How To Write A Song On Guitar
Learn How To Write A Song On The Guitar!
Let’s take a look at how to write a song. I am not a songwriter by any means but I can give you some tips on what chords you have to choose from when starting to write a song. If you know what chords are in a given key, it can narrow down your chord choices and give you a good structure to work with for writing.
For our example let’s use the key of E major. The notes in an E major scale are E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, and D#. Each note in the E major scale has a chord that goes along with it. In major keys, the 1st, 4th, and 5th notes of a major scale have major chords to go along with them. In the key of E major the 1st, 4th, and 5th notes are E, A, and B. With that in mind, if you were writing a song in the key of E, your basic major chord options would be E major, A major and B major.
In a major key the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th notes of the major scale have minor chords to go along with them. In the key of E major the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th notes are F#, G#, and C#. Now you have three basic options for minor chords when writing a song in E major, F# minor, G# minor and C# minor.
In order to be able to tell what notes and chords are in a given key it takes a bit of hard work and study. You really have to know what chords are major and minor in a key and you have to know your key signatures.
In the example I randomly picked chords out of the key of E major. I started with an F# minor chord and moved to a B major chord. I just moved back and forth between those to chords for a verse. This impromptu verse ended up sounding kind of like Pink Floyd. For the chorus I used the E major B major and A major chords. This ended up sounding a bit like “Knocking on Heavens Door”.
Picking random chords from a key can be a cool way to come up with ideas for new songs. What you should do now is pick a few other keys and see if you can figure out the chords in those keys. Remember the 1, 4, and 5 chords will be major and the 2, 3, and 6, chords will be minor. Don’t worry about the 7 chord for now, we will cover it in other lessons. I will write out the keys of G major and A major for you so you can have some more examples to look at.
The notes in the G major scale are G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#. The major 1, 4, and 5 chords for the key of G major are G, C, and D. The minor 2, 3, and 6 chords are A, B, and E.
The notes in the A major scale are A, B, C#, D, E, F#, and G#. The major 1, 4, and 5 chords for the key of A major are A, D, and E. The minor 2, 3, and 6 chords are B, C#, and F#.
hey nate, just wanna say you do great guitar lessons, ive found really helpful, but im a little confussed on using a key to write song, does the chords from a particular key have to be used, or can you use random chords??
Hey Jake, to answer your question: When writing a song, you do need to use chords from a certain key. Nate’s method of identifying the major and minor chords in a given key is the best way to do it. It can be done with any major scale. Just list the notes in a key and 1, 4, 5 are your majors and 2, 3, 6 are your minors. Some songs change keys, but this is a slightly advanced technique. the vast majority of pop songs stay in one key and use these basic chords. Here’s a link that might be helpful: http://www.storycompositions.com/2008/06/roman-numerals-and-how-to-play-chord.html
every time i watch your guitar lessons i don’t understand what you are teaching and i am an in the middle guitar player and a guitar teacher and he tells me to look up various things about the guitar
Hey Denis…..
You just concentrate you will get him. There is something very important you can get when listening carefully.This is almost accademics requires your mind 90%. Tchao
hi nate!
i am so much confused whenever i watch the signs with the notes in a scales like “#”. plz tell me what is its use and how they are different from others?
# is the sign for ‘sharp’. all this means is that the note that has this sign on it is up one half step (or one fret). Hope this helped!
i love this <3
i have made up a string song. Two highest srtings. First and second strings. First string frets 2,3, and open. 4/4 a b e/ a b e/ a b e g/ e/ . now second (2) and first(1). 4/4 2d 2e 1e/ 2d 2e 1e/ 2d 2e 1e 1g/ 1a g e 2d/ 2d/.add part1 and 2.
sorry wrong frets (1) 5 7. (2) 3 5
I found this short lesson on how to identify major and minor chords for a major key to be very clear, simple and straightforward, and it was a lot of help! Thanks…
how soon can a beginner start writing songs
This is a great lesson! Music theory was never my forte so I avoided like the plague. A couple of years ago I picked up a lesson book by the name of “The Chord Wheel” and avoided that too. With this lesson and “The Chord Wheel” I’m started to see a dim light at the end of the tunnel.
Years ago my band director explained all of this verbally but it didn’t stick. My advice is to get “The Chord Wheel” book and follow this lesson from Nate with the wheel. It has made a huge difference with my understanding of the correct chords in any key. And now I understand how the chord wheel on the book works (which I had avoided learning!). It shows all the major and minor chords with a turn of the wheel. It also shows how many flats or sharps are in a particular key.
Thanks for the great lesson Nate!