Unlock Guitar Songwriting Secrets with Easy Music Theory Methods

Music theory is a great tool for writing songs on the guitar. In this article, I’ll show 5 ways to create music that will sound good and also give tips to make your songs less common and more original

Before getting into guitar songwriting tips, I need to mention an important idea. Although music theory provides effective songwriting tools, you can ignore them all. It’s because being creative usually entails breaking the rules and finding a unique way of creating music. There’s a great quote accredited to the guitar legend Jeff Beck (RIP), who left us this week:

“If I don’t break the rules at least 10 times in every song, then I’m not doing my job properly.”

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— Jeff Beck

Photo: Simon Fernandez Music Photographer

Let’s first begin by defining what music theory and guitar songwriting are.

What is music theory?

Music theory is a… theory. As such, it’s open to interpretation. So I’ll propose a working definition for this article. Music theory is a compilation of methods and ideas to organise sound and explore and understand its various possibilities to create music.

What is guitar songwriting?

This is another blurry term, and I’ll define guitar songwriting as the process of creating popular music on the guitar. I also like to use the term “guitar composing.” Composing is more related to classical music, but guitar music can be instrumental, whereas songs are usually associated with lyrics.

Here are the 5 simple methods and at the end of each method, there’s a guitar songwriting tip.

1) Diatonic Harmony

The term “diatonic” in music theory is such a great tool for songwriting. It allows you to turn the seven notes of a scale into music that will most likely sound great. It’s because these seven notes are connected by strong bonds.

You can think of it as a family. Yes, there are sometimes disagreements and tensions, but “blood is thicker than water” and there is natural love. So the seven notes are like seven family members.

One of the basic interpretations of diatonic in songwriting is “diatonic harmony,” which means chords and chord progressions based on the seven chords of a scale or key.

Let’s start with the key of C major. There are 7 notes in C major: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. From each note (also called a “degree”), we construct a related chord: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, and B-.

If you choose a combination of some of these chords, you will create a chord progression, and it will likely sound good. For example, C, G, F, and Am.

Guitar songwriting tip #1:

These four chords are frequently used. So to create a less common chord progression, include some or all of the other three chords. For instance, C, B-, F, and Dm.

2) Time Symmetry

Music theory brought us the term “time signature” (also “metre”). It’s an effective way to organise beats. The most common time signature is 4/4, and because it’s so common, its synonym is a capital C. It means that music is divided into 4 beats, and these 4 beats are grouped in a block called a “bar” (or “measure”).

So if you want your chord progression to sound good, you can use symmetry. If you look around, you’ll probably notice many symmetrical items, like furniture. We humans are very much into symmetrical shapes, and the same thing applies to music.

You can create symmetry in music by allocating each chord to a 4-beat bar. For example:

| C / / / | G / / / | F / / / | Am / / / |

Guitar songwriting tip #2:

To make your chord progression more original, break the pattern or stretch the symmetry. For example, you can create a chord progression with an odd number of bars, like:
| C / / / | G / / / | Dm / / / | F / / / | Am / / / |

3) Melodic Tones

The next music theory concept is called “chord tones”, which are simply the notes of each chord. These are great for creating melodies around a chord progression. Every basic chord consists of 3 notes (a triad), and to add a melody that sounds good, you can sing (or play with another guitar) a note or more from the same chord.

For example, chord C consists of the notes c, e, and g. If you sing or play one of these notes with the chord C, they will sound harmonious together. It’s a very simple idea… Let’s see it in action.

Chords:
| C / / / | G / / / | F / / / | Am / / / |
Melody:
| e | d | c | c |

Guitar songwriting tip #3:

To make it more original and interesting, use non-chord tones as well. Non-chord tones can be notes from the same scale that are not part of the chord. For example:
Chords:
| C / / / | G / / / | F / / / | Am / / / |
Melody:
| d | e | d | c |

4) Functional Harmony

Functional harmony is a music theory concept that presumes that each chord in a scale or key has a specific function. For example, the first chord is called the “tonic”. If all the chords are a family, then the tonic is considered the head of the family. It’s the first and main chord of the scale.

The tonic functions like “home”, which means that it’s the chord you usually start and end with. It’s like starting the day at home, going to work, and then coming back home to your family. This means that you can think of the other chords as “outdoors”.

In practical terms, it means that if you want to create a “homey feel”, you’re going to base a chord progression around C. For example:

| C / / / | G / / / | F / / / | C / / / |

Guitar songwriting tip #4:

You can also create a chord progression that feels like the outdoors. For example:
| Dm / / / | B- / / / | Em / / / | Em / / / |

5) Final Form

What you can do with the chord progressions and melodies is arrange them in a form. We sometimes take it for granted, but various forms have been developed for centuries. In popular music, there are a few common forms.

For example, a popular form begins with two verses, a chorus, one verse, and then two choruses. In short, we can write it as AABABB. The A part is the verse, which can be one chord progression with one melody. The B part can be the chorus with different chord progressions and melodies:

A: | C | G | F | C |
A: | C | G | F | C |
B: | Dm | B- | Em | Em |
A: | C | G | F | C |
B: | Dm | B- | Em | Em |
B: | Dm | B- | Em | Em |

Guitar songwriting tip #5:

To make your song more complex and interesting, add more sections, like a C-part, which can be another chord progression and melody. For instance: | G | Dm | B- | Am |
For guitarists, this can be our cue for the guitar solo.

• Last tip: Even better, create your form and organise your music in a way that feels right to you.

What did you think about these guitar songwriting tips and methods? Comment Below.

If you’d like to advance your guitar songwriting skills – get in touch! I am a guitar teacher in north London and also have an online guitar school.