The Songwriter’s Workshop: Harmony (Book + CD)
- .
(Berklee Press). Learn the fundamental techniques behind today’s hit songs, with easy-to-follow exercises so you can immediately apply these tools to your own songs. Quit wrestling with writer’s block, and learn to make the songwriting process easy, fun, and intuitive. Kachulis covers a variety of topics, including: colors of chords and keys * chord embellishments and progressions to enrich your palette of colors * dozens of ways to modify your harmonies and progressions * the most common chord
List Price: $ 29.95
Price: [wpramaprice asin=”0634026615″]
[wpramareviews asin=”0634026615″]
Accessible Intro To Harmony And Song Structure,
used then and continue to: open position chords with descending bass lines, major triads with thirds and fifths in the bass, etc. It may be a sign of the times at Berklee or, more
likely, just the author’s orientation but you won’t find jazz/show tune techniques here nor Steely Dan changes so if that’s more your cup of joe, I’d recommend Jack Perricone’s “Melody in Songwriting” which makes a great followup to this series.
But otherwise, there’s little prior knowledge assumed (other than an interest in and listening experience to a wide range of songs) and much to be learned.
Kachulis’s approach is to build up song structures by having you focus on individual elements: groove, chord color, modal chord progressions over small sections building to contrasts
over larger forms. Always refering to an example song or to the accompanying recording the approach is logical, and it should work for those requiring different levels of handholding and validation. You can imitate the examples closely or just
glean from the principles, going your own way.
And let’s face it: Many of the points about song structure are just as applicable whether your composing German Lieder, folk ballads, cabaret torch songs or a neo-prog synth-drenched epic.
0
Was this review helpful to you?
|My Most Useful Songwriting Tool,
If you write pop or folk rock, country or blues (or anything along those lines) and you find your chord progressions are getting stale, this is a great book to give you new ideas or remind you of ones you forgot.
As a songwriter without a “sick amount” of theory ingrained in my brain, I find this a useful tool (so what are the chords I can use in this key? What chord can I spice this up with?). I especially love the very simple transposition chart (great for when you’re in a hurry and need to transpose charts). This workbook is my favorite and I keep it handy.
Works well as an idea book or an exercise book. If you can’t afford to take a class, it can keep you writing if you go through the book and assign yourself “homework” with each topic.
I imagine even if I had a “sick amount” of theory ingrained I would still consult this book when coming up with new progressions. Very pleased I own this one!
0
Was this review helpful to you?
|