The Frustrated Songwriter's Handbook: A Radical Guide to Cutting Loose, Overcoming Blocks & Writing the Best Songs of Your Life

I am a singer /songwriter, who has been writing songs for the past 10 years, over the course of that time, I had tried several different techniques and methods, to help improve me as a writer, and generally experiment with the creative process.However, over the past 12 months, i had become increasingly frustrated in my direction, it was taking me a long time to finish things, and in all honesty, i didn't feel i was reaching my full potential. It felt as if there were voices crying out inside, and what felt like a swarm of creative ideas,, trapped over a long period of time.So here came my research, I actually discovered this book through youtube, hearing an interview with British indie/rock band Doves.. The lead guitarist from that band, Jez Williams, mentioned something called the IMM sessions during an interview, using it as an example to get material finished, with an approach of songwriting for 12 hours, but only spending only half an hour per song, and aiming for 20 songs in a day.If found I was able to relate to the book's authors, their initial creative frustration, felt very similar to mine, when you feel you have a lot of music trapped inside, but are perhaps unsure how to release it.Even just after my first read, I felt completely inspired, and it made me feel and want to see music as a fun process once again, rather than the laboured conventional approach I feel I had fell into over a period of time.The book, is full of games, and what are called Starts, to help trigger the creative process. However the main factor that the book promotes is, there are no rules to creating music, and creating music should be fun.This book is for any songwriter, but i would specifically recommend it to those songwriters, who feel they haven't been able to reach there potential.This book will by no means solve all your problems, but if you have experience as a writer before you read this, what is on offer here, will firstly make you 100 percent more creative than you were before, and if your willing to work hard at songwriting with this book as a close tool, you might find you create songs really special. i give this book a very healthy full marks, because it helped remind me who i was, and how creative i can be, when applying myself.

Great reference book

This is a wonderful book. At its core is a very simple idea: write twenty brand new songs in a day. You won't manage, but as you try, you may just find that you don't have time to listen to your inner critic, and before you know it you may also find that your muse has turned up to offer a helping hand.Don't expect advice on chord progressions or how to write a killer hook, but you probably already have one or two of those gathering dust on your shelf, right?If you've run low on creative inspiration, this might be just what you need.

A fun book in itself.... but I didn't feel ANYTHING in it actually helped.... and I knew absolutely NO ONE mentioned as sources for the information in this book.... It resides somewhere in my room and will probably never be read ever again.... ah well

Excellent, excellent, excellent. As you've already read (if you've read the other reviews here) this book will not wave any magic wand, but if you're willing to work hard in following its advice, I promise you 100% will not regret buying it.

Really worth reading. I recommend.15 more words required? this review thing is a pain . . . i have said what i want to say. other things to do

This book was a shocking waste of money. Here's my first ever Amazon review (after something like 9 years of spending my hard-earned cash on all kinds), but please don't buy this book! I was genuinely intrigued to hear about this book after the guitarist of the band Doves referred to it in an interview where he stated it helped him overcome writes block. Obviously the guy has smoked too much of the old wacky baccie - this book will help you fill your bookshelf, but that's about it.The basic principle is that if you spend 12 straight hours writing songs, you'll come up with some decent material hidden in all of the junk. Well, duh! This is wrung out over many chapters (oh, and they use over-sized type and lots of filler drawings just to pad the already flimsy book). Add to that a fantasy land tale of America being full of Immersion Music Method cult lodges (yeah, right) and you've a winner here.

Was a birthday present and the person love reading