Already compose your own guitar music? Don’t you think it requires an inordinate amount of talent? Or maybe you’ve just heard some dusty old folk song that went viral a few weeks ago and you want to be the one who wrote that next hit. Well, good news!
You aren’t alone and you don’t need to devote years of intensive study to start composing your own music.
In fact, starting today, you can be a budding master at playing guitar by learning how to compose your own original melodies using little more than your favorite app and a pencil or pen.
WHY LEARN?
By learning how to compose your own music, you’re doing a few things. Firstly, you’re unleashing your musical creativity by trying out different sounds and writing new melodies. Secondly, you’re learning how to write music from scratch and seeing how it’s done. It’s also a great way to expand your knowledge of music theory.
In other words, you’re not just learning how to play guitar, you’re also learning how to write music. This is vital if you want to pursue it professionally. Before you dive in and start composing your own guitar music right away, let’s take a step back and talk about why you should even bother doing so in the first place. Why learn to compose your own music?
There are a few reasons why this might be a great idea for you.
START FROM THE GROUND UP
For instance, if you want to play guitar, but don’t know where to start. By composing your own music, you have the chance to start from the ground up and learn how to play the instrument.
Composing your own music is also a great way to learn or reinforce your knowledge of music theory. Learning how to write music from scratch and understanding how to create different forms of music (e.g. how to create melodies, how to write chord progressions, and how to create harmonies) will help you become a more well-rounded musician.
WHAT IS COMPOSING YOUR OWN GUITAR MUSIC?
Composing your own guitar music is taking a piece of music (or a simple melody) and writing it out in a different form than what we’re used to. By writing out the melody using a pencil and paper, we can really take the idea of “playing by ear” to the next level. You will quickly get a better idea of how the notes relate to one another.
Not only that, but we can also begin to see if any chords or harmonies work better than others. It’s a way of developing a “style” from scratch. Writing by hand also forces us to stay “in the moment”. Take the time to really think about each note being played.
It can also be a super helpful exercise if you’re trying to learn how to improve your guitar playing in general.
DON’T BE LIMITED BY ONE GENRE
We’ve all been taught how to listen to guitar music and categorize it as “rock”, “blues” and so on. However, if you really want to take your composing skills to the next level and learn how to write music from scratch, you should play around with different genres. There are certain genres of music that sound great on guitar (e.g. country, folk, and blues).
However, there are other genres or ways of composing that can be done on guitar as well. Currently trending, many musicians compose using a loop station pedal which lets you create the base for a song, and have it repeat while you compose and freestyle the melody on top.
GUITAR PEDALS
Guitar pedals are also used to change the tone of your guitar. Playing around with different types of guitar pedals also helps you to identify your style even better. The most famous guitarists playing right now often tour with their key set of pedals. This allows them to differentiate their sound from the rest.
By playing around with different genres, pedals, or styles, you’ll be able to see which way of composing is the best for you. You’ll also be able to figure out what genres you have an affinity for and which ones you don’t.
In fact, one of the most important things you need to keep in mind when you’re trying to learn how to compose your own music is to play around with different genres and learn how they sound.
Once you’ve done that, you should be able to figure out which genres sound best on the guitar. You’ll begin to really hone in on your musical style. From there, you should be able to play any genre of guitar music without even thinking about it.
That’s how you start composing your own music. You’ll need to pick up a pencil and piece of paper and plug in your guitar. Begin by playing around with different melodies. Once you’ve got the hang of it, you can move on to writing out the music in a more traditional manner.
KEEP PRACTISING AND YOU WILL IMPROVE
While it might be tempting to sit down with your guitar and start composing your own music right away, you should know that this isn’t going to happen. Learning how to compose your own music is not like learning how to play the guitar. Or even like learning how to read sheet music. It’s more of a skill that needs to be practiced every day. If you want to get better at this, you’ll need to make it a priority in your daily schedule.
All the best musicians have said they have practiced their instrument every single day to really make it big in the music world.
CONCLUSION
There aren’t any huge secrets to learning how to compose your own music. And there certainly isn’t a need for you to be an exceptional guitarist to start.
Starting to compose your own music is easier than you think. All you need is a pencil and paper, and most importantly, some patience.