にほんご ▶

I’m making the songs like below.

1. Songs not sad
2. Songs playable with standard tuning
3. Songs that is short and easy to play
4. Songs that is fun to compose

I play guitar and compose in the living room. Sad songs break the happy mood of the living room, so I make cheerful songs or calming songs.

The reason for tuning to standard E-A-D-G-B-E is to play the guitar in a short time between housework. When changing the tuning, it takes time for the sound to stabilize. My friend says it’s good to have two guitars, but I don’t want to have so many guitars in the living room. When creating a song in D major, it is easier to compose with tuning the 6th string to D, but I keep it as E.

I started playing guitar because I love the timbre of classical guitar. But the most of the enchanting songs in guitar books were too difficult for me. And I also have some CDs of guitar songs, but it’s hard to believe that I can play such a long song.
Songs that are short, easy and not sad, I was playing only such songs from the books, but then I came up with the idea that I should make such songs myself. For me, it would be a much quicker shortcut than practising to be a good guitar player.

When I started composing, the first thing I found was that it wasn’t as difficult as I thought. Of course, that’s because the songs I’m trying to make are very simple. But if it’s enough, it’s not very difficult. I don’t say it’s ‘easy’ because I have to think a lot even for such simple songs, but playing is more difficult than it. There can be no mistake in the playing. Composition can be considered over time and I can rewrite it as many times as I want.

Another thing I found was that composition is a lot of fun. There are various elements in composition, such as inspiration, ideas, and concepts. When I get inspiration from something, my heart flutters. When I come up with a new idea, I immediately want to try it. It’s also fun to rethink “What do I want to make after all?”

The purpose of composing was to write the songs that I could play, but before long I began to enjoy the composition itself. I’m really happy if someone plays my songs.

What I use for composing

1. Knowledge learned at elementary and junior high schools
2. Beautiful photos
3. Experience listening to a lot of music
4. Guitar playing pattern
5. Music score app

When I tell my friends that I started composing, I often get asked if I studied composition. If I’m going to make a work of art, it may need special study, but the songs I’m going to make have just a simple melody and simple decoration. Therefore, the knowledge learned in elementary and junior high school is sufficient for me.

In elementary school, I learned how to read staff notatio, the types of scales such as major and minor scales, and the types of chords such as major and minor chords. I also learned that music has three elements: melody, rhythm, and harmony, and that songs have a structure such as A-B-A and A-A’-?? (Oh, I’ve already forgatten). In junior high school, I learned that there is I-IV-I-V-I as the chord progression of major songs. These are very useful for my composition. I didn’t learn the chord progression of minor songs, but I don’t need to know because I don’t make sad songs. †

However, melody is not born from such knowledge. It is often born when looking at a beautiful photo. When I play the guitar while looking at the photo I found on the net, it comes out immediately when it comes out. But there are times when no melodies come out of the photo, even though it is equally beautiful. I don’t know why the melody is born or not.

Sometimes I start from ‘sound’, not from photos. When I decide the key and rhythm and play with the guitar, various fragments of song come out. But with this approach, I’m not sure what I am trying to make. So I don’t know if the fragments of the song are good or not. In that case, I search online for photos that seems to fit the sounds. When I can find a good photo, it tells me whether those sounds are good or bad, and the sounds becomes a song. After all, beautiful photos seem to let me compose.

And what is most needed for composition is the experience of having listened to a lot of music. I like orchestra songs and I’ve heard a lot since I was a child. I think inspiration comes from there.

Also, getting familiar with the guitar is important. Classical guitars can play complex music, but there are some patterns in fingering that often appear, and my fingers remember such patterns by playing various songs. Because of that, when I compose a song, I leave my fingers want to move so that it will naturally sound for a guitar song. Maybe it’s made by guitar rather than by me.

Besides, musical score apps are very useful. At first I was writing on the staff notation with a pencil, but I had to erase the new phrase if it didn’t connect well with the previous phrases. Apps allows me to keep those phrases left and I can rethink them later. This is really useful.

Having listened to a lot of music, being familiar with musical instruments, and using a score app. With these, it seems that composition is not very difficult. After that, if I meet something beautiful that I want to draw, the song starts to be born.

And it is better for me that I don’t have much advanced knowledge of composition. Because I can think of how to compose myself. It is a great fun of mine.

†According to my son, such knowledge is not taught in today’s elementary schools in Japan. What a shame.

More about Composing

The articles of ‘How do I compose’.

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