Write a Song With Your Guitar!!

How To Write A Song?

by Kathy Unruh

Using your guitar to create a song can be both fun and challenging. Whether you’re just writing lyrics or working out an instrumental piece, the creative process can help to improve your overall ability to internalize rhythms and sounds. Songwriting can also help you to develop a greater sense of feeling as opposed to playing from a merely mechanical or “bookish” approach. This happens because you have to depend more on what you hear than on what you see. As you listen to different tones, rhythms and chord progressions, it’s important to take note of how you feel. What sounds do you like, dislike? Because there are no real rules here, you can try anything you want!

Not long ago I began creating a few instrumental pieces for a guitar workshop I was planning to attend. My husband suggested I compose a piece of music using snow as my theme. This got me to thinking about how I could use my guitar to express the feeling of snow beginning to fall lightly from the sky. I wanted a delicate sound to start with, nothing complicated. So, I began with a few notes played high on the 12th fret. Then I gradually descended to the 5th fret, building intensity as I moved down the neck. I had to mess around with the notes a bit until I got a finger-picking pattern I liked. This changed a few times along the way, but became more consistent as the song began to take shape.

Writing songs with lyrics can be similar. Sometimes I start by developing a musical idea or theme on my guitar, but other times I start with the words. Ideas have come to me occasionally when I am just walking down the road. I suppose this is because my mind is free to wander and play with words when I’m relaxed and enjoying myself. Not long ago the following phrase popped into my head while I was meandering along on a sunny day: “Fire, cold as ice.” It sounds strange, but I liked it and ended up writing an entire song around it.

If you’re wondering how to write a song, here are a few suggestions:

• Take a chord you are familiar with (such as G, D, A, etc.) and experiment with it.
• Leave one or two fingers in place as you move a free finger(s) to a different string nearby.
• Strum or pick each string and listen to the tones.
• Try a different fret, different string, strum different rhythms.
• If you hear something you like, play it over and over until you have it memorized.
• Use this as your starting point, or theme, and write the rest of the music around it.

The most important thing is to relax and enjoy the process. Let yourself sing whatever nonsense comes to mind. It doesn't need to make sense or even rhyme. If you happen to hit on a phrase or chord progression you like, write it down. Or better yet, record it. Use your cell phone if you have to. It doesn't matter what it sounds like at this point, you just want to remember what you've created so you can continue working on it.

Don't be afraid to get feedback from a trusted friend or fellow musician. They may be able to give you more creative ideas or even become an important songwriting partner. That's what happened with Lennon-McCartney right? Well, it might just happen to you too!

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Kathy Unruh is a singer/songwriter and webmaster of ABC Learn Guitar. She has been writing songs and providing guitar lessons to students of all ages for over 20 years. For free guitar lessons, plus tips and resources on songwriting, recording and creating a music career, please visit: http://www.abclearnguitar.com

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CHRISTOPHER PARKENING

A Musical Misfit? by Kathy Unruh

Was Christopher Parkening a musical misfit? If you consider the popular culture of his day, then you would have to say yes. In 1964 Beatlemania had descended upon America, followed by the British Invasion. Most young people of his generation were not listening to classical guitar music, including myself.

Yet, Christopher Parkening is considered to be "...one of the most brilliant guitarists in the world," according to his former instructor, the late, and legendary Andres Segovia.

At age eleven, Christopher expressed a desire to learn how to play guitar. He mentioned this to his cousin, Jack Marshall, who was staff guitarist at MGM studios at that time. Jack suggested he begin with classical guitar in order to get a good foundation in technique.

As Providence would have it, the Romeros had recently moved from Spain to L.A. where Parkening lived. So, Christopher's first guitar teachers were Celedonio and Pepe Romero! He later performed at a competition in UCLA's "Royce Hall." The composer of the music sent a tape of Parkening's performance to Andres Segovia, requesting a scholarship for him to attend Segovia's first U.S. master Class. This event was held in 1964 at the University of California at Berkley and that is how a bright new star was born.

Like Christopher, I also had an interest in learning how to play the guitar at a young age. My brother was a drummer in several rock and roll bands and I was very influenced by this type of music. So, when I got my first guitar, I began to learn the popular songs of the day- Stairway to Heaven, Roundabout, Behind Blues Eyes, Southern Man, I'd Love to Change the World, etc. I had no problem with being a musical misfit because people loved these songs.

Over the course of time I began making up my own tunes too. This was a lot of fun and sometimes, when I was with a group of my friends, they would ask me to play a song. We were all hippies back then, so I liked to play a song I had written which expressed my concern about the environment.

But times change and so do people. Though I'm still concerned about the environment, the message of my songs has changed because I have changed. Instead of writing about my concern for the environment, I now write about my concern for people's souls, and this has made me a musical misfit of sorts. But it doesn't really matter because I desire to reach out to people who are searching for meaning in life like I once was. This is where my heart is, and it is this passion that drives me.

Christopher Parkening has a similar passion. He came to point in his career where he was burnt out from all the demands that were being placed upon his time due to his performing schedule. So he finally quit performing and bought a ranch in Montana. He decided that all he wanted to do for the rest of his life was fly fishing. So, for three years, that's all he did. He hardly, if ever, pick up his guitar during this time.

But something wonderful happened during this period of solitude and soul searching. He met Jesus and his life was changed forever. Now he is performing again because, as he puts it: "I am a Christian, and I read the Bible a lot. I desire to bring glory to the Lord in some small way with the music that I play, and that is first and foremost in my mind."

Today, Christopher Parkening is renowned all over the world as a solo classical guitarist. He has performed concertos with leading orchestras, played at the White House and been nominated for two Grammy Awards.

So, if you fee like a musical misfit, don't dispair. Just follow your passion and your dreams. Don't be distracted by what everyone else is doing. Some of the greatest musicians have most likely felt the same way at one time or another. And I believe if you are destined to be a star, then one day you will be.

The Art Of Practicing

How To See Real Results By Chris Standring

Re: The Art of Practicing... I have always believed that success, in practically any subject you can think of, is a direct result of "clear thinking". That is, the ability to understand very clearly what needs to be achieved and the action to set about surmounting very necessary hurdles in order to reach those goals. Less than successful people are either not clear in their goals or for one reason or another give up along the way. It's leveling that rough terrain, along with a clearly defined end result in mind that will get you there in the end. The success roadmap might go something like this:

Visualize goal => Surmount problems => Score

Sounds simple doesn't it? However, this clear thinking is all very well but it's usually the thought required before step 1 (visualization) that causes problems. Very often the goal does not manifest in mind because the process is so overwhelming.

And so it is with practicing the guitar, or any instrument for that matter. In more laymen's terms it's more like "What should I be practicing?"

Practice is a constant struggle for many people. There is so much to learn and often so little time to allocate to it. For the jazz musician, clear thinking can be as simple as "I really like that Charlie Parker 2, 5 - how does he do that?". Then transcribing the line, practicing it in all keys and working the phrase into your own vocabulary.

The 'score' as I like to call it is the ability to work it in to your own playing. I want to talk a little about that in a minute.

First, I think the most important thing to talk about is how to make best use of your practice time. There was a time when I started playing where I used to sit in my room and allocate 15 minutes to practicing scales and arpeggios, 10 minutes on technique exercises, 20 minutes on sight reading and 1/2 an hour on practicing my classical guitar repertoire. Why? because my teacher told me I had to. Years later once I started to study jazz guitar on my own I didn't feel the need to be practicing this way. It wasn't really benefiting me fully.

I started to have my own goals in mind that I wanted to reach. I wanted to learn to play like one or two of my heroes, but more importantly because I liked what they played. Even more under the microscope were certain melodic lines and licks that tweaked my ear and fueled me to transcribe or simply copy the way they phrased or 'felt' a phrase. Once I clearly had in mind what I wanted to achieve I could go about achieving it - I knew what I had to do.

It's important to sit down to practice and be really clear about what you are going to do during that practice time. Now, one thing that helped me tremendously was when I made a huge commitment to scheduled practicing. In other words, deciding that every single day, no matter what, I would sit down and dedicate exactly one hour to working at this instrument. The amazing thing I found is that my regularly scheduled practice literally fueled my regularly scheduled practice!

Does this make sense? What this means is that, the more I practiced, the more I wanted to practice. What started out as a committed hour turned into committed six hour sessions. Once I got into music college in London I remember waking up in the morning and practicing until I went to bed at night, remembering to eat on occasion. I was so fueled by the commitment to practice that the drive to play took over completely.

Does this make sense? What this means is that, the more I practiced, the more I wanted to practice. What started out as a committed hour turned into committed six hour sessions. Once I got into music college in London I remember waking up in the morning and practicing until I went to bed at night, remembering to eat on occasion. I was so fueled by the commitment to practice that the drive to play took over completely.

Regular practice clearly keeps your guitar technique on tip top form. There's nothing like picking up the guitar and playing a few short runs and being on top of your game, simply because you are playing regularly.

The other wonderful thing about committing to regular practice is that it actually helps you to think much more clearly, because you start to see results. Once you start to see results the concept of learning is much less overwhelming and you are able to make decisions about what you want to work on much more easily.

So do yourself a huge favor, first, make the decision to want to get much better at your guitar playing. Then once you have decided that, make a clear commitment right now and allocate a certain time of day to your guitar practice. If you only have limited time then give yourself what you know you can afford. Once you get your teeth into this system, if you don't have more time, trust me you will want to find more time. You might just want to wake up earlier. The drive to learn will take over.

Quality practice is key. I find now I am older that, if I let myself, I can get more and more distracted because there are so many other facets to my life. When I make the decision to focus 100% on my guitar problems and how I can surmount them, I find I can get completely absorbed for hours once I get going. Sometimes it helps to avoid those distractions from the outset. Maybe turn the phone off!

There is a huge difference between playing the guitar and practicing the guitar. I can play for days quite happily but am I learning anything new? Not unless I stop myself and work on my weaknesses. And there are plenty of those trust me! Many years ago I wanted to learn licks from my favorite players. I would hear a line and transcribe it. Many times I found that those musical phrases would not come out in my playing and I asked myself why. It dawned on me that there were three possible reasons:

1) I found the phrase too technically difficult to pull off. 2) It just didn't feel like it belonged in my vocabulary. 3) I hadn't fully explored the idea enough - perhaps I didn't fully understand how to use it in a practical sense.

Let's talk about these briefly.

Sometimes a horn line does not necessarily fit under the fingers on the guitar. The line might sound just terrific on a sax but if I can't play it on my guitar it's not going to have the same effect. In fact quite the opposite! Everyone is somewhat limited technically (although there are a few players that keep my head scratching I must admit!), every player has a ceiling in their own mind and I think it's perfectly OK to let some things go because they are just two gymnastic on the guitar. It's of course relative to each player's ability and comfort zone.

Occasionally I'll try and work something into my music vocabulary and it just doesn't feel like me. Some players sound great playing certain things and when I play them they either sound too much like that other great player or I just don't feel it. Music has to be personal, it's OK to weed out stuff that you don't want to use, even when those 'weeds' are a rose garden to others.

The last idea is something very important I think. That is the idea that when you work on some new vocabulary or a new harmonic idea, that you fully understand how to use it and just as importantly, how to work it into your playing so it comes out naturally. Let's assume you are transcribing a lick on a CD you like. The first thing to do is to make sure you get the notes right. You might slow it down (there is plenty of software on the market that enables you to do this now). Whatever it takes, make sure the notes you are transcribing are correct. Then it is a matter of practicing that phrase so it feels good when you play it.

Now most folks stop right there and wonder why the phrase never shows up in their playing. The secret is to figure out exactly what chord (or group of chords) is being played underneath that line. After that, figure out what other chords could also be played underneath that phrase.

Next, learn how to play that phrase everywhere on the fretboard, in different positions and keys. Finally and the most important, work the phrase into your own playing. To do this, start by improvising in any way that you normally might and focus on ways to connect that new phrase you want to play. The new phrase starts on a certain note and you will need to focus on that starting note in order to make a connection to it. Practice improvising freely and connecting to that new phrase, focusing on its starting note. Do this in all keys. Pretty soon you will know if the phrase is going to come out into your playing or not.

The art of practice is a huge subject and musicians have written complete books on it. But I do believe the real success starts with clear thinking. Make a decision to focus on something specific. Here is a more detailed roadmap to take on board:

1) Visualize. What do you want to work on - what do you want to achieve? 2) Plan. What exactly do you have to do in order to achieve that goal? 3) Action. Explore the subject in enough detail. 4) Surmount. Expect problems along the way - this is normal - don't give up! Just level the terrain. 5) Score - making sure that the subject is fully absorbed and part of your new musical make up, unless you decide otherwise.

Great players really got to grips with practicing in the early stages. It became fascinating to them and the results they saw fueled more practice. It's a self perpetuating phenomenon. By simply not practicing, the incentive to pick up your instrument diminishes over time. Then the excuses start to pour out in torrents. Then regrets. Then a very dusty guitar possibly in a dark attic somewhere.

Get practicing. Quality practice. Ask yourself questions. Look for the answers. Insist on results. This is the key to improving.

How To Seriously Improve Your Guitar Playing

by Chris Standring

"You just cannot expect to perfect your instrument without real world performing experience. You can't get that experience any other way."

There are bedroom guitar players and there are live performers. There doesn't seem to be anything in between. The minute you walk on to a stage (whether you get paid or not) you are a professional. You are in the business of entertaining and displaying your wares, so to speak. And if you really want to seriously get your guitar playing together it is the latter you need to strive for in my opinion. I am not suggesting you 'turn pro', you know attempt to do this thing full time, that is a whole other set of issues itself, but in order for your guitar playing to really get to where it needs to get to, you simply have to play in a live performance setting, preferably in a public forum. Ideally with other musicians you can interact with.

You can spend a lifetime reading books, studying your musical heroes, playing along to music minus one records, but none of this will ultimately give you the full picture. In order to be a true well rounded musician, you have to have real world experience. I'll try to explain why...

When I was just starting out in the profession as a fresh untainted fish in the vast sea of the London music business, I had to get myself known in order to find work. So I set about to answer ads in music papers. Now, after studying classical guitar at the London College of Music, I came out of a 3 year course with a facility to sight-read. Or should I say the beginnings of sight-reading ability, as jazz and pop music written on paper is a whole other world, as I was about to find out. I remember having to sight-read a piece of jazz music with a dance band at an audition. There were about 10 guitar players going for this gig. I must have been about 23 years old. The musical director said "I kind of like what you did Chris but you didn't really cut it mate! There are other guys here that have what I need". Ouch!!! That hurt. But I was young. It was actually good to hear. So I went back to my music library, pulled out a ton of violin music and practiced reading in different positions on the fretboard. Not to mention learning how to grab chords on sight in different fret positions.

Another time, I went down to audition for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, a band known to be extremely taxing musically, and a training ground for London session players. I sat in the guitar chair with my Gibson 335 on my lap, ready to play. The director called a chart, I placed it on the stand and he counted it off. He counted it off around 250 BPM. Frighteningly fast! Well, it was all I could do to get my eyes to follow the music, measure by measure, much less play the music that was written within those bars! I didn't even touch my guitar that rehearsal. I simply placed it back in its case and went home. Ouch again! That was a hard knock! I gave myself exactly a year to get it together. I went back to my practicing with a vengeance. A year later I joined the band for about a year and a half.

Another for instance; about 13 years ago I was playing with a jazz singer in a trio situation with an eminent LA drummer and acoustic bassist. I hadn't done much trio playing, if any at the time, but I was looking forward to playing. At the end of one of the songs I completely messed up the ending. In fact I would go further, I hadn't really worked on any song endings. Didn't really have that together at all. The drummer scowled at me, particularly because I threw him off, as I was not definite in how I wanted to end the song (because I didn't know myself!). He was furious when I made him look bad. He said to me "Dude, you've got to dictate these endings, you're the one playing the chords!". He was right. I was crushed! I went home, sulked for a week (maybe two). Then I went back to my practice room. I was not to be defeated.....

These are the hard knocks you simply have to get in your music life to dictate what you need to work on to get your total musicianship together! You just cannot expect to perfect your instrument without real world experience. You can't get that experience any other way. I can recount tons of times that this sort of thing has happened, and there are still things today that I learn on a weekly basis at live gigs, telling me what I need to work on. The difference today of course is that it's me who is being critical of myself, rather than other bandmates and musical directors telling me I suck!

And the neccessity of performing live is true of any musical genre you choose. Interacting with other musicians is an art in itself. I know technically great players who can't play with others. Does this make them great musicians? I'm not so sure. But they sure can get round the instrument. But if they were to do any amount of live ensemble playing they would have one or two knocks coming, and if they are smart they would work on those issues. Otherwise it's back to solo guitar playing in the back of their local restaurant. (A noble and valid thing to do, let me also say).

There are many issues that come up in a real live playing situation that just don't come up in a bedroom practice session. Time, time-feel, supportive ensemble playing, projection of sound and tone, and most of all a sense of energy and commitment within a performance that is extremely different, and is very difficult to even put into words frankly. You just need to experience it, and that experience will improve your playing tenfold.

So get out there and do some gigs. I know it is hard to make that happen sometimes, but if you cannot make it happen then start a rehearsal band with a few others and play through repertoire. Get together with other guitarists and play through tunes, take solos and take turns being supportive. As you improve, take the plunge and take yourself to the next level.

And by recommending you do all this I am by no means suggesting you put away your books, records and Jamie Abersold play alongs. Absolutely not. This is something of course you should continue to do. But it is only 50% of your musical makeup. I promise you, by performing live you will improve yourself as a guitar player, but most of all as a musician, and at the end of the day this is what we all need to aspire to.

Go to it and have fun!