The Craft of Songwriting

Take your songwriting to the next level! This book breaks down the processes used by hit songwriters and dives deeply into the craft of songwriting. Discover the tools and techniques for melody, harmony, lyrics, and form behind so many great songs. You will access the magic and come out more connected to your heart and craft. Online audio tracks illustrate these techniques in context, showing how they affect your song's overall impact.

After this book, I will never write a song with a mis-stressed syllable again. Scarlet Keys has been shaping the minds of the next hit-songwriters for years, now. You'd be crazy not to read what she has to say.” – Betty Who, pop artist and songwriter

“Occasionally, a piece of literary, academic, and educational work enters the scene that deals so effectively with the current understanding of the subject that its entrance is a historical marker. Scarlet Keys' The Craft of Songwriting is just stupid good. The chapter on chord substitutions alone is worth the price of the book.

The genius of Keys is that somehow she fills a single book with what should be an entire branch of study. Not content to just point out the historical and learnable techniques of song craft, she delivers an essential, seminal work layered with sublime but easy-to-digest lessons, and with accompanying audio clips on the tools available to all songwriters who know that it is as important to be schooled in their craft as it is to be enlightened by their inspiration.” – Monty Powell, ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC award-winning songwriter

“This book breaks down everything we as songwriters accidentally do and outlines the science behind our madness to be honed and perfected. A long-awaited addition to your creative toolbox, The Craft of Songwriting is clear, concise, and essential to the modern songwriter.” – Annika Wells, pop songwriter and artist

“I wish I had had this book forty years ago. Or even ten years ago! I learned so much from this. Scarlet is gentle, rigorous, and funny. An exquisite book on the craft of songwriting.” – Daniel J. Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain on Music and award-winning producer

“Perfectly song-nerdy. With countless explorative exercises that will break you out of your old creative patterns and lead you to a well of fresh ideas, this book is a must-read for any songwriter.” – Liz Longley, Sugar Hill recording artist, winner of the John Lennon Scholarship Award, Berklee Grad 2010

“In this book, Scarlet will take you on a wonderful journey, focusing on how melodic and harmonic tools can support and enhance your song's message. She'll show you how to create more power and emotion whenever you sit down to write.” – Pat Pattison, author, professor at Berklee College of Music