Reqest for a new series of tutorials... Music Composition.

Dear Instructors (and Jon)

There are lots and lots of tutorials on just about everything now. Scales, chords, modes this that and the other. I personally have become somewhat proficient in creating riffs. In fact, I have a few sets of riffs that I've created that were intended to be put together. Rather or not they will actually fit well is another thing.

I'd like to put on the ever growing wish list, a series on music comp. I found this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_composition, but it would be nice to have lessons here. I was at the book store this evening, seen several books on composition, was tempted, but thought I'd wait and see what I could learn from here as well as the internet.

Originally Posted by: RickBlackerDear Instructors ...[/quote]
Uh oh. Sounds like we are in trouble. :p
[QUOTE=RickBlacker]
I'd like to put on the ever growing wish list, a series on music comp.

That's a great idea. I've considered several different ways to approach some lessons on this topic. But I've not settled on the best way to accomplish it.

I have it on my list of things to do for next year. :)

For now, consider this: the best way to learn composition is by studying (reverse engineering) compositions, or songs you like & then by imitating them (using similiar melodies, chord changes, rhythms, sections, timbres, etc.).

Hey Chris, by chance do you have any recommended reading to augment these exercises?

Hi Rick,

Not sure if you've checked these out yet, but here's a tutorial called:

INTRO TO THE MAGIC OF CHORD THEORY
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=997

And also, the Free Holiday Giveaway Download
CHORD THEORY MAGIC, JUST for GUITAR
http://www.guitartricks.com/holidaygift.php?utm_source=Guitar+Tricks+Newsletter&utm_campaign=73d5709c73-2010_12_10_Guitar_Tricks_Newsletter&utm_medium=email

As a songwriter, I use these principles all the time in composing music. This is not as comprehensive a course as what you are requesting, but may be a place to start.

Best - Lisa

Thanks Lisa, I'll dig into those. :)

After this summer I started a course called 'arranging music'. The goal is to change existing songs into your own band's style.

what I noticed is how I started analyzing pieces of the songs, like what kind of bass-playing fits best with a certain melody, should it be constant or funky, should it give emphasis on certain parts or be the solid foundation that drives the song; but most of all 'what goal/feeling/ambiance do you want to create with the song.

my other band members don't analyze as much as I do, they just play what they think sounds good, but I love analyzing and composing (though I've just started :p)

Music theory is very interesting and it does make sense when one examines it.

One profound realization that came to me whilst reflecting upon the grandeur of the roles of numbers in music was how very crucial the numbers 3 and 4 are. When you're reverse engineering compositions, look for patterns in fours. Even in 3/4 songs, the sections still tend to be 4 bars each.

Some good easy ones on this site you might try this with are Lisa McCormick's 12 or 13 Christmas songs using G, C, and D chords. These chords are great for guitarists to know as I, IV, and V (one, four and five) chords. They are all major. The cool thing on guitar is that you can use the same geometrical shapes with a capo and change the key. To know what key you are changing it to, you need to know all 12 notes in the chromatic scale on the 6th string. Here they are (in order):

Open 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th
E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E (again)

So the twelfth note is the same as the open one. Any time you want to play the same note on a higher string, the formula is note fret number + 12. Example: That A on the third string, second fret? Say 2 + 12 = ? Right, the next A on that string is on the 14th fret. Works every time. My Godin SD22 guitar has 24 frets and I like the simplicity of having 2 guitars there basically. A lot of old guitars only went up 12 frets, especially acoustics.

I will probably do a blog post on this type stuff on my site http://www.fretzeroguitar.com and maybe even post an explanatory video as this is hard to explain in a forum message with only text.

Also, remember that time cycles in multiples of 4 in life - 12 hours each section of the day. There are 12 different notes. There are 12 different musical keys - so literally there is one key for every hour of the day.

Also, music and a healthy life really do go hand-in-hand:

http://www.lifestylebreak.com/family/music-and-life-a-partnership-for-health/

Well composing or composition is something which is hard to teach because how can to teach somebody to be creativ or express feelings ? :D

But acutally one good method to give kind of a guidance is as Christopher and Lisa said to learn songs, examples and and and to get some understanding of music. This can lead to a creative process - there are of course some rules from theory which should be be broken, but a lot of artist and composers in history have proved that you can break rules to create something very good.

But still if you want to break rules you first need to know them. So it makes sense to first learn the basics of theory and then you can start to be creative. :)

HP