hi everyone i'm really glad to have a community of people I can ask for help, I've been playing guitar for around 2 years but its all been covers of songs I like and almost entirely no comping of my own. i do know some music theory but I'm the kind of person that needs to beat over the head to understand things when it comes to music anyway i'm rambling I recently made a tiny beginning part of a song id like to make for my girlfriend to listen to but I don't know any chords aside from your standard beginner chords and I've never tried making a chord progression before on guitar i'm using a clean tone like the one from this love by pantera and I'm going for that like cool 80s kind of sound people online post their cool old cars to cuz she's really into that kind of music but again i'm practically a baby being thrown in the middle of the pacific ocean and being asked to swim back to land, im doing like an arp kind of thing like in the beginning of Pheonix by Breaking point and because I don't know what chord I'm playing i went on a chord identifier website online and put the shape in which was really simple just 3 on the low e 2 on the a and 4 on the d and it came back as a gmaj9 chord this is really embarrassing that I have to do this but any help at all would be appreciated thank you in advance to anyone who reads this and decides to offer any wisdom wink wink
Hi Faith, apply your courage and follow your heart. Learn maybe 3 to 5 chords to start. Sounds like you are doing an intro, then a song with words or poems, then an outro, a cool middle bridge helps bring a smile, definitely make that eye contact for sure. Listen to what you like to hear, learn some of that piece, or just go for it, be original. Sure, record yourself and see how that goes, use your phone or tape. You are not alone to win that smile from your girl with your guitar. Keep practicing your creativity. In the long run learn about what you created musically, it takes time. I did this same girlfriend move back in the day early 90s. I'd play that guitar everywhere for anybody who ever would listen, especially my girl. Grow your audience and keep learning. Hope it all works out and meets your goals. That is about all I can offer, enjoy, have fun!! *smiles*
-johno
Hi Faith,
I've recently started going down the song writing road and though I am familiar with many types of chords like major, minor, different 7th chords, 9th chords etc. you don't need all of those to write a song. Some of the best songs are just simple progressions like a 1-4-5 or something like that. I wouldn't worry so much about making a song complicated. Try to tell a story and just give it your best.
My intro so far is C#sus2, Cmin7, G#7, F#7 so it's like a Isus-Im7-V7, IV7. I don't even think the V7 and IV7 are in the key of C#minor but I like it and it has some tension that can be resolved.
Good luck and go for it. If you believe and have conviction with the song others will too.
Thank you Faith for sharing your experience. You just need to learn basic chord theory and simple scale degrees. Not too dofficult at all. You can learn super simple song like "Stand by Me" and think abour each chord funstion a little.
Key of A:
A A
F#m F#m
D D
E E
Chord progressions are
1 1
6m 6m
4 4
5 5
You can check
- Beginner Serires with open chords
https://tomovhxtv.vhx.tv/beginner-series
- Essential theory (Intervasl * chord functions)
https://tomovhxtv.vhx.tv/music-theory-i/videos/et01-c-major-scale
- Roman numerals
https://tomovhxtv.vhx.tv/music-theory-i/videos/et03-roman-numerals
- Major Triads
https://tomovhxtv.vhx.tv/music-theory-i/videos/et12-major-triads
Even the Beatles, they learn songs from other artists first before they can compose their own.
Please enjoy your guitar journey!
Tomo