizations

Afterword

Appendix

Bluegrass

Gangsta rap

Heavy metal

Hip-hop

Hip-hop in the twenty-first century

How to go about creating a hip-hop song

Music-notation software

Public domain songs

Punk rock

Rap

Reggae

Ska

Glossary

Bibliography

Permissions

Index.