Use a small idea to grow

HOW TO WRITE A SIMPLE SONG FOR GUITAR

This tutorial guides you through how to write a fingerstyle piece from a one-bar-motiv, and you can write your own too by using those tips.
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The Power of Songwriting

Why Songwriting?

Even if you don’t feel inclination to create your own music, having insight of a song helps your playing. It’s the same thing like analysis, but there is a game: ‘what happens if I use this chord?’ ‘What happens if i add a note here or there?’ ‘What if I change the melody?’
It’s all about having a base idea and playing with.

THE STARTING POINT

I took the simplest fingerstyle pattern and created a four-note line by changing the melody notes above the A major chord:
Play this motiv

Changing to the dominant E major chord made the next four bars. In the final measure 8 there is no melody, here the bass leads back to the A major, to repeat those 8 bars.

Finding Your Inspiration

walking bass

So far we haven’t really challenged the fingers of the left hand, so we have the opportunity to make the bass line more interesting: feel free to use 3rds of the chords or scale notes that outline the chord or lead to the next chord.

This second part is in C major, aided by the B leading note of bar 8. Here the walking bass and the dense chord changes add variety.

The ‘D.C.’ mark at measure 16th means ‘da capo’ (italian) – repeat from the beginning. It is used generally when you have nested repeats. Be careful, it does not means full length repeats. This case the inside repeats (bars 1-8) played only once:    A :|| B (D.C) = A A B A B

Create the Bridge section

A minor, please!

The last bar of the B-part winds back to A with E major, giving two possibilities: first a full repeat of the first two part (the most used trick to lenghten your song) and moving to other direction: to A minor.
Think about the parts like exploring different colours or part of a scene.

The third part introduces the first minor chord of the song, providing a darker/classical feel. 

This part has a real ‘Bridge’ character with irregular chord changes,  and distant chords what turns back to ‘home’ from bar 22 to the common dominant of the first and third parts.

In measures 20-21 a ‘new’ bass type appears – the Alberti bass.

About Alberti bass

Goin' home

Return and closing

A typical catch is to return home from a harmonic wander (Bridge). Here, the common dominant of A minor and A major (E major) in bars 23-24 provides this opportunity. And, as you gained experience when you’re away from home, the reprise is changing a bit. Here I used intervals and triads instead of a single melody notes, what gives more emphasis on the dissonance between the G and G-sharp notes.

Download the full score

As you may noticed, the structure is very familiar to the standard pop-song: 2 Verses (A), Refrain (B), Verse, Refrain, Bridge (C), Verse.

Variety comes from the three different bass types, the harmonic journey of parts and the tempo of chord changes.

The consistency in other hand provided by the similar 8 bar length of the parts and the one measure long pattern what is used exclusively.

Each part’s last measure serves as “signpost”, where you can repeat a previous material or move forward to the next one.

PLAYING TIPS

Each bars

Play the second quarter note with a bit of accent. Like the snare beats in songs.

Bars 4 & 28

Accent the G melody note and bend slightly  towards G sharp.

To Swing or not to Swing?

About swing/shuffle play
Basically – it’s up to you. However, playing some parts “straight” and others “swinging” is another way to make the piece more interesting. With this pattern those changes are really subtle, adding more of a hint of mood.

In the first part (Verse) it doesn’t matter, I like to play it straight here, with the melody note on the eighth.

The 2nd part (Refrain) suits the walking bass very well if the melody note slips swingingly. It’s also worth trying the extreme of playing it on sixteenth.

The contrast of the minor-darker tone of the Bridge is further accentuated if you return to stiff eighths in the rhythm. Here, the bass emphasis can also be more even, with less need to push the second quarter.

And the closing part? I’ll stick with the eighths, loosened up a bit, like a pinch of salt.