Beginner Songwriting: Some Helpful Tips To Get You Started

Beginner songwriting is for those who have a desire to become a songwriter and experienced songwriters who want to share some of their songwriting tips.

In my experience one of the most important things to start honing songwriting skills is to learn music. What do I mean learn music? I mean learn the essentials of what makes good music and the laws that govern how music is put together.

The core of music is the melody. But a melody is not just a purely random hodgepodge of notes. We have scales that govern melodies. Of course melodies can be sung or played with an instrument. So it's important to learn your scales and learn to play it on an instrument.

Singer songwriters usually sing and accompany themselves with an instrument, the most popular being guitar or piano. Guitar is usually a popular choice because it's easy to carry around and perform with no matter where you are. But everyone who is a musician should know the basics of piano.

I started playing guitar because I loved to sing and I did not have to rely on a band everytime I wanted to perform. I could sing and accompany myself on guitar wherever I went. I started to learn my instrument by playing single note melodies.

The first scale I learned was the major scale. Scales are made up of a combination 1 step and 1/2 step intervals. Let's start our first beginner songwriting lesson with the interval formula for your first scale:

Root-1-1-1/2-1-1-1-1/2

So how does it work? Go to your instrument and let's start with the C note. Use the diagram below as a guide. The numbers on the top represent the divisions of frets and the numbers on the side represent the strings.

!!-1----2----3---4----5----6---7---8----9--10--!!

!!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!---- 6

!!----!----!-R--!----!-1--!----!-1--!-1/2!----!---- 5

!!----!----!----!----!-1--!----!-1--!----!-1--!-1/2 4

!!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!---- 3

!!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!---- 2

!!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!----!---- 1

On a guitar C is on the 5th string 3rd fret. Each fret in music is considered a 1/2 step. So the on the fifth string the first note would be the root. Play that note then go up 2 frets and play that note then 2 more frets and play that note then one fret and play that note. That is your Root-1-1-1/2. Continue in that fashion till you finish the second half 1-1-1-1/2. Note the last note (1/2) is the octave of the root. In other words it's the same note as the root but one octave higher.

Now that you understand the formula or theory behind this scale let's discuss how to apply this properly on the guitar. We will continue on the next page (Beginner Songwriting2)with a formula of how you can play this scale in any key. Then after learning these scales how to apply it to honing your beginner songwriting skills. For some more excellent songwriting tips visit this helpful website:

www.world-of-songwriting.com

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