Writing Guitar Accompaniment

Does anyone have tips on writing guitar accompaniment? By the way, I write vocals first.

Originally Posted by: TaylorSwiftYAYDoes anyone have tips on writing guitar accompaniment? By the way, I write vocals first.

By writing vocals first, this is both an intimidating but exciting venture. Reason being, vocal lines can lend themselves to many, many possibilities with chords. On the flip side, this can also be very difficult as the writing of vocals may not always be in perfect time. Whatever the case, I would first make sure your song is the way you want it. You have all the sections figured out, and you are set on the structure of the song.

To tackle this, I first need to know your current level of knowledge with music theory, and chord use? Where are you at on the instrument at this point?

Originally Posted by: Douglas ShowalterI first need to know your current level of knowledge with music theory, and chord use? Where are you at on the instrument at this point?

Music theory = pretty much nothing at this point.
Simple chords = piece of cake.
Picking = depends where on the neck.
If you need any more info, just ask.
And yes, I've never tried to write any guitar until the song is completetly finished.

Also, please give me some tips for right now, and for when I'm better at the guitar.

From a purely "good taste" standpoint, I'll throw in that it always helps to make the guitar do something different from what the vocals are doing. Contrary motion: when the vocals go up, make the guitar go down. When the vocals are resting, play something more active on the guitar. Call & response. That's a really basic idea and true in any art form.

Think of it like a movie: the camera focuses on an actor saying something in the foreground, then switches its focus to someone standing in the background (the first guy goes blurry), who says something that compliments or conflicts with what the first guy said. Don't keep everyone in focus all the time. It creates depth. It's kind of like making one boring, then the other.

In my opinion, you wanna avoid "Iron Man Syndrome," where every instrument is playing the same melody and rhythm. Then again, that song sold a *few* copies, didn't it?

Showalter is definitely the master of this stuff. His solo material is fantastic, with the way he weaves all the instruments together with vocals.

-Carl.

Thanks for the tips. I hope they'll help me next time I try writing. Still waiting on Douglas Showalter to respond. And if anyone else has anything helpful, please let me know.

Originally Posted by: Carl King
Showalter is definitely the master of this stuff. His solo material is fantastic, with the way he weaves all the instruments together with vocals.
-Carl.

Thank You for this.

Sorry for the belated response. I would say you have enough knowledge at this point to get everything together. Take it one song at a time. Like I mentioned before, starting with vocals is tricky because the human voice isn't tuned before hand like a guitar or keyboard. You can be singing in a key that may not be too guitar friendly (i.e. Ab, Eb, etc.) But, I would strongly recommend in your case buying a capo (I suggest the KYSER brand.) This will help you get around this roadblock and will make great use of whatever chords you know.

To start, take one song you have already and write out the form. Here is an example song format from the pop song "Time of Your Life" by Green Day.

Intro
(G - G - Cadd2 - D) 2x
Verse
(SAME) 2x
Pre-Chorus
(Emi - D - Cadd2 - G) 2x
Chorus
(Emi - G - Emi - G - Emi - D)
Interlude
(SAME AS INTRO/VERSE) 2x
Verse 2x
Pre-Chorus 2x
Chorus
Solo (contains verse 2x and pre-chorus 2x)
Chorus
Interlude 2x
Outro Chorus

This is a very common structure to most pop songs. In this instance, the intro and verse chord progressions are the same. Than we have a pre-chorus, and a chorus. There are only 3 sections to this song, each being used for different things. This is a great model to use to base your own song on. To not replicate it verbatim, used this model for your song;

Intro (2 chords)
Verse (2 chords)
Pre-Chorus (4 chords)
Chorus (4 chords)

Interlude (2 chords)
Verse (2 chords)
Pre-Chorus (4 chords)
Chorus (4 chords)

Bridge (2 chords)

Chorus (4 chords)
Interlude (2 chords)

Here we have four sections. Again, let's make the chord progression used for the Intro, Interlude, and Verse the same. We than have a pre-chorus, chorus, and bridge. From there, we need to figure out the chords we want to use and take it from there. Hopefully this form will work with what you have already written lyrically.

The thing to know at this point is what key the song is in. This will aid us in knowing what chords to use. Can you post your lyrics or message them to me, along with an audio recording of you singing? This will make this much easier. If not, the best advice I can give is get a capo and first find the register that feels the most comfortable with your voice. From there, try messing with the chords you already know to see what works. Use the formula I posted to help you start and than organize from there.

As far as any creative direction, Carl is right. Try taking the vocal melodies in different directions other than the what the guitar is doing. Simple chords with very little motion can really leave a ton of room for some fun vocal work. Don't get too complicated on either side....yet! Keep it simple, but don't be afraid to experiment with different melodies and ideas.

This is one of those things that is a little tricky over a forum. Best of luck and feel free to post that stuff if you want.

I'm not a total beginner (I can definitely play stuff) but I am not as good as you seem to think. I'm going to try to take your and Carl's advice but any advice that's not as advanced?

I am not an expert on this kind of stuff but when I do write (though they are not a very good songs) I just play what sounds good with it just kinda play something that goes with the mood I mean if it is a sad song I would play slower and have some more lower notes like notes on on the low E, A, and D strings if it is more of an up beat song then I would play more on the G, B, and high E strings. Also something that I do is play something that sounds good with a song that is already famous and I would get inspiration from that and put it down on paper. But like I said I am not a good song writer so do what you will with my advice.

Whatever level you are at; I would say for certain the best tool you can get is a capo. That way, whatever chords you do know you can maximize by moving the capo around to match whatever sounds the best with your voice.

This is one of those things that is a little tough to cover over a forum. To hear what you are trying to work with would be ideal so I could better communicate some ideas. If you feel comfortable posting what you have that would be ideal, but I understand if not.

As others have mentioned, select chords that compliment the mood of the song you are trying to write too. Go with what feels good and again, use that capo as that will help find what chords sound best with your voice.

Good luck!

Hey TaylorSwiftYAY:

From a basic standpoint (not considering inversions and counterpoint and all that stuff)...

I've gone to a lot of improv comedy shows in L.A. and have noticed that even untrained musicians, if they can do the basic open-position chords, can usually come up with *something* if they just wing it and sing along off the top of their head. Every once in a while there's a train wreck. But remember that we naturally tend to write melodies with our voices that follow the basic chords, just because we've heard them so many times. If you weave it together, adjusting the chords and adjusting your voice you'll find something that works as you go. It's great to do this as a natural part of the process -- thinking of the chords and melody at the same time. Even if you don't know what they are, develop that creative muscle.

When I write songs, I often just start playing those easy chords and humming and find something that sounds inspiring, then I figure out what it is as I go. Just get into the act of doing it, be musical, throw some clay on the wheel, and then you can elaborate from there.

I feel safe saying most pop / rock songs are made up exactly like that, and tweaked later by a producer / arranger / someone else in the band with music theory experience.

-Carl.

That's funny. I was logged into Anders' account to upload some videos for him, and accidentally posted as him. Suddenly I got really good at guitar and speaking in Danish.

Anyway, TaylorSwiftYAY:

From a basic standpoint (not considering inversions and counterpoint and all that stuff)...

I've gone to a lot of improv comedy shows in L.A. and have noticed that even untrained musicians, if they can do the basic open-position chords, can usually come up with *something* if they just wing it and sing along off the top of their head. Every once in a while there's a train wreck. But remember that we naturally tend to write melodies with our voices that follow the basic chords, just because we've heard them so many times. If you weave it together, adjusting the chords and adjusting your voice you'll find something that works as you go. It's great to do this as a natural part of the process -- thinking of the chords and melody at the same time. Even if you don't know what they are, develop that creative muscle.

When I write songs, I often just start playing those easy chords and humming and find something that sounds inspiring, then I figure out what it is as I go. Just get into the act of doing it, be musical, throw some clay on the wheel, and then you can elaborate from there.

I feel safe saying most pop / rock songs are made up exactly like that, and tweaked later by a producer / arranger / someone else in the band with music theory experience.

-Carl.