Composing for Guitar: the Process Step 1 (an example)
SOME GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT THE SONG
Before writing this song I knew what I wanted to be my motivation for it. The wedding of my friend, Kevin, to his wife, Kathy. So the first thing I did was try to remember what it was like to feel all the emotions swirling right before the wedding. The name of the song is named for Kathy because Kev’s last name means Flowers in Spanish.
But I also wanted to write something that could represent the events leading up to the wedding. So that’s where I started. So I wanted to write something that could apply, I guess, to the seven stages of their relationship:
1. the meeting and new excitement
2. the fun they started having together and learning who the
other person was
3. the sweet, almost sickening time when people just get together
and nobody else wants to hear it
4. the decision to get married
5. the excitement leading up to the wedding
6. the flash back to all that fun the had before all of the
planning for the wedding, and kind of a celebration
of each other again before the plunge
7. the wedding itself
Also another thing was that I really like alternate tunings and I had just heard an Adrian Legg (sp?) song I really like and had figured out it’s tuning. He’s great by the way, you should definitely check him out. Anyway the tuning is DGDGBD and that lends itself to kind of upbeat songs so I knew I wanted to use that.
So there it is. There’s the premis for this song. No, you don’t have to go through this whole process for every song you write. But like I said before, it’s much easier to write when there is inspiration there. A lot of my songs can be inspired by friends or what’s going on their lives. I know my songs have been like that.
Anyway, inspiration was there and now there was organization. I’m gonna go a little Tony Robbins on you now and give you and equation for success:
INSPIRATION + ORGANIZATION + MOTIVATION = A GREAT PLACE TO START
So now that you know that, let’s look at the different parts in tablature and try to figure out if I’m making any sense at all or if I’m just full of crap. hehe.
By the way, I’m not going to talk about theory or anything like that on these pages. Completely right brained here.
1. THE MEETING AND NEW EXCITEMENT
This had to be an endearing, yet upbeat and uptempo section of the song. You know when you first meet someone that just totally strikes a chord with you. Everything seems energized. I wanted some kind of energy but not in a rocking sort of way. So this is what I came up with ...
2. THE FUN THEY STARTED HAVING TOGETHER AND LEARNING
WHO THE OTHER PERSON WAS
This is the driving phrase of the song. This is the main crux of the relationship, getting to know one another. Maybe coincidentally, this being the main part of the song will also be the main part of married life, getting to know each other’s nuances and all that. A
nyway, it had to be kind of uplifting but still fast paced for two reasons: 1) to not break the mood of the previous section and 2) when you meet someone you end up falling in love with things just seem to flow in life. (sorry about the sappiness but it’s true) Also, I wanted this song to be dynamic as well just because of the nature of its theme.
So here is the first opportunity to introduce that. This phrase
is not as even-keeled as many of
my typical melodies. Here it is below.
