Composition for guitar

Hiya

I've been writing a series of solo pieces for each of the orchestral instruments. I'm now venturing into instruments you don't typically find in an orchestra. One of these is guitar. I know what the six strings are, but I don't know how to write chords for the instrument.

Any general help on this would be lovely

Thanks much

Yasamune

Hmm it's kinda hard to say but, you should check out works by other guitar composers such as fernando sor, Francisco Tarrega, Augustin Barrios-Mangore

One tip that i can give is, playing seconds is really hard on the guitar so you should check all of your chords that have seconds in them. and, always double check chords that have an E,F, or G below middle C to make sure theyre playable.

Arpeggios are really easy on the guitar, so broken style should be considered.

As far as chords them selves, if they are too close together or way spaced out check to see if it's playable, as for chord voicings, check out guitar music from the composers that i mentioned.

You can find plenty of sor's music here.

http://www.muslib.se/ebibliotek/boije/Boije_s.htm

Make a fretboard out of cardboard and finger your chords -- obviously you're not going to get the whole idea, but you'll get a glimpse of what you're playing with.

Honestly, it might be worth it to spend the $20 and pick up a crappy acoustic, just to putz around.

Don't forget that scordatura is EXTREMELY easy on guitar, and rarely has many of the negative effects it does on other instruments -- things like it being easy to tune up, the like. Also, don't forget about the effect of roundwound strings -- scrapes and the like work much better.

Ok, two more questions. I have no idea how to read guitar chord charts or what you call them. The other big question for me is about scordatura. I know that you say scordatura is easy for the guitarist, but if the entire instrument is tuned down a half step (tuned to Cb), is it still feasible? the other string parts in the piece have the same thing and each string is tuned down a half step.

Thanks a mill

Yasamune

Hang on a second. You don't know how to write guitar chords but your going to start messing around with altered tunings? That is the worst case of cart before the horse ever.

Write something well in standard tuning first there Paco.

I hope you mean tuned to Eb :)

Chord charts are very easy. It's the same thing as tabs -- you put your fingers like in the picture.

See? (link to pic because the board hates me)

I mean I don't even know what notes they are on the tab!

I've never done anything with guitar-I'm a total philistine.

HELP!

Go to this site. It will show you the finger position. All you have to do is enter what chord you want to hear.

C GUITAR CHORDS

I have this problem too. I don't know how to composing for guitar.

What don't you know? I'll try to explain if I can :) I'm a guitarist

I've always wondered how non-guitarists write for guitar. It's difficult enough when you actually play the instrument well let alone without understanding chord shapes or reach limitations. I guess the suggestion of picking up a really cheap guitar and just fingering the chords would be best. Keep in mind that any difficulty you may have with doing that will probably be almost non-existent for a guitarist though. Beginners have a hard enough time placing their fingers in an open C major position let alone being able to judge which barre chords are realistically playable.

Also keep in mind how many different places along the neck that the same things can be played. If you want a specific tone, you might want to specify which position the performer should be playing in too as you get a much different sound playing open strings, for instance, than you get from playing on the 5th fret.

Oh, and another thing.. Guitarists tend to leave non-essential pitches out of chords when they're playing chords and melodies at the same time. There just aren't enough fingers to do it all and it sounds pretty muddy if you start playing 6 pitches at once.

I'm a guitarist for a long time and I know some classical pieces. I know the obligitory Bouree in E minor from Bach's Lute Suites etc. I highly recommend John Williams (the guitarist) 24 Lute Suites on CD...it's fantastic.

Like you Josh, I'm amazed how non-guitarists could write for the guitar or lute. I play a couple of Bach pieces and always marvel at the counterpoint of course (2 voices generally)...but also how it all comes together on the fretboard so perfectly utilizing open string possibilities in each key. I guess this is more of a characteristic of the music itself rather than any deep knowledge of the guitar by Bach.

As to the original topic of this thread: Dude, if you know nothing about the guitar your best effort might be to compose something and then let a competent guitarist in the genre you're writing in take a look, make corrections and offer his suggestions. I know harmony on the guitar backwards and forwards so I can help if needed. But as an example...I know jack about orchestration and I am embarking on the same type of journey...I need to talk to oboists and basoonists and violinists etc and ask dumb questions. I'm learning a ton out of books and this site etc...but nothing beats interviewing these cats. We just need to seek 'em out.