Help!
 

I'm trying to compose for acoustic guitar. I'm a pianist but I'm not a guitar player. Recently I tried a small piece but when I showed it to my friend guitar player, he told me that some of my melody the way it was written would not be suitable for guitar due to the way the guitar positions were designed, etc. So, my question: Is there a software that once you write a melody would adapt it so it would make sense to a guitar player? Are there any books that would show a non-guitar player the way it is done? I love the sound of this instrument and would love to write appropriately for it. Thanks!:)

Re: Help!
 

Hi,

There is no replacement for hands-on experience with the instrument.

Try borrowing a guitar for a while and learning a bit about it. You don't have to become a new Segovia (or Eric Clapton, depending on your type of music) but getting the feel for how the notes fall under your hands is important, especially as notes on a guitar are, as your friend pointed out, laid out very differently from a keyboard.

There are a number of freeware midi-to-guitar tabulature programs out there. Look at guitar music in one of them, then load your own music (from .mid files) in and see how it looks.

For one thing, guitars are tuned, usually, in 4ths per string, with a variation of only about a 3rd available on three of those strings in any given chord, so the harmonies are spread further and more sparsely than with keyboard music: 6 notes max over about 2 octaves as opposed to 10 notes over about 3 (with close keyboard harmony).

Start off by looking at guitar music, of which there is plenty everywhere, then try writing some simple one or two line pieces to get the idea of where the notes fall.

Good luck.

David

Re: Help!
 

Thanks David!:)

Re: Help!
 

Hi,

Pejrolo and DeRosa recommend in their book on Acoustic and Midi Orchestration to use no more than four notes in a guitar chord. They recommend to write a closed four note chord and transpose the second highest note one octave down, or transpose the second lowest note one octave up, to open up the chord.

This is a very mechanical way of writing guitar chords, but works generally.


Herbert

Re: Help!
 

Thanks Herbert!:)