Guitar Lesson: how to write a song in 5 minutes...

http://bluesguitarunleashed.com/yt - this is just a fun little lesson I put together for my songwriter students. It's actually really easy to figure out which chords can go together and make a song out of them.

Obviously this isn't all you need to write a hit song, but it'll at least give you a system for coming up with some chords you like.

There's another cool side benefit, if you get used to thinking about chords this way, you'll often come up with something you recognize from another song. When you do that you'll know what the chords are in that other song and you'll recognize that progression in other songs... it's cool.

Have fun with.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• guitar lesson
• guitar chords
• guitar theory
• how to write a song

[sysphus13]

cool lesson, but diminished chords come up quite often,or bvii chords in a major key. last song i learned with dim is drown in my own tears by ray charles

[bluesguitarunleashed]

@sysphus13 - yes, absolutely. I wasn't meaning to imply that these are the only chords you can learn. Ray Charles used to use a lot of diminished 7th chords which are a little different. In jazz/blues/pop composition they usually act as a 7b9 chord without the root. So if you go from D to D#dim7 to E it's more like D to B7b9/D# to E. But it's easier to just call it D#dim7 since no one in the band is playing it. Happens a lot for sure, but it's impossible to put everything in one lesson.

[bluesguitarunleashed]

@Crossoroads363- if you start on the vi you're in a minor key. I forgot to mention that in the video. So in a minor key your i chord is just like the vi chord in the major key (minor). That means that the ii chord in a minor key is just like the vii chord in a major key (diminished) and the III in a minor key is just like the I in a major key (major) and so on.

[jwvisions]

Great video. You really explain things in a way that is easy to understand. I take lessons from a guy who is incredibly knowledgeable, but all over the place when trying to teach. You are very good at simplifying things and making your lesson easy to follow.

[sixstringthing1]

Hi Griff! Great video lesson, thanks! Everyone, i'm also an proud owner of "Blues Guitar Unleashed". It is an absolutely awesome tutorial. I recommend BGU or any of Griff's lessons. Bill in St. Lou

[RedonkulousDonkeys3]

Awesome lesson!

[SUHRBURST]

Hi Griff This is a great lesson !! To any one reading this I would like to say I have bought Griffs Lessons and have been very happy will all . One of the products showed up damaged and he replaced right away . Great products Down to earth understandable teaching Bravo !

[stevalianarbone]

That is an importat lesson, but how do you put chords to already written lyrics? As most people write the song first.

[kvntr92]

Although in a lot of popular music diminished chords are not used, I would not encourage people to "never play" them. I for one use them quite frequently and I think they add a beautiful quality to them but it did take a long time to understand how to use them. Just saying "never" is a strong word. Good lesson btw

[kekeyagami]

i am confused

[gummybearsarefun]

great lesson thanks