There are four free ebooks available from www.songwright.co.uk. To download them, you just have to sign up to the free, no-spam mailing list using the subscribe form to the right.
More Than 32 Bars – Structure in Songwriting
More Than 32 Bars – Structure in Songwriting brings together all the sposts on form and structure that I’ve written on this blog over the years. There are three sections:
1. What is structure, and are you writing songs like a 12 year old? In which I discuss what structure is what the basic popular song structure consists of and how important it is to be creative with your use of it.
2. 5 Structure models in which we look at at 5 different common models for structuring a song.
3. 6 Blog Posts on Structure in which I share 6 of the best blog posts about structure I’ve written for indiesongwriter.net
More than 32 bars – Structure in Songwriting brings together all the ideas about structure so far explored on indiesongwriter.net and hopefully will give you lots of new ideas for structuring your own songs. You can download it free by joining the indiesongwriter.net mailing list – just enter your email in the box to the right.
How to Harmonize
How to Harmonize is a collection of 5 primer lessons aimed at Songwriters who are just starting out and want to know more about how to harmonize their songs – how chords and harmonies work.
Lesson 1: What Does’Harmonize’ Mean?
Aim: To explain how the two meanings of ‘harmonize’ are really one.Lesson 2:
Some Questions About Intervals
Aim: To explain which intervals are found in the major scaleLesson 3: Some Questions About Chords
Aim: To explain what a chord is and show you which chords are found in each of the major keysLesson 4: How to Harmonize a Melody Using Primary Chords
Aim: To explain how the 1st, 4th and 5th chords of a key can be used to harmonize a melodyLesson 5: Harmonizing a Melody – Beyond the Primary Chords
Aim: To explain how chords other than the 1st 4th and 5th can be used
Worksheets for the Songwriting Guitarist
In my everyday life as a music teacher, I tend to design quite a lot of worksheets.
In my online life trying to share songwriting ideas, I’ve never put this skill into use. Until now, that is.
You see, a written worksheet can be a very useful thing. As songwriters we’re often scribbling on random bits of paper. A worksheet, properly designed, can give order to the chaos of our ideas, doodlings and scribbles.
It can help us make sense of what we’re writing.
So, to help out all you songwriting guitarists out there, I’ve put together four worksheets that should help you out. You get:
1. The Chord Diary
2. The Lyric Brainstormer
3. The Chord Progression Chart
4. The Song Analysis Guide
10 Tips for Songwriters
10 Tips for Songwriters is a collaborative Ebook that I’ve put together with the help of 17 other fantastic composers and songwriters. Here’s an extract from the introduction:
Introduction
At my songwriting blog, www.songwright.co.uk, I often interview songwriters. I find one of the best ways to get yourself inspired and excited
about songwriting is to find out how someone else does it.That’s what this book is all about.
It was written by 18 successful songwriters who wanted to share their 10
tips for songwriting.Have they all written commercial hits? Have they had their songs performed by famous singers, or
sold a billion records? No, for the most part they haven’t, but what sort of a way to measure success is that?These 18 people have all proved themselves successful at writing songs. They wrote them for a myriad of reasons, to express themselves, to earn a living, to impress their friends, for a songwriting community, to practice their craft or simply because they could.
Each of the contributors has their own way of writing songs. There are writers here who start with the lyrics, and others who start with the music. Some are theory experts, others wouldn’t know a bar line from a bass clef. Some know their way around a recording studio, others can just about manage a cd player.
Each one has contributed their 10 tips for writing songs – the 10 things that they think should matter most to songwriters. Some agree on the basics, others have very different priorities. Some you might think are stating the obvious, others might be saying something you’ve never thought of before.
But I know that no two readers will agree on which are the most important tips here.
So, you can read the book all the way through, or you can flip to a random songwriter and find out what they have to say. Either way, it is my hope that you’ll find something interesting or inspiring on each and every page.
I’ve found talking to songwriters one of the most rewarding things I can do for my own songwriting, I hope you do too.
What free?
Yes, just sign up to the songwright.co.uk mailing list using the form to the top right and you’ll get the free ebook, plus a monthly update on all the new posts and songwriting tips that have featured on songwright.co.uk.
You won’t be spammed, and I won’t give your email to anyone else.
Why do I have to give my email address?
Members of the mailing list recieve the ebooks and an occasional newsletter telling you what’s been going on on indiesongwriter.net.
You can opt out of the mailing list at any point, no questions asked.
[...] PPS. Do you have your free Ebook yet? Click here. [...]
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thanks
Hello,
Your ebooks sound good.
I am trying to find out what chords I need to know to write and/or play any song I hear on the radio.
Also I would like to know can all songs be written just knowing the basic chords of one scale?
There has to be a simple way of finding the chords for a melody I write.
Thank you,
ROB
Hi Rob,
Hopefully ‘How to Harmonise’ will start to answer some of those questions. If you have any specific questions I would leave to hear them and will do my best to answer!
Tom
I wanna be well versed in rules of harmony.
Hey Tom
Signed up for the list but I can’t seem to download the books.
I’m doing this on my iPad … Something I’m missing?
Darryl
Sorry about that Darryl.
You should have recieved an email from fanbridge – it might have got lost in a spam filter or something. Give me two secs and I’ll email it to you manually…
Tom
Hi there
I’ve added my name to your email list several times but can’t get download for books??
Can you please email them to me?
Cheers
Laya
Hi Laya,
Apologies for not replying sooner, I’ve been away from the internet for a week. Have you checked your spam folder? The email you recieve after signing up might have ended up in there. If not, drop me an email at tomslattermusic AT gmail.com and I’ll forward the email to you manually.
My settup is blocked at work it will not let me confurm my e mail address because i had to use my home computer to accsess your web page is this a problem. will i not get your emails now. please let me no i hope this does not cause any inconveniance
Hi Phil,
This shouldn’t be a problem – I’ve just checked the email list and your email is on it. The next email newsletter will be out by the end of next week and you should recieve it. I’m currently working on an answer to the question you left via fanbridge too.
Tom
Thank you for the free information!
I have been doing a lot of research on the origins of songwriting and have found the best book to be by G W Thompson it is called the Prehistoric Aegean and he details the origins of songs in the labour process.
Chopping wood, rowing boats etc causes us to exhale at the point of exhertion OOOHHHH for example. Doing it together in sync we have a leader call out Lift the axe up, hold it, bring it down OOOHHHHH from us.
Over time the OOOHHHH became a chorus such as OH YES or HEAVE HO. One great example from sail boats is “Louis was the king before the revolution.” Chorus “Heave away, haul away” “Cutting his head off spoiled his constitution” rpt chorus.
So the lessons for us are: the Top 40 is an historical blip in songwriting terms; use consonants in the verses and vowels in the chorus; write songs about the everyday activities and people around you and they will have a greater chance of survival.
And I can’t download the E books either. I want to take the Worksheets to my next singer songwriter so if you can help it would be great for all. Also Alan Lomax in the Land Where Blues Began explains the origin of blues and the importance of organising labour and I have a new website where i am trying to raise issues about the mentally ill and the foul deal they get. tonycornwell.com