Monotonousness

Well, it seems that lately when I play, I always end up playing the same chord progressions and fingerpicking patterns

What should I do to, well, have more fun when Im playing? Should I learn a new song (if so, any suggestions), or expand my chord vocabulary, or something?

stop basing your music off chord progressions, because that's a sure fire way to attain monotony. start hearing melodies in your head and transferring them to guitar, and harmonize the melody if you want to play chords...

Alrighty, thats good advice, thanks baudelaire

Maybe learn a new song, but in a different genre than you usually listen to.

This is very interesting to me. I have never written a song without a chord progression. Are you saying play from an arpeggio or pick your rhythm from scales?

no... i mean, MELODY. the secret gift of the muse. the one thing that every musician must have, from folk musicians to mozart...

http://www.8notes.com/scores/7238.asp?ftype=gif

see the G clef? the notes on top there are the melody. those notes alone form the melody. the notes UNDER those notes, are the chords, the harmony. a melody can be harmonized in a infinite number of ways. as you can see, this is a very simple harmonization, but a very effective one. if you were harmonize it thicker, you would have a 'chord based piece' for guitar... that was actually wonderful and not some 'lets pick chords' piece. which is monotonous.

see, these are two harmonization's that are based off that single note melody. the bottom one, which is fuller, would serve fine as a progression, no?

http://www.classtab.org/zangreen.txt

this is how jimi hendrix made his songs that smooth blend of lead and rhythm, for a common example.

as for how to turn a melody into a full song with a strong progression, you'll need to hit the books. i recommend Elie Siegmeisters "harmony and melody volume I: the diatonic style". you could get it cheap on amazon.

I'm kinda confused cause getting ryhthm from scales is really backwards to me, I get the scale base from the rythm points and try to hit harmonic pitch's when shredding, up or down the board.

the melody should come first, and the rhythm should be tailor made to fit it. it's not the only way to do it, but it's how the finest music in the world has been made - from haydn to hendrix.

^ So what you're saying is come up with a melody first, like a riff for example, then make the rhythm/chords after? Makes sense, since there is a set method for doing harmonies, like a third will always be a third if you're working in the same key. There's a science to it.

And melody is more of the "art" part of music, since it is created with imagination. There's no set method to say, "Here is a good melody". There are guidelines, like scales and keys, but they can be broken.

I think I got the science and art analogy from one of your posts, Baudelaire, but that does make a lot of sense.

I would really like to know the guidlines!The peanut vender with the monkey has guidlines ,crank the handle the monkeys dances ,crank a diffrent handle the monkey is lost? No disrepect but mulitply each note by the all the notes you can get out of one string one note ,there is guildlines?........to what? sry if I am taking that wrong

I mean scales and keys can be used guidelines to making melodies, like playing the notes of a C major scale together will usually sound good. But if you want to use a song that's mostly the notes of C major, but with a few notes that are not in the key, that's ok, as long as you like how it sounds.

yes, exactly.

melody is mysterious... there are methods that can be learned for proofing a melody - beethoven would rework his melodies up to 20 times, we have scraps of his writing that show the progression from a banal sketch to a genius melody - but melody is really the art of music.

harmony, is a science, a skill, like fixing a car, doing a liver transplant, sewing a rug, etcetera. one can only really master it with study. there are laws and rules to it, and a well done harmony is generally the product of training, not artistry... which is why i'm sure hendrix had his book knowledge squared off. even if he said he didn't. (also, when rolling stone interviews me, I'M going to say i don't know any theory and the only band i took any influence from is the misfits. just to fuck with them and keep the tradition of all the talented rock musicians that know their theory claiming to know absolutely no theory.)


as for what those guidelines are... well... i suggested a textbook for you. you're going to have to study, take notes, and apply it to really master the process. it's not a simple thing to learn...

edit: if you're asking how to write a melody, there is no real answer - it's a secret and personal thing. but writing a solo is similar. play VOICE melodies on your guitar. listen to mr tambourine man and play it on guitar - that's one of the most beautiful melodies ever.

Alright, I understand where your going with this

Mind helping me get started? And then I can take it from there

Heres a lick I made a while back

El-----------------------------------------------------------0---(0)--ll

Bl--------3----(3)--------3----(3)----------3--------------3----------ll

Gl------4---4-----------2---2-------------4---4----------4-----------:ll

Dl----4-------4-------4-------4---------4------4---------------------:ll

Al--2-----------2---0-----------0-------------------------------------ll

El------------------------------------3----------3----0---------------ll

How would I form a rhythm from this?

C flat, A, G, E, B... the rhythm of the notes would depend on how u play the lick

correct me if im wrong, i probly am, dont listen 2 me till someone confirms it lol

quickly thrown together and not proofed at ALL, this rhythm accompaniment would work.

punch that into whatever guitar pro or whatever you have going on your PC. i use tabledit, so it's probly not compatible.