Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Backbeat Books; 2nd edition (October 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0879308621
ISBN-13: 978-0879308629
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.7 x 11 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #343,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #134 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Songwriting #454 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Forms & Genres > Lieder & Art Songs #898 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Forms & Genres > Popular
I am a rabid follower of Rikky Rooksby's music theory/songwriting books, as he is a constant provider of quality songwriting techniques, ones that legendary bands and underrated singer-songwriters use in nearly all of their songs.If you're familiar with Rikky's debut "How To Write Songs On Guitar", you'll know that that book is absolutely essential if you're an aspiring or even advanced songwriter.This book, titled the same with the word "Keyboards" instead of "Guitar", lacks a lot of what made Rikky's first book a milestone.It's nice having a CD to listen to as you learn these tried-and-true techniques, but the examples are far too short. They're not really explained exceptionally well as the examples and citations in "...Guitar."Aside from this minor gripe, I still find this book incredibly useful, as I do all Rikky's books. The only reason I'm giving it four stars instead of 5 is because it's not "...Guitar."As I wrote in other reviews of Rikky's books, I think his writing and overall book quality is declining, as it seems that "Guitar" was so popular, that Backbeat started releasing one or two books by him per year, which, may be a bit impatient, but maybe not. In my opinion, it just seems like he's rushing through explaining these songwriting and chord progression techniques, where with "Guitar" he clearly explained them and gave TONS of pop song examples (pop as in Jeff Buckley, The Smiths, Simon & Garfunkel, etc. not pop like Britney).Still, it's Rooksby. I own all of his books, at least the ones with this cover theme (huge capitalized titles).In my opinion, Rikky's books, in overall quality are (1 being the best):1.
APPEARANCES:After opening the shipping package, I found that this book is in a format of 8.5 inches (wide) x 11 inches (high) x 5/8 inches (thick) with a glossy double-fold paper cover. As I fanned the 256 pages of the book across my face to glance at it, I saw lots and lots of pictures. Roughly, I saw about three or four paragraphs of text on the left pages and mostly diagrams on the right pages. I saw NO ["en", "oh"] musical staff with traditional musical notes though! A 90-track CD is included and well protected in a plastic pocket on the inside back cover. The book comes with a 1-page preface, 5-page introduction, 12 sections of mostly chord progressions, and a 14-page appendix which includes technique page references, chord diagrams, chord formulas, and a glossary of terms and concepts.Each of the 12 sections begins with its title and a famous quote printed on the left (even) page with a black background which helps to segregate itself from other sections visually. On the facing (odd) page, there is a discussion of a new concept or a special notation, followed by a series of techniques which are numbered the same way as their corresponding CD tracks.MY SUBJECTIVE OPINION:If you are like me (taking a year or so of piano lessons during your elementary years, being overwhelmed and bored with music theory in high school, forming a garage band, being able to read *some* music but mainly lyrics with chord tabs, attempting to expand your artistic traits by writing a song of your own, and being a VISUAL learner), this book is for you.If you are looking for a book on how to play keyboards, this book is NOT it. Go on with something else!
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