Not exactally beginner question, but maybe you can help

Well, just a little background here since I'm new and nobody knows me. I've been playing for about 6 years or so now (I'm 22 now) and I'm self taught with some help from beginner books back in the day. I currently own two guitars:

Dean Artist CSE Electric Acoustic
http://www.deanguitars.com/content/imagelib/acoustics/artist/2.htm

Ibanez RG570 Electric

I had the electric first and at the time like any teenager I just wanted to be really loud with some power chords and impress my friends. The acoustic came a few years later, and I've really taken to that and love it.

So, my question is this. It will deal with the acoustic mainly. I'm at the stage in my playing ability where I can play almost anything after some listening to a song or if getting stuck finding a tab to get a starting point. But my main problem is I have a hard time coming up with my OWN songs. Sure, I can play a lot of well known songs, but that isn't very fun. I want to be creative and come up with my own creations. Now, I can but its very slow, and the songs I come up with are basic. Using open chords, barre chords, or leaving the top two stings open all the time, or even just putting it in an open tuning. But its all chords.

To try and break this habbit I have been trying to learn songs that include a lot of slides and single notes as well as the chords, Dave Matthews for example. Ok, I can learn those songs, but when I sit down and try to write something like that I just have a hard time with it.

Where do you start with that? I'm just a little frustrated because it seems like I've hit a brick wall with my learning curve, and until I can become better at this I can't advance my skills.

[EDIT] The dean link won't show up right for some reason. [/EDIT]

[Edited by msula on 01-05-2002 at 11:03 AM]

http://www.vai.com/littleblackdots/mls.html
there are some exercices in those articles to learn how to listen to your inner voice, that will lead you to composition...

Wow, thanks. The information there is exactally something I was looking for.

Composing music is the greatest gift we (musicians) were given, contribute to make this world better, write your song, and share it...

That's eventually my goal. I've been playing recreationally now for a while, turned down quite a few opportunities to be in bands (some of which are doing even quite well now) because playing is just fun to do. I don't need to be able to solo really well, I don't need to impress anyone, I just do it because I enjoy it.

What's weird is for school/work I'm a designer and have to be creative. I need to present my ideas in a graphical manner. But for some reason I have more trouble expressing my ideas via music, and that's where I want to improve. It would be nice to just write some songs and do some home recordings. But hopefully I can begin to get better at reaching that goal with the help from pages such as the one you posted, its a great start thanks!

i know what you're talking about i myself never took lessons (which i regret very badly) i had the same problem.
what i did was taking the chords i want to build the solo on holding them and listening to every note then found those notes anywhere else on the board
then just playing them adding slides between them or vibrato or just hammer-on/pull-offs whenever i felt like it.
i started just jaming like this finding more matchable notes adding "spirit" to it
after the whole process i write down part by part the thing and play it
if i like it i keep it if i dont i throw it
after writing many you develope your own style and you find it easier to write

ps i will that lessons soon just to see how its like...

Apply what you know about visual arts to music. It's all art and the rules are similar. For example :
- If you use only the basic colours (chords, scales), you will (most probbably) get a basic, naive looking painting.
- If you mix too many colours you get brown (noise).
- Think about what you want to paint, prepare the colours you need, make a raw drawing first and then apply colours...
If you spend some time thinking about these "rules", you will find them applicable in most of the "structured forms" in life (like art). The difference is the expression. Generalize it and you'll find the one-rule-fits-all, and that's the meaning of existance.
O.K. I got way off subject, but there should be some sense to it.

We've all been blessed with the ability to hum, whistle, grunt, moan.......Guitar is a completly different person isn't it.....or is it. I'm sure you find yourself humming a tune at the least opportune moment. A time when you don't have a guitar around to put a chord to it. I carry one of those small microcassette recorders around with me and hum or whistle or all of the others into it until I have an opportunity to get it on paper. (bad memory here)

Also remember that inspiration doesn't just show up when we call it. For me at any rate it comes in waves. I'll write for a day and not have anything for a week. Or write for a week and not have anything for a month. The more you push inspiration the more it comes. Until.......it's gone. Then we sit around and wait for it to recharge it's batteries.

As for a start. I'd record my most basic changes. (I,IV,V) for example onto whatever you have. Even throught the mic on a portable. Listen for sounds outside the box and try to build a melody on your chords. (with or without and instrument) Find the notes within the chords rather than the root. Find the interplay and play with those.

Good Luck, All the best!