Author Rikki Rooksby reveals how to turn chords into great songs
Hal Leonard Books, the musician’s best source of books on the music business, audio technology, instrument history, and more, has published The Songwriting Sourcebook ($24.99), by Rikki Rooksby.
Originally published in 2003, and now revised and updated, The Songwriting Sourcebook is the latest entry in Rooksby’s bestselling How to Write Songs series. This easy-to-use book is designed to help musicians write better songs by explaining the art of writing effective chord sequences.
In The Songwriting Sourcebook’s 10 sections, Rooksby shows how three and four chords can lay the foundation for a simple song, and how to move on to progressions using five and six chords. He shows how to give chord sequences additional color by adding chords that are not strictly in key, as well as taking progressions into new territories by
changing key. He shows how to write in major and minor keys and how to fine-tune the color of chords by understanding the emotional potential of sevenths, sixths and ninths.
The Songwriting Sourcebook can be read sequentially for musicians new to the craft of songwriting or used as a reference or to inspire new ideas for those already writing their own songs. Rooksby’s presents songwriting concepts in a relaxed, easy to understand writing style. These concepts are further enhanced by the use of many chord progression graphics and accompanying guitar chord fingering charts, which allow the reader to play the given examples and experiment with presented concept. Also, an accompanying 20-track audio CD features original recordings that illustrate some of the points made in the book.
About the Author:
Rikky Rooksby is a guitar teacher, songwriter/composer, and writer on popular music. He has written a multi-volume series on songwriting for Backbeat Books, and has published over 200 interviews, reviews, articles and transcriptions in music magazines.
The Songwriting Sourcebook
Backbeat Books
April 2011
Paperback original w/CD
240 pages, 8.5� x 11�
$24.99, ISBN 978-0-87930-959-6
www.halleonardbooks.com
