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Learn Music Theory!

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Here's a funny meme I found on the internet. When I began to play, I was drawn to tablature, not using a metronome, not learning the bare essentials to become a good guitar player. It was fun for awhile. But then when I started to write, it was almost too hard for me. I didn't know what do do, or where to start! It was agony. I wish I got into music theory the moment I began playing my first instrument.  To make it easier for you to write songs, even more than you may already think, learning music theory allows you to do that, and here are a couple reasons why! 1. Music theory helps you learn the rules of songwriting. Learning scales, modes, progressions, notation, all sorts of things helps you learn the rules of songwriting. How are you going to write a good chord progression if you don't even know what chords are in the key you want to write in? How do you know what key you're going to write your guitar licks in if you don't know what a key is? Lear
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Getting Started: Writing

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After writing for a little while, I have a nice guideline on how to start writing a song. Now, don't get me wrong, you can write your song however you like. I'm not going to judge you harshly for that! But I do like some structure when it comes to things as difficult as this. I'm also assuming you guys know not much music theory, because I barely knew any when starting out to write, too. You should learn some; in my experience, learning some music theory made this journey a lot easier. First, we need to figure out the feel of the song. It's hard to figure the rest out if you don't. If you don't have a good feel/topic to write about, then how are you going to write? Will your song have a: happy feeling? angry feeling? sad feeling? We have to identify these things first before starting to write. Otherwise, we'll get nowhere. This is a chart of the major scale, and the chords that go along with it. Once we have the feel established, then w
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Emergence of a Song

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Hey all you music listeners and lovers. Have you every wondered how to write a song? Well, I have and I really want to try it out. It seems like a hard thing to do and I want to tackle writing something original! I got my first guitar when I was an 8th grader. Man, those days feel so long ago. It was really neat, learning the basics of simply playing guitar. The first time I picked it up and learned how to play, I played for so long until my fingertips started bleeding. Then I knew I was in love with the instrument. I played songs like  Come As You Are  by Nirvana,  La Bamba  by Ritchie Valens, and  Nothing Else Matters  by Metallica. I even moved onto new songs when I got my first electric. Stuff like  Slow Dancing in a Burning Room  by John Mayer, and  Blood and Thunder  by Mastodon. But as I continued to play these covers, I gradually got bored. Don't get me wrong! I love these songs to death and they're written great. But I wanted to pursue something more! I want to ha
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