Songwriting Success

What makes a lyric memorable or a melody catchy?Should I start with the music first or the lyrics?Does the chorus come before the verse?Writing songs requires so many music and language skills that the beginner is often overwhelmed. Songwriting Success breaks down the craft of melody and lyric writing into easily digested lessons that anyone can follow, regardless of their musical knowledge. Michael Lydon shows the beginning songwriter how to integrate the craft's many skills into a seamless artistic and commercial whole. Songwriting Success includes a special CD taking the budding songwriter who can't read music (or prefers to learn by listening) step-by-step through the songwriting process, from initial idea through crafting melodic hooks and catchy choruses to creating a final 'demo' version for marketing the song. From putting pen to paper to getting your song heard, Songwriting Success offers a quick, fun, and useful introduction to the world of songwriting.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Nonfiction, Self-Help. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.