In which we’ll make sure you’ve got all the necessary basics.
Ideally, each one of us would be able to hire a world-class vocal coach, instrument instructor, and a songwriting teacher to tutor us. Unfortunately, almost nobody can actually manage that, because good teachers are not only expensive, they’re also scarce. Teachers have to go through a lot to become what they want to be, they are constantly building on their professional development and will take online courses to do that, they may be scarce but thank goodness we have them, unfortunately, not everyone can grab a good one.
But that’s not cause for despair. If you don’t have access to a teacher, there are plenty of books and other learning materials out there that are designed to help. Being self-taught doesn’t mean that you ignore the accumulated knowledge of the generations that came before you! Learn everything you can about the craft.
Online Resources
We live in a time when online information is widely accessible and excessively abundant. In fact, online learning has also been at its highest point in history, because of the abundance of resources available on the Internet today. Self-learning has become easier than ever before, and a majority of students seem to prefer eLearning, as they claim it helps improve efficiency and makes them more confident about what they are learning (source here).
There are many websites with great content. Some websites are quite useful for research. Well-organized ones like Linode’s website have become to guide for web developers looking for information on topics such as grep command.
Unfortunately, not all websites have proper UX. Lak of structure is probably the biggest challenge. It’s easy to pick up bits of knowledge and wisdom here and there online, but it’s a lot harder to work out a clear path for yourself that really includes all the topics that are useful to a songwriter.
So, if you’re self-teaching, I suggest that you rely on books, textbooks, courses as your first source of information to make sure you’ve got a structured path to follow and then use web resources, like the best online classes that you can find, to supplement and improve your knowledge and skills further.
Self-taught songwriters face unique challenges, including many traps that I’ve wandered into myself over the past ten years. We’ll examine some of these traps in detail as the course unfolds over the next few weeks.
Teachers
If it’s at all possible for you to hire yourself a good music instructor, please do. A great teacher can give you encouragement, inspire you, keep you in the habit of practice, and can give you specific, one-on-one feedback and attention. She can help you enhance your strengths, shore up your weaknesses, and open up whole new areas of study to you.
Even if you can’t hire a teacher to give you lessons each week, you may be able to pay a teacher to just do occasional “check-ups” where you can show her what you’ve been learning lately and ask her to observe and correct your technique. Even one check-up per year is better than none at all.
Equipment
Fortunately, practice requires very little aside from time and energy. Here are a few things that will help you on your way:
Notebook: to use as a practice journal.
Music stand: If you’re a musician, you’ll need some kind of sturdy, adjustable music stand to put your books and sheet music on. It should stand at eye level so that you see it when sitting (or standing) naturally with your instrument, without having to lean or bend.
Metronome: For instrument practice. These are easy to find in app form, but if you can get a handheld digital metronome, that’s even better. A separate, dedicated metronome doesn’t come bundled with all the distractions and temptations that a cell phone does.
Books and other learning material: Read as much as you can about music, music theory, songwriting, poetry, and creative writing in general. In case you’re not sure where to start, I’ve listed some excellent and highly useful books below.
For lyricists:
- Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison
- Songwriting Without Boundaries by Pat Pattison
For guitarists:
- Matt Smith’s Chop Shop by Matt Smith
- Chords & Progressions for Jazz and Popular Guitar by Arnie Berle
For all musicians:
- Composing Music by William Russo
- The Musician’s Guide to Theory & Analysis from Norton (expensive, but worth it!)
- Theory & Harmony for the Contemporary Musician by Arnie Berle (in case the Norton guide was too expensive)
- The Elements of Music by Jason Martineau
I apologize for not having any piano books to recommend (or books for other instruments), but I’m not formally trained on those instruments so I’m not qualified to make recommendations on those. If there’s a text you recommend, let me know!