From a Simple Melody to a Finished Solo Guitar Piece

It took me about 12 years to finish my first guitar composition. Not because I couldn’t play guitar. I had teachers, practiced, and learned scales, chords, theory, techniques… I was becoming a better guitarist, but somehow I still couldn’t turn my musical ideas into finished pieces.

I had plenty of riffs, licks and little musical fragments; the problem was knowing what to do with them. Sound familiar? Looking back, I realized I was missing something important: learning to play guitar and creating music are not the same thing.

Many guitarists I speak to think they’ll compose one day, once they’ve learned enough theory and become better at guitar. But when will that day come? After learning 10 more scales or watching 100 more YouTube videos?

What if composition could be much simpler? That’s exactly what I’d like to show you, and you won’t need anything more than your guitar, your ears and a few minutes.

Step 1: Start with a melody

Play a short melody (about three to five notes) on the high E string. If you’re not sure how to do that, simply choose a few notes from the E minor pentatonic scale. It’ll sound good no matter which notes you choose.

Here’s my attempt:

Step 2: Extend it

Play your melody four times, making a small variation in one of them, such as changing the last note. Then decide where that variation goes: the second, third or fourth time?

Here’s my attempt:

Step 3: Add harmony

Now comes the interesting part: adding harmony to your melody. The simplest way is to add an open-string drone, such as the low E or G string. Each open string will make your melody sound different, and you can use more than one.

Here’s my attempt:

Step 4: Give it form

The next step is to add another part and create a form. What you’ve created so far is your A part. Now let’s create a contrasting B part by following the same three steps: start with a melody, extend it and add harmony.

This time, though, make it different. You could use a different scale, such as E natural minor, choose a different rhythm or experiment with other open-string drones.

Now play the A part, followed by the B part, and then return to A. You’ve just created an ABA form!

Here’s my attempt:

Step 5: Make it work as a solo guitar piece

To make the music stand out, identify which expressive tools you can apply to give each part more character. These could include techniques such as slurs (hammer-ons and pull-offs), slides and bends, as well as variations in tempo, dynamics and tone.

Here’s my attempt:

Your challenge

Congratulations! You’ve taken a musical idea and turned it into a complete miniature solo guitar composition. The only thing left now is to share it. Post it on any social media platform you like, and if you’d like my feedback first, send your attempt to: udi@udiguitar.com

I hope this has proved to you that you don’t need to wait until you’re an advanced guitarist to start composing!

If you like this approach and want to learn more ways to create your own music, becoming a better guitarist and a more well-rounded musician along the way, take a look at my new book, The Art of Solo Guitar Composition.

The exercise I showed you here is just a small taste of the process. The book takes it much further, with a much deeper five-stage method, playable musical examples and interactive practice apps to help you turn your ideas into finished guitar pieces you’d be proud to share with the world.

Let’s make some music!