Books

Hey guys, I just thought I'd ask for a bit of help.

I work a Friday night at a rock club, and I used to use this time reading band biographies amongst working, of course. Now though, I feel like reading up on songwriting - so I can just do it better, basically.

Any suggestions of books that might help me?

Rikky Rooksby's "How to Write Songs on Guitar" and "The Songwriting Sourcebook" are great books on that subject matter. So are Dave Stewart's "Inside the Music" & "The Musicians Guide to Reading and Writing Music". So I'd go with one of those four.
oh, and there's also "Songwriting for Dummies" which is great book for the beginners.

Thanks, I saw the songwriting for dummies in a book shop, was thinking of getting it, but I'll check the others put first.

I want to start writing songs and good ones as well but everything I come up with is bassically rubbish any suggestions on what I might be able to do?

Well just listen to what you think is a "good" song and break it down. Both the music and the lyrics. See how they fit together. Look the chord progressions and see how the lyrics are effected by it. Also look at the overall structure. Intro,Verses, Bridge, Chorus, Ending etc... etc... I would also suggest poems.... Most poems can be made into songs.... the more you write the better you will get at it.

Being whole heartadly *into* the subjects and a bit of planning usually helps me. Don't write about something that you don't believe in strongly... you'll probably not put across any powerful imagery.

Try reading about similes, metaphors, rhyme schemes and structure some place on the net.

Definately, great advice everyone. A good songwriting site: www.songwritingfever.com/
A lot of good articles on there. Songwriting for Dummies is pretty good, too :]

Good advice for writing songs, which may or may not be obvious: learn music theory and scales! That way, practically anything you write will sound pretty good. Also, technique...

Yeah, I've been learning theory quite casually over the last few months, so I'm steadily getting knowledgable about it all.

I have yet to put it into real use though... but I can now see what made songs I wrote before good.

I find it extremely difficult to write lyrics for a song. I carry around with me a notebook so when I do think of words or phrases or whatever I can write them down before I forget.
Every weekend I will look back on the notebook and piece words and phrases together.
Caryying around with you a personal voice recorder is also a good idea when trying to capture those brief moments of lyrical genius

Yeah, I agree it's a good idea. I've forgotten so many good lyrics because of not getting them down right away.

Forgot all that,
Go for inspiration!
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman