Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting by Jimmy Webb Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting
Book Review: Best Book on Songwriting I've Read
Summary: 5 Stars
I have about ten books on the subject, and no other book I've read comes close in terms of actual, practical skills necessary to develop songs. Other books go into sources of inspiration, interview famous songwriters and their perspectives, and different processes, but this is the only one that consistently gives detailed information about many facets of the song development process.For example, a lot of songwriters, especially those who aren't formally trained (which is most of them in the popular genres), come up with melody and lyrics first. How do you develop that into a complete song? Most other books simply mention that it can be done, but he actually goes into what first choices you have for accompanying chords, and policies about passing tones, and the strategy of either changing chords or notes in the melody to dress a song up.
If you read only one book about songwriting and song development, I think this is the best choice.
Book Review: Inside the Head of Jimmy Webb - Genius
Summary: 5 Stars
Warning: People who want to learn basic songwriting should go elsewhere. ****************************************************************
From 1965 to 1970 or so Jimmy Webb was inescapable. You watched the Carole Burnett show, and there were the 5th Dimension singing "Up, Up and Away." Turn on the radio, and Richard Harris' cake melted in the rain. Glen Campbell rode the Witchia line, drove through Phoenix, and ruminated about Galveston. Those incandescent melodies entered my childhood and have stayed with me.
Hard rock drove this more upbeat music from the airwaves, but Jimmy Webb's legacy remains in the catalog of fine songs he wrote at a precocious age. Now his book gives us some insight into the mind who might arguably be called the last great songwriter of the 20th century.
Many people coming to this book will eagerly open it, hoping to extract the secret than made Jimmy Webb into a wealthy man, and they will come away dissappointed and frustrated. This is not a book about how to write a song, so much as it is a repository of the mind of Jimmy Webb. True, Jimmy writes about how he composes a lyric, and how he creates a chord progression. His discussion of prosody is excellent, too. But there is more here that simple technical discussion of song writing.
This book a cultural history of the American song up to the end of the 1960's. Jimmy Webb gives us stories, his own history, his background, and discussions of songs from the beginning of the modern era to the present. For some like me, who has a deep interest in American Cultural history, this book is a gem.
Musican theoriticans might have a fit when Jimmy Webb starts giving his version of Secondary Dominants and other chord substutions, but again, when they've written "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" I'll listen to them.
Other reviewers say that it would be better to have some knowledge of music theory before you read this book, and I agree with that. When Jimmy starts on about 7th chords No 3 with a minor 2nd in the bass, you might start stratching your head if you don't know what he's talking about. Have a keyboard around so you can play the examples.
This book is like taking a master class from a professional, not a seminar by a music teacher who never's sold one song, let alone had hit after hit, gold records, Grammies. Jimmy Webb is an authentic American genius - he and Brian Wilson on the west coast - Dylan on the East - who blew the roof off of the stilted 32 bar song and the 12 bar blues.
Tunesmith is about songwriting, not about how to write a song. If you have to ask the difference, you'll never know.
Book Review: Interesting and helpful
Summary: 4 Stars
Songwriting is similar to painting in that some people will like what you create, and others will hate it. There's a lot of subjectivity in music, and Jimmy Webb's music strikes me as being a touch "cheesy".However, that does NOT diminish the usefulness of this book, as you will learn some interesting and different ways of going about constructing melodies, lyrics, chord progressions and song structures. It can be hard reading sometimes (particularly the chord substitution section, which is excellent though), but it finishes up with light, anecdotal stuff that's very easy on the brain. Make sure you understand basic theory first, and it's a great idea to read it with a piano / keyboard close at hand, to listen to the concepts for yourself.
You'll definitely learn things you can immediately apply to your own work, and for the better. Recommended.
Book Review: It's OK
Summary: 3 Stars
The book has a tendency to meander aimlessly. It's like listening to an old-timer ramble on about something and then stop and start rambling about something else because he says something that reminds him of something else and then he moves on to another ... well... you get the picture.There's a mixture of good ideas and bad myths in this book. It could have been a lot better.
Book Review: Insightful glimpse at the craft and the process
Summary: 4 Stars
Although it can get dense at times, and it's several kinds of books at one time, this book is fascinating and helpful in many ways. Webb has thought a lot about writing songs and about his own creative processes. He has written some great songs over the years, but it's hard to place him in the pop vs. traditional music spectrum. Of course you don't want to write Jimmy Webb songs anyway, but a lot of the stuff in here is anecdotal and rambling, how HE came to write and do various things. How does it apply to you? It may not! It's not a simple how-to but it's very stimulating. I'd balance this with more development/exercise/education oriented books, such as Pat Pattison's excellent "Writing Better Lyrics."