Music Theory – 4 Ways To Change a Song

February 11, 2015 By admin 3 Comments

Music Theory is very useful because knowing it not only makes you a more competent musician, it helps you understand how to make great song arrangements. We’re running a special on our Reading Music and Music Theory Courses.

I made you this short video lesson on how to change a song 4 different ways. There are hundreds of ways to play any song. Try out this one, ‘Away in a Manger’, and let me know what you think.

I recently uploaded a post around the song ‘Heavenly Father.’ That actually has several other examples of changing the arrangement of a song and making it your own. It has three verses and each is unique.

There were requests for the specific arrangement in the video, so I made a guitar lesson around it…. Heavenly Father Guitar lesson.

An easy way to vary a song is by changing the right-hand patterns. There are many different strumming and finger picking patterns that you can use. You can also change the chords. I don’t get into the many varieties of chord substitutions, but do change the chords all to 9 chords.

You can hear it in the last version of ‘Away in a Manger.’ Using 9s is a quick and easy way to add interest to your songs. Besides changing the color of a specific chord, there are also other types of chord substitutions.

You can look at a chord chart to see how to hold down these types of chords, but it’s actually the best to understand how they are formed so you don’t have to always have a chord chart with you.

As a music major in college, we were required to take music theory classes. I’m grateful for the education I had and hope to share it with you.

Wishing you a lifetime filled with beautiful music!

Learn About Our Music Theory Course

Learn Many More Ideas On Song Arrangement Plus Music Theory Click here to access learn about the Music Theory Course

Your Questions 1

December 22, 2012 By jeanw 8 Comments

Answers To Your Questions:

Do you have a question? Email us, or leave it in the comments below this video and I’ll try to answer those that may be helpful for others too. Here’s a short video with a question from Del and Bonnie.

Del wanted to know how to figure out the key of a song that has already started. I suggest making sure the instruments lead out so the songs will be in the same key as the music. If that isn’t possible, then ear training and knowing guitar music theory will definitely help.

Answering Your Guitar Playing Questions

He is also asking about playing without looking at the sheet music. That happens when you ‘own’ a song… when you’ve played it so much you no longer need the music. Again, knowing guitar music theory will be helpful here too since you’ll actually understand the relationship of the chords to the song.

Bonnie wanted to know about transposing songs… [Read more…]

How To Write Worship Songs

January 22, 2012 By jeanw 2 Comments

In the Bible it says to sing a new song to the Lord in several of the Psalms and in Isaiah 42:10. Have you tried writing a ‘new song’? In this article I’ll share with you some ideas for writing worship songs. One of the best sources for song writing ideas is found in the Bible.

The psalms were originally songs sung by writers like King David. Using music to convey the truths in the Bible is a great place to get ideas for the lyrics. If you look at our most popular worship songs, they are based on God’s truths. ‘How Great Thou Art‘ is a beautiful illustration of this. Although the song was written in an earlier century, the song is still sung today and loved in many cultures.

You can put whole sections of the Bible to music or get take some ideas and create a song around specific concepts. A while back I wrote a little song on Jeremiah 9:23-24. That verse talks about not boasting about ourselves, but boasting about our relationship with our God who exhibits lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth.

Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

There are simple chord patterns that work well with most songs called the I, IV and V chords. You can see these in the ‘Common Chord Charts’ that are free with our newsletters and it’s also taught in Volume Two of the Worship Guitar Class lessons.

This one is in the key of ‘D’. A common way to write songs is to alternate between verses and the chorus. Here’s the little song I wrote:

If you would like the music… just request it from the form below. If you would like a few ideas of how to change a song, check out 4 Ways To Change a Song.

Walking Bass Notes

January 17, 2012 By jeanw 6 Comments

Walking Bass Notes

A common technique used to write songs is with using walking bass notes. It’s a style of writing music for literally hundreds of years. I think of the very famous Pachelbel’s Canon in D that dates back to the Baroque period in the 1700’s. Pachelbel uses a repeating descending bass line throughout the piece.

‘As A Deer’ is a well known worship song that uses a descending bass line in much of the song. There are several ways to write and make song arrangements. In the video below you can learn the walking bass notes for a number of different keys. I’ve filmed a 6 minute lesson for you. This is also in one of the Video Newsletters but I thought it might be easier to find on the website to have the lesson stand on it’s own, too. The video shows some walking bass notes in major keys, but it also works for minor keys.

If you would like to learn and apply many ways to write songs, you might enjoy our Guitar Music Theory course. I hope you enjoy the lesson. If you would like to learn more about Finger Picking, check out our Mastering Finger Picking course.

Music Theory – 4 Ways To Change a Song

Learn About Our Music Theory Course

Your Questions 1

Answers To Your Questions:

How To Write Worship Songs

Walking Bass Notes

Walking Bass Notes

The Walking Bass Note Video

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