Songwriting 
letostak@ix.netcom.com (Judy Letostak)
music.shop@lasernet.com
FidoNet 1:202/762  The Music Shop BBS (619)423-4970
One of the most important things a guitar player, whether you're 
rhythm or a lead player, is writing songs.  Not necessarily words
and melody, but at least the music, from start to end.  
Like most things in life, the more you do it, the better you get at it.
I've written hundreds of songs, some with melodies, but most of them
are just the guitar parts, start to finish, I like to let my vocalist
deal with the words and melodies, she has to sing them, so they should
mean something to her, not to me. :)
Eddie Van Halen writes this way, leaves the other parts to the rest of
the band.  IMHO, I think he's one of the best songwriters around, guitar 
player types.  Yngwie Malmsteen writes the whole song, (yeah, his lyrics
leave something to be desired) but his melodies are strong.  Writing
like that, the rhythm guitar parts have a tendency to be slightly bland.
When Eddie writes, the song can stand on its own, just the guitar.  The
song in turn, becomes busy, and a lot of times, it's hard for the vocalist
to write over a busy guitar part.  In a way, this is also good, it gives
the vocalist some idea of how to write the melody.
With Yngwie, the vocals and other instruments are a must, the rhythm guitar 
parts are just a foundation for the vocals.  Not including the scalar
runs he's so famous for in between the vocal breaks.  He has a tendency
to chug on the root note, or use power chords.  Exceptions are, Fire,
Heaven Tonight, Teaser...Those songs, the vocal melody is also doubled
by the guitar parts.  
There is no right or wrong with writing songs, these are just two 
guitarists, I like their songwriting, and am using them as examples.  
A lot of guitarists write using power chords (i.e. Root & 5th, no
distinction between major and minor).  If you check out the lesson
I did a while back "Beyond Power Chords" I give some examples of chords
other than 5ths.  Gives the songs a different flavor and you learn
something in the process.  
I wrote a song about 8 years ago, I learned two chords, and wrote a
song around those two chords. (below)  
I can't remember the names of them offhand, but one's an Em sort of chord,
and the other is a G maj chord.  
|---3------3-----------|
|---3------4-----------|
|---4------4-----------|
|---2------2-----------|
|----------------------|
|----------------------|
With those two chords I did this, (mind you there are 4 guitars on this
recording, two rhythm, one clean, one distorted, and two harmony guitars
playing a melody).   The second guitar is just playing 5th chords (yeah,
I know :)  )  using distortion and a bit of flange and chorus.  Playing
the 2nd part the same as the first using distortion I thought would be
a bit redundant, so opted for the "power chord".  The first chord is
the Eminor chord, so I played an E5 for the 2nd guitar.  The second 
chord is a Gmajor, and played the G5 over that for the 2nd guitar.
The rhythm's aren't exactly right, but you get the idea, haven't played
it since I originally recorded it.  
Gtr.1
|-------3--3----3---2----|--------3---3--2-------------------------------|
|-------3--3----3---2----|--------4---4--2-------------------------------|
|-------4--4----4---2----|--------4---4--2-------------------------------|
|-2--2--2--2----2---2----|--2--2--2---2--2-------------------------------|
|------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
|------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
|                        |                                               |
|                        |                                               |
|Gtr.2                   |                                               |
|------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
|--------5--5--5--5------|--------8--8---8-------------------------------|
|--------4--4--4--4------|--------7--7---7-------------------------------|
|--2--2--2--2--2--2------|--5--5--5--5---5-------------------------------|
|------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
|------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
After I had that part, I wanted to go a little lighter as far as tonality,
but wanted a heavy part in there as well.  
clean
|------5--7--7---8--7--5--7--5----|--------------------------------------|
|------5--5--5---5--5--5--5--5----|--------------------------------------|
|5--5--5--5--5---5--5--5--5--5----|---same-as below----------------------|
|---------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
|                                 |                                      |
|                                 |                                      |
|distorted                        |                                      |
|---------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
|--same-as above------------------|--------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|-------5--7--9--10--9--7--9--7--------|
|---------------------------------|-0--0--0--0--0---0--0--0--0--0--------|
--- GEcho 1.00
---------------