

I've read a number of music theory, production, and songwriting books that I just couldn't put down. Thanks for a great read Jimmy, and the inspiration to go write more songs! At times you get the feeling the Jimmy is dismissive of certain types of music, but this final list pays respect to songwriters of all genres and different generations. The Internet is discussed every so often, but as this was really the dawn of the World Wide Web, there's no foreboding of the negative impact it was to have on future music sales.įinally, one of the most touching finishes to the book was a page dedicated to all the songwriters that had passed away during the time he'd written the book: Kurt Cobain, Tupac, Jeff Buckley, Jerry Garcia, John Denver, Henry Mancini, Frank Sinatra and many more. This book was published in 1998, and it's interesting to read Jimmy describing both the sense of optimism with regards to sales, and the pessimism with regards to the quality of the music then being written/produced. Also be prepared to be peppered with a million songs, artists, and songwriters that you've never heard of before.

So, there's certainly inspiration to be found within the pages of this book. , and I'm picking up my guitar and applying some of what I just read. A/B/A/A/B/B ) alone almost got me to put this book down for good yet again! Yet, a few chapters later and Jimmy's explained triads, inversions, sus chords. I wouldn't recommend this book for everyone.

Who'd ever think a book on songwriting could be 400+ pages long? Jimmy Webb has written a brilliant book, that encompasses history, theory, instruction/guidelines, current affairs, and more, all in relation to this craft of writing songs. I finally managed to finish this book on my second, or maybe even third attempt.
