KVR Audio

cj31387 · Post by **cj31387** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 3:24 am

Hi I'm a self taught musician, and I'm looking for new ways to write songs. Does anyone know any Programs/books that make a song and go through how they did it step by step. I really wanna see how other people write songs and learn
new techniques. I stumbled upon a program called "Secret Composer" and it does what im asking. It shows step by step how to write a part and it has built in musical examples so you can hear what they're doing. I'm looking for
something similar to this but if there isn't anything like that a book would work too. But i don't learn as well from books for some reason. An interactive program is more of what im looking for or something mainly with audible musical examples. The best for me would be something with midi examples since i can barely read notation.

Also does anyone know of good info on how to use chords and explains what I ii iii IV V vi vii is and how to use it correctly. I never use chords in my songs and i want to start using them. Thanks in advance.

max97630 · Post by **max97630** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:03 am

I am still trying to figure all this out myself. I got the troy stetina guitar books and they really helped me. Also, learning songs and analyzing them is a great way to learn to make similar sounding songs.

mr · Post by mr » Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:08 pm

The Idiot's guide and.. for dummies books, are REALLY good for your purpose. Search for song writing and music composition titles

paulhart · Post by **paulhart** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:43 am

If you can let yourself get around the title.... These two books are really well suited for your question, clean, helpful answers to many of the areas of interest. The first one has an Audio CD also...:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to... Music Theory... and
The Complete Idiot's Guide to... Music Composition
both by Michael Miller.
I was initially put off by the label, got over it, bought both and feel that it was money well spent. Learned a lot already.
Paul

MoreDread · Post by **MoreDread** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:15 pm

William Russo - Composing Music
Very practical, many exercises.

Seems simple, but, I found mindfully listening to songs (focusing on structure) also really helped in that regard.

Orphoneus · Post by **Orphoneus** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 11:35 am

cj31387 wrote:An interactive program is more of what im looking for or something mainly with audible musical examples. The best for me would be something with midi examples since i can barely read notation.

I strongly recommend learning to read music notation, it's a great investment.

There are a few music theory websites like Theory on the Web that have midi examples, too. Theory on the Web is probably too dense for you, but I think that it's worth studying the examples (not necessarily the text) in the section on Basic Harmonic Function.

wrench45us · Post by **wrench45us** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 12:53 pm

any of the songwriting books by Rikky Rooksby

true they are books and not so interactive

but they do cover the ground you're looking for

and with their focus on pop song building, they do set a good base for more complex (jazz 4 part and extended harmony) work later

OR

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sonkeysankey · Post by **sonkeysankey** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:16 pm

This is how I'm learning to read music:

Very easy to follow, and I've learnt a lot over the past few days.

mattie · Post by **mattie** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 8:31 pm

i would say learn some counterpoint, but that's hard when you don't read music notation. Maybe this is something for you:
http://chordmaps.com/index.htm?

Melkor · Post by **Melkor** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 9:07 pm

If you play guitar, I can certainly recommend Tom Kolb's Music Theory for Guitaists.

Many many moons ago, this book helped me alot

Music Theory - Everything You Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask

KLS · Post by **KLS** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:41 am

The book "Writing Music For Hit Songs" by Jai Josefs really helped me to understand chords and chord progressions.

Also, the book "Tunesmith" by Jimmy Webb is WONDERFUL. Mr. Webb is one of THE BEST songwriters from the 60's and 70's and he wrote many classics. In the book he lets you look over his shoulder while he goes through the whole process of actually writing a song - from idea to finished product. He explains each step as he writes, both lyrics and music. There is also a good bit of songwriting theory in the book that will help you a great deal.

Both of these books are available on Amazon. Go check them out.

- Ken

cj31387 · Post by **cj31387** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:01 am

ok thanks everyone i ordered a couple of the books mentioned. But does anyone know what music theory textbooks are taught in colleges. I'd like to order a workbook thats used in a college, whats a good one?

psenior · Post by **psenior** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:17 am

Here's a good video online where PJ Morton describes his sonwriting process:
http://www.artistshousemusic.org/videos ... ng+process

Composition Walkthrough