Hooktheory is a pretty unique approach to music theory and songwriting. Most books in this area tend to use examples from classical music, while all our examples draw from popular songs you hear on the radio. The book also uses the Theorytab format we developed to let you see the chords/melody in sync with the music while it plays. Theorytabs associate colors with musical function and are more accessible to folks who don't know conventional sheet music.
We skip a lot of the basics (scales, key signatures, notation, etc.) that most people associate with music theory (and find rather dull) and go directly into looking at which chords go together best and why (no prior music theory knowledge is required)
The first book covered mostly songs in major. The sequel we are releasing today covers minor harmony and a whole lot more.
http://www.hooktheory.com/music-theory-for-songwriting
Our article series "I analyzed the chords to 1300 songs for patterns, this is what I found" was #1 on hackernews a few years back and is very much in the spirit of the book (though the book goes a lot farther, of course).
http://www.hooktheory.com/blog/i-analyzed-the-chords-of-1300-popular-songs-for-patterns-this-is-what-i-found/
Hope you like it!
We skip a lot of the basics (scales, key signatures, notation, etc.) that most people associate with music theory (and find rather dull) and go directly into looking at which chords go together best and why (no prior music theory knowledge is required)
The first book covered mostly songs in major. The sequel we are releasing today covers minor harmony and a whole lot more.
http://www.hooktheory.com/music-theory-for-songwriting
Our article series "I analyzed the chords to 1300 songs for patterns, this is what I found" was #1 on hackernews a few years back and is very much in the spirit of the book (though the book goes a lot farther, of course).
http://www.hooktheory.com/blog/i-analyzed-the-chords-of-1300-popular-songs-for-patterns-this-is-what-i-found/
Hope you like it!