Songwriting Archives - Page 3 of 5

Why and How to Write Songs on Guitar – Complete Guide!

Why would you want to write a song?

Songwriting is both an art and a craft where you can express your musical creativity, your heart and soul into the ultimate form of a song.

It’s a great learning process for guitar players and all musicians. You’ll discover music on so many new levels and learn to think differently on how to approach your instrument. When you write your own songs you will also learn to transcribe songs faster, and understand and play music in a more proficient way.

I’ve got a lot of guitar students who started writing their own songs and many of them were surprised with how much they enjoyed it and found they could actually write a song. Try it and you might find yourself on a new path you never expected. There is only something to win here.

How to write a song

There are many ways to approach songwriting. You can write a personal story and sing about the struggles and challenges you go through in life. The side effect is highly therapeutic. Many artists do this.

You can also write in a narrative style and bring your own concepts and characters to life through your lyrics. Think about the message you want to get across.

To learn a certain style of songwriting study the professionals. Listen and read the lyrics of your favorite artists, learn how they approach their song writing and convey their stories. Watch interviews on Youtube on their songwriting process. The same goes for the use of chords, chord progressions, melody, rhythm playing, and other musical arrangements. Study, analyze, hear and feel them.

Song Structure

For writing a song you can use different components like an intro, verse, chorus, bridge, instrumental solo and outro. These components or sections are then repeated in some way. The most common forms are:

ABAB : Verse – Chorus – Verse – Chorus
AABA: Verse – Verse – Chorus – Verse
ABABCB: Verse – Chorus – Verse – Chorus – Bridge – Chorus

Around these sections you can create an intro, a guitar solo or an outro.

Tip: Listen to your favorite song writers and figure out what song structure they use and which ones you prefer.

Best Music Documentaries for Guitar Players

By Klaus Crow 13 Comments

Every now and then I watch a good music documentary or movie to enjoy the incredible stories behind the master guitar players and legendary bands.

The struggles, hardship and passion for playing is really inspiring and insightful for anyone who is a student of the guitar. Today we got a list for you with some of the best music documentaries. Witness the turbulent and expressive lives of these musicians. Follow their love for music, their eagerness, perseverance and lessons learned throughout their journey.

All the guitar players and songwriters faced their own challenges that led to the extraordinary musicians that they have ultimately become. A true pleasure to watch each and everyone of them. Pick your favorites from the list and enjoy.

Have a great one!

What are the Best Documentaries for Guitar Players?

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Rise Of A Texas Bluesman – 2014 (Youtube)
A docu on American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer Stevie Ray Vaughan, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock band Double Trouble. He is considered to be one of the most iconic and influential musicians in the history of blues music, and one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

Acoustic Uprising (Youtube)
Acoustic Uprising tells the definitive story of Modern Acoustic Guitar, featuring interviews with world class FingerStyle guitarists from around the world, including Tommy Emmanuel, Kaki King, Newton Faulkner, Sungha Jung, Andy McKee and many more. These artists are renowned for their virtuosity on the ubiquitous acoustic guitar, taking the humble instrument to new heights of “astounding virtuosity”.

Keith Richards – Under influence (Netflix)
Under the Influence gives fans unparalleled access to one of the world’s greatest rock stars and the people and sounds that inspired rock ‘n’ roll legend Keith Richards.

Jimi Hendrix – By Those Who Knew Him Best (Youtube)
Jimi Hendrix is unquestionably the greatest guitarist to have emerged during the rock era. This documentary contains exclusive interviews with his closest friends, associates and fellow musicians, which finally reveals what was behind the greatest musical talent of our time.

Eric Clapton – Standing At The Crossroads Documentary (Youtube)
In this documentary feature Eric Clapton is interviewed in depth with contributions from Keith Richards, John Mayall, The Yardbirds, Jack Bruce and many more. It is THE definitive Clapton biography.

Paco de Lucia Documentary (Youtube)
A beautiful portrait of Paco de Lucia. A Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer. A leading proponent of the new flamenco style, he was one of the first flamenco guitarists to branch into classical and jazz.

Top 25 Contemporary Singer Songwriter Acoustic Guitar Songs

By Klaus Crow 9 Comments

Contemporary Singer Songwriter Acoustic Guitar Chord Songs

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy

What a title huh? Well, today I would like to share a list with beautiful acoustic guitar songs from contemporary singer songwriters. We all know the songs of the great singer songwriters like Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, so I thought it would be nice for a change to put together a list with the next generation of singer songwriters.

Don’t get hung up on the order of this list, nor the incompleteness. I know that the amount of singer songwriters that can be added to this list is infinite, so I hope you put your recommendations in the comments below. There is one rule though, they need to be guitar players :)

The list is here to inspire and give you some wonderful songs to explore, to listen to, study and practice.

Some of the artists in this list you might already be familiar with, others may be new to you. A good reason to check out these great songs, guitars and voices. Get yourself a cup of coffee, pick out your favourites, and start playing!

Note: Each song title contains a YouTube link. The “Chords” link will take you to the chords and lyrics or tabs and the “More Chords” link will show you the official transcribed chords if you want to learn more songs of the artist concerned.

Enjoy!

1 – Scientist – Chris Martin (Coldplay) – Chords – More Chords

2 – Daughters – John Mayer – Chords – More Chords

3 – Cannonball – Damien Rice – Chords – More Chords

4 – New york New york – Ryan Adams – Chords – More Chords

5 – Strong enough – Sheryl Crow – Chords – More Chords

6 – Falling Slowly – Glen Hansard – Chords – More Chords

7 – I’m yours – Jason Mraz – Chords – More Chords

8 – Trouble – Ray LaMontagne – Chords – More Chords

9 – A team – Ed Sheeran – Chords – More Chords

10 – Better together – Jack Johnson – Chords – More Chords

11 – Dream catch me – Newton Faulkner – Chords – More Chords

12 – Cinder and smoke – Iron and Wine – Chords – More Chords

13 – Wildfire – Laura Marling – Chords

14 – Heartbeat – Jose Gonzalez – Chords

15 – Follow the sun – Xavier Rudd – Chords

16 – So beautiful – Pete Murray – Chords

17 – Good man – Josh Ritter – Chords

18 – Sideways – Citizen Cope – Chords

19 – Black river – Amos Lee – Chords

20 – Free – Donavon Frankenreiter – Chords

21 – Diamonds on the inside – Ben Harper – Chords

22 – Sunshine – Matt Costa – Chords

23 – I love the rain the most – Joe Purdy – Chords

24 – One moment more – Mindy Smith – Chords

25 – Another day – Bertolf – Chords

30 Day Singer

Do you want to learn to sing (better)? 30 Day Singer is one of the most popular online singing courses. The course is great for beginners, but also provides advanced techniques for experienced singers.

There are lessons for perfect pitch and intonation, getting better tone, learning to sing higher, steps to better phrasing, mastering vibrato, belting, and lessons that teach you different styles of singing from pop, country and R&B to classical.

The instructors are best-in-class educators coming from Julliard, The Voice and other top music institutions. This course has everything you need to learn to sing. Start Now!

Do you know a great guitar song from a contemporary singer songwriter. Please share in the comments. I’d really appreciate it.

Don’t forget to practice!

Best Singing Lessons for Beginners 2023

By Klaus Crow 7 Comments

top 4 best singing lessons for musicians

Most musicians love to sing along to the songs they play on their guitar or any other instrument. Some guitar players focus entirely and solely on their instrument and that’s perfect, but there’s also the breed who loves to sing and play their hearts out. Even if you’re not, you definitely want to read on.

Most of us are not naturally born singers, and even if you are, you can always use some help to improve your singing voice and work to become a better singer / guitar player.

A lot of musicians just think they don’t have what it takes and they can’t do anything about it. They just throw in the towels and accept they aren’t really the singer type.

But that’s where they are wrong, you can definitely work to become a better singer, a good singer, and some even become great singers. But good is good enough.

How great is it to play your instrument and sing to your songs with confidence. Singing along with your instrument adds an extra dimension to the experience. You now have two instruments (your voice is also an instrument) that complement each other.

Learning to sing also helps you improve your playing, because playing guitar is all about listening and aural skills and that’s what you develop with singing lessons.

The most common problems people face are “problems with pitch”, “the crack in the voice” when going from chest voice to head voice, “singing higher notes” and “losing the voice” due to using of the voice in the wrong way. Most people also don’t know there are simple and easy ways to start improving the voice in a real short amount of time.

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