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How do you compose pieces that include classical guitar in them?

by Logan Graham
(Forest Lake, Minnesota)

I really enjoy playing guitar and have recently been interested in learning how to write classical-based guitar for acoustic.

I am fairly new to the classical genre writing. I tend to write progressive-metal and such but would like to learn how to not only write classical guitar, but how i may also be able to incorporate in to my current music.

For example, not that im that good at the metal portion of this band, a.j. minette of The Human Abstract has much classical influence in his songs. i would like to learn how to write classical such as how he plays it. thank you for helping.

Hi Logan,

The most popular ways of composing classical are either starting with a melody and then building your harmonic structure i.e. chords around that melody or starting with a chord progression and then putting a melody to it.

I've written a few pieces that I've put on my site and I'm by no means an accomplished composer but I am proud of my little "ditties" :))

For example, you can see my Study in E Minor here...

In this particular piece I started humming then writing down the melody. After that I wrote the chords around the melody until I was happy with the result. It is a very simple piece both melodically and harmonically but it was fun to do and I think it really helps all aspects of your musicianship if you do a little composing.

You certainly get an appreciation for composers of real talent such as Tarrega, Mangore et al.

I guess you get good at it by doing it. I don't mean to sound glib but it's like anything else in life - the more you do it the better you'll get.

There are some good books for beginners. Even the "Idiots Guide" is quite useful...

Complete Idiot"s Guide to Music Composition For composers. Reference Textbooks; Textbook - General. Complete Idiot"s Guide. Instructional and Composition. Instructional book. 264 pages. Published by Alfred Music Publishing (AP.74-1592574033)
...more info

Although I really hate that term, even though it's supposed to be humorous.

I hope this helped in some way.

Kind regards,
Trevor M.

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How do you compose pieces that include classical guitar in them?

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Composing for Classical Guitar
by: Gerry Busch

Composing for Classical Guitar

As Trevor pointed out, playing just melody notes can suggest the appropriate chords, and starting out with just chords can suggest a melody. Harmony and melody are closely related. Combine the notes in a bar of the melody and they will usually form a chord. Play a chord as an arpeggio -- the notes played in rapid succession, rather than simultaneously -- and you will get a simple melody, perhaps a brand-new one if you vary the order in which the notes are played.

I ran into the following pitfall when writing my first guitar compositions back in 1971: My fascination with harmony caused me to make the chords too thick. This never occurred to me while composing, because instead of playing my pieces all the way through, I had to stop periodically to write things down. Once I tried to play a completed composition, I discovered that there were too many notes in my chords, making them too difficult to play. As a result, I had trouble playing my own pieces. A guitar virtuoso could likely have played them without difficulty, but I was no virtuoso back then, nor am I today.

Playing the works of other composers eventually taught me that a lot of the harmony can be implied rather than stated. In other words, a well-chosen three-note chord, or even just the harmony between one treble and one bass note in some passages, can convey the same feeling as a complex chord using all six strings and all the player's strength and agility.

Chords like the latter show up in many of Fernando Sor's works, while the simplified harmony I've described can be found in many baroque guitar pieces. That's why I play a lot of baroque music; it's a bit easier for me to finger, and I find the interplay between the melody and bass lines (i.e. the counterpoint) fascinating.

At any rate, I'd suggest to anyone who has just started composing for the classical guitar that they avoid the trap I fell into, and also that they study some music theory -- it needn't be at conservatory level; start with just the basics. You're likely to figure out the rest of it on your own, but I hope your music manuscripts are more legible than mine are! :)

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