Songwriting On Guitar

(Scroll down to see the full list of lessons in this section)

When I first got my guitar on my eleventh birthday, all I wanted to do was play the songs by my favourite rock bands. I brought books that taught you the tabs and chords to play for all their songs. This was a great learning curve for me, and I never had a guitar lesson. Through learning songs by my favourite bands I had 'installed' the ingredients of a good song in my brain. I had the instrument, I had the knowledge. It was time to start writing some songs of my own.

Do you need an instrument to write a song? Well, I think it helps. You can predict how the song will sound with the music, a lot better than maybe, humming it in your head. One of the reasons I brought a guitar was so that I could play the songs I was humming in my head. As well as guitar, a piano is a great instrument to use when writing a song. You can map out melodies better with the keys, as well as playing the chordal patterns.

Should you write the lyrics first, or the music? This is often something I contradict myself with, and it all depends on the songwriter. When bands write songs together they usually split the music and the lyrics between them. My concern is that sometimes, when you have written the music and lyrics separately, you can tell. The words sound very broken and sometimes rushed, because the singer is trying to fit the lyrics and syllables into the music.

I find the best songs I write come from jamming on a guitar or playing on a piano and singing along. Singing anything that sounds good to it. Even gibberish. Once I have the structure of the song, I then start putting meaningful lyrics in place of the gibberish. Sometimes I even keep some of the gibberish. Another good way to get ideas for a song is to start jamming with others. Think of a little riff. It could be something at random. Get the other band members to join in with something that fits in.

As you can see, there are just so many ways to start writing your own song on the guitar. In this section of songwriting on guitar, I am going to share with you the tips and hints of songwriting that I personally use myself. But before that, I highly suggest you go read up on some basic music theory prior to going through the songwriting lessons here. You can check out the Guitar Chords and Guitar Scales section of GuitarPlayerWorld to get some basic music theory knowledge. It'll help greatly.

For the rest of you, if you read anything in the lessons that you don’t understand, head to the guitar forum and discuss it with fellow guitarists and song writers.

Check out new Jamplay Video Lessons to Learn Your Favourite Songs Here. If you are interested in Jamplay's membership, GuitarPlayerWorld has an exclusive Jamplay Discount Coupon Code for our site's visitors.

Lessons of Songwriting On Guitar :

Lesson 1: Guitar Songwriting Overview

Lesson 2: Introuction to Song Writing

Lesson 3: Introuction to Song Writing Part 2

Lesson 4: Where do Songs Come From?

Lesson 5: Song Writing Basics

Lesson 6: Understanding Song Structures

Lesson 7: Creating the Perfect Song Structure

Lesson 8: Understanding Song Rhythms

Lesson 9: How to Write A Melody

Lesson10: How to Write Song Lyrics

Lesson11: Song Lyrics Writing Ideas