Song Maps: A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics

Song maps has given me a completely new perspective on the art of songwriting. Like many other aspects of the music industry, they are probably hundreds the books written about songwriting, but none using the technique of song maps. This is a tried and tested technique developed by the author himself who has had a very successful career in the songwriting capital of the world, Nashville. The author recounts how he would typically be hired to write in collaboration with at least one or two other writers in a 3 hour songwriting session and a lot of the examples and revelations that he gives have come from those experiences. In this book, Hawkins describes seven song maps (or blueprints if you like) that can be used when developing and writing a song, particularly if you regularly collaborate with others. The great thing about this book is that the author takes each song map and provides a huge array of song examples from multiple genres, each of which he dissects to explain the relevant song maps in greater detail. At the end of every song map, the author provides exercises that the reader can undertake to solidify their understanding of the song map in question. The author concludes by encouraging the reader to embark on further study of song maps and reveals even more songs maps that were not covered in detail in the book. Even though the author writes from the perspective of collaborating with others, the idea is to help the reader formulate strong song ideas that can be developed into songs of substance. Songs that will move people and be remembered for all the right reasons. Song mapping is a technique that can be used in collaborative songwriting as well as solo songwriting. As someone who enjoys writing songs, I am looking forward to exploring song mapping in greater detail and experimenting with it in my own writing. If you are a songwriter already, or if you are you looking to start songwriting, this book is a resource that you will come back to again and again as you seek to develop your craft. An easy, insightful and informative read.

The Benefits I Acquired From This Book: * I can focus on a single theme/concept/story and expand on it through the second verse, bridge, pre-chorus, and refrain. * I am able to write the second verse or bridge with ease. * I am able to write lyrics very quickly. * I am able to experiment with my lyrics using seven different song maps that are taught in the book.. * I am able to enjoy the song examples in the book especially the musicals and jazz genres, including, I See the Light from Disney's Tangled, Thank You For the Music by ABBA, Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You by George Benson and New York, New York, which are my favorite songs. There are also a bunch of Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein examples. My Cons On This Book * The author Simon Hawkins claims that he has won various prestigious awards and is Grammy nominated, but I read the lyrics of his original songs, found in the book and I thought they were lame-ass and sucky. * At first I thought this is another useless songwriting book to max out my money when the author Simon Hawkins was like drifting to unrelated topics and outlandish stories, on the first half of the book. * I feel that the Pop Trashes and CCM song examples are a dreadful additions to the book. I am a Bible Readin', Bible Memorizin', Prayin' Christian BTW, but I don't like the current "Worship" "music" that is coming out right now. But that's a story for another day.

Informative I found that this book takes a naturally intuitive approach to song writing that we all may been using without knowing. That being said I found it to be a refreshing new way to look at song writing. Formulas and recipes take out the guess work. If thats what your looking for this is a good read.

This awesome book by Simon Hawkins is a must-have for any serious muscicians' toolbox. Drawing from a long career in professional song writing and validated by awards such as the Grammy, his book has the potential to turn a song writer into a skilled song author. Very entertaining and exceptionally well written, he explains song structure from the perspective of not only a muscician but an actual writer. Why do some songs move listeners to tears? He'll explain the psychology behind the song structure. How do you turn a song into an emotionally satisfying story with an ending that leaves a lasting impact on the listener? He'll show you how and why. How do you brainstorm and sort through ideas, recognizing what's writable and what is not? He has a solution, because he's been there. How do you mind-map the way authors do? He'll show you in tangible examples. There's nothing boring or dry about this book; he delivers through humble, likeable, engaging and emotionally alive writing, balancing personal stories with links and downloadable resources. If you have struggled with writing songs that move your audience, you'll feel understood, related to and guided out of your creative snag. This is a truly outstanding book about the art and skill of song writing.

It's interesting, but not so useful in the heat of the moment ; i generally don't go about shoe horn lyrics mad libs style just to achieve some high level formula , the example popular songs given and analysis are superb though so it's useful from a different angle; the author's personal example lyrics are pretty contrite and underwhelming

I couldn't help but feel when I read this book that I was sitting at a table with an industry great - just picking their brain. The author really lets you have it all, he doesn't hold back, he just VERY SIMPLY breaks everything down for you. I was pretty skeptical at first, then I pulled out a couple of pieces I was working on and applied two of the techniques he mentions and BOOM! I can also see me using creative elements of the techniques outlined in this book for other creative writing pursuits. I've re-read it a few times now and each time I get something out of it. It's an easy read, but it has good info in it. If you're a great song writer already, you'll still pick up some super useful tips. If you struggle from time to time like me, you'll absolutely love it. Just buy the damn book already.

I liked this book. I've studied with Pat Pattison and this book was helpful in a pragmatic way of offering useful templates for song structure and development. As I read this book I could apply the Song Maps to songs I've written and could see areas of improvement or why certain elements really didn't work. It has given me some structure to put around my creative ideas.

Explicación fácil de entender, buen libro para aprender sobre como escribir canciones. Realmente te abre la mente y te muestra una manera más efectiva de escribir

Excellent approach and motivational.

To me the Book reads like a too long introduction to something that never comes. Most of the examples given sound flat and clichéd, not the promised 3D effect. Here and there I could find an interesting idea, but it felt like I had to sift through tons of rubble just to get to the gems.