arranging a song

murdock · #1 November 30th, 2005

What's the method for working out an arrangement of a song? Do you work out the melody first followed by the chords? When does the bass pattern enter into the process? Is there a preferred way?

allthumbs · #2 November 30th, 2005

In my opinion you should start with the chords. The melody tends to follow the chords. The basic bass notes can be derived from the bass notes of the chords then embellished.

murdock · #3 November 30th, 2005

What's the best way to become familiar with all the different methods for playing a particular chord? Sometimes the basic chord on the first three frets doesn't contain all the notes needed for a particular melody in the right placement. Like on Yesterday when Kirk decided to keep the melody low rather than going up the neck.

allthumbs · #4 November 30th, 2005

The short answer is Kirks' book Plane talk,but only if you have been playing long enough to know most of the basic bar chords and are reasonably comfortable with your guitar skills.
Sounds like your talking about chord inversions. As you know from Kirks' lessons, chords are made up of !,3 and 5. The same chord can be played with the 1 as the root or the 3 or 5 as the bottom note depending on where you are on the neck. Bar chords would be the place to start looking for inversions. You can also use notes from a chord in one position with notes from the same chord played in a different ,but reachable position.
You might want to consider learning the caged system of chord playing. It is a very popular way of getting into playing the same chord in various positions over the neck.
I am sure other players here will share their ways of handling it too.

allthumbs · #5 November 30th, 2005

I am putting a link in the music lounge to what i consider to be one of the best chord finders on the net. It might help you find positions for the chords you want to use.

Kirk Lorange · #6 November 30th, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by murdock

What's the method for working out an arrangement of a song? Do you work out the melody first followed by the chords? When does the bass pattern enter into the process? Is there a preferred way?

I'm with allthumbs ... start with the chord, work your way out from there.

If you can see chords for what they really are -- a selection of 3 or 4 notes that scatter themselves the full length of the fretboard -- then it gets easier to 'see' the possibilities. It takes a while to get away from the idea that chords are compact little groupings of notes. They can certainly be confined like that, so that the human hand can grab them at once, but they're everywhere else too, and they do follow a pattern that stretches the whole length of the fretboard.

In case don't know, the CAGED pattern that allthumbs refers to is the sum total of all the open chord positions that march up the neck for any major chord. The sequence is as the acronym implies: C shape, A shape, G shape, E shape and D shape. CAGED.

So look at an open C chord; the next C chord up the neck is the A shape barre chord; then comes the G shape barre chord (seldom used, difficult to hold); Then the E shape barre chord, 8th fret; then the D shaped barred chord (seldom used).

The other 11 major chords also conform to this pattern, but jogged out the appropriate number of frets.

Something to work on!

Jean · #7 December 2nd, 2005

Kirk, would it be unusual to start a song with a Fchord going into a B7?

Kirk Lorange · #8 December 2nd, 2005

Yes, unusual, but certainly not wrong ... follow those with an Em to A7, for example, then maybe a Am to D7 to G ... to E7 ...

Jean · #9 December 3rd, 2005

Do you think a beginner like me could "compose" a fingerstyle arrangement from scratch?

allthumbs · #10 December 3rd, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jean

Do you think a beginner like me could "compose" a fingerstyle arrangement from scratch?

If the desire is there and you have the time then a simple tune should be possible. To work a melody through the chords,it helps to have a good working knowledge of chord inversions so you can find the notes you want in the places you want them as well as knowing the chords up the neck. Study the bass line so you can add transitional bass notes from the bass note of one chord to the next. Know your chords intervals so you can add passing chords or transitional chords leading to or from the chord your aiming for. Remember you can substitute the relative minor chords for the major chords. I=vi,IV=ii
and V=iii. Of course,know the chords in the key your writing in. You can do a lot of this my ear if you have good ears. Knowing these basics just makes it a lot less hit and miss.

Jean · #11 December 3rd, 2005

Thankyou allthumbs, I'll look into the bass-line lesson of Kirks, if that is the "bass line" that you meant, I know about 24 chords by heart, and I think I might give it a go, thankyou for your great advice!

Stephen · #12 December 4th, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jean

Do you think a beginner like me could "compose" a fingerstyle arrangement from scratch?

Yes, Jean, you can definitely make up your own arrangement either of a song you know or one you wrote. Often you don't even have to move very far up the neck to do it.

The penny dropped for me early in my playing when I was shown how to "move around" within a chord, picking melody notes out.

A very simple example: Play an ordinary C chord. Put your little finger on the top string, 3rd fret. Now you have an extra note to play with the C chord. Now play a G chord and move your finger down from the top string third fret to the secnd string third fret. Play the chord without playing the top string and now you have an extra note you can play with the G chord.

Your little finger can get very busy adding notes to cords in this way. Often a passing note (one that is in the melody only briefly) doesn't require a chord change, for example playing that C chord again, your little finger can be used on the second string, 3rd fret to give you a D note. You can play an F note on a C chord by using your index finger to fret both the first and second strings at the frist fret.

See how many notes you can get this way? Experiment and you'll find a lot more. Do it with other chords, too. While playing a D chord put your little finger on the first string third fret. Try and stretch it up to the fifth fret.

If you don't understand what I'm saying, or want more help with it, please ask.

Jean · #13 December 4th, 2005

Thank you for this valuable information Stephen! I think I do know what you mean about adding to a chord, such as a D with and added finger on the 3fret 1st string, I also found out about some chords up the neck such as-0 0 0 2 3 2 - 0 0 0 4 3 3 - 0 0 0 6 5 5 - 0 0 0 7 7 5 - 0 0 0 7 8 7 - 0 0 0 9 10 9 or 0 0 0 11 10 10 etc, these may also help in a song, anyway thanks for the help!