looking for song writing/ singing resources

I am an experienced guitar player that wants to get into song writing and singing. I am looking for some good resources like books or web sites etc.

Thanks

The Craft of Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis is excellent. Everyone who has songwriting questions about lrics and form should just go buy it!

Set Your Voice Free by Roger Love (a professional vocal coach) teaches you how to find and use your "middle voice" and mix it in seamlessly with chest voice and head voice. Only after reading it could I sing Queensryche and Journey songs!

You've probably got the music part covered, but another good book is "Writing Music For Hit Songs" by Jai Josefs, a professional songwriter.

I found all three of these in stock at Barnes and Noble at various times over the last 3 years.

Not to take away from what Matt said, but personally I found the Sheila Davis books a bit dull and stiff- although they offered a thorough "academic" type of song structure approach- I don;t find them very inspiring. If you really want to delve into song STRUCTURE, then they are helpful, but as I stated I found them dull and they lost my interest. HOWEVER- she does also put out a "workbook" that may be an effective tool to go along with the book. One thing you must remember is that these books focus on a set of "rules" or guidelines that have been accepted as the CRAFT part of building a song. You MUST also learn to throw away your stylistic prejudices to really understand what the books are conveying- i.e. a Dixie Chicks song is a Metallica song is a Garth Brooks song is a Dream Theater song is a Johnny Cash song is a...

because although STYLE will vary, the underlying mechanics usually do not, such as "Does the lyric re-enforce the title?" "Does the 2nd verse further develop the idea or just repeat the same crap?" Does the song structure re-enforce the theme of the lyrics? Are the lyrics distracting or overly complicated when they could be simpler? are they TOO simple? cliche? redundant? One too many trips with the Thesaurus? How can I say this phrase three different ways? Does it need a bridge?

In almost every case, style excluded- "good" lyrics follow those guidelines very closely with little deviations to keep things interesting- remember we are not discussing CONTENT- just structure. Content can be anything from mass murder to acid freak outs to sex to working on the farm or rmembering a story grandpa told you or falling in love. Content is up to you.

NOW- part II

My recommendations for lyric writing books is going to be "Writing Better Lyrics" by Pat Pattison. It approaches it in a way that I found useful in unlocking my own style instead of holding my songs up to top 40 "hits" that so many books focus on (with good reason since professional songwriters- those that write for a living - are constantly trying to place songs with performers and need to write all the time, especially "hits".

And there are other books- 500 songwriting ideas is a fun little book to give yourself "assignments". Pamela Susan Orland also has written a songwriting book that is along the "hit" lines- same material as Shelia Davis but less academic, more to the point.

My advice is to go to your local LIBRARY and check these books out for FREE!! then decide if you want to buy them.

As for other tools and inspiration?

Well this book is awesome:

http://www.thesongwriters.com/

Why? well- it IS a chord book- but unlike every other chord book I've ever seen, it groups the chords by KEY instead of by root note! So instead of 10 pages of "A" chords and then 10 pages of "B" chords etc.. You look up the KEY of A and it gives you 4 or 5 chords or so and a suggestion of substitutions! so you can literally write song after song wth all of the chords sounding ...well, for lack of a better word "Right"

I also like magnetic poetry for oddball phrases and adjectives that don't usually come to mind- cool starting points sometimes.

Also, Brian Eno (producer, instrumentalist- U2, Peter Gabriel, etc..) uses his own deck of "oblique strategies" that get him "unstuck"- these little Koans are available online for download and include some little wisdoms such as "do it again in reverse"- sometimes it opens doors, it gives you a random thought when you "draw" form it's virtual deck. It's free and fun.

You may also be inspired by the stories of other songwriters- Jimmy Webbs "Tunesmith" book was a surprisingly easy read about being a pro songwriter coming up in the 60's and 70's.

The magazine "Sing Out" is a folk magazine that is all about traditional songwriting and those carrying on the traditions with new songs- lots of articles on just the writing. I also like those books that have the "story behind every song" for bands such as the rolling stones, John Lennon, U2, etc.. I've seen a bunch. They offer some insights into what the bands were thinking at the time.

Let us know how it goes.

B

very cool - thanks guys