How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

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How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

Postby hunterz263 » 17 May 2014 11:48

Hello everypony,

I was wondering about composition when it comes to guitar. I have been playing for two years and would like to start composing songs that are purely instrumental. I have all the tools -- I own seven electric guitars for goodness sakes -- I need to make an awesome song, but I really do not know where to start. I have attempted to make such songs in the past, but I get stuck on where to go.

Also, I would like to make songs similar to ISMBOFepicly's and Canapplejack's style of music.

Here are a few examples:









Thank you for reading and listening.

--hunterz263
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Re: How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

Postby S.P.P » 18 May 2014 02:30

Whenever I write guitar tracks, the easiest thing for me is to write it as MIDI tracks in the DAW. This way you get to hear all the parts together at all times, and in my opinion it's infinitely easier to write the next part.
Next you learn the parts separately and record them one-by-one, replacing the MIDI tracks.

That's basically all I do when writing guitar music and from what I hear, the same method works for a lot of people :3
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Re: How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

Postby hunterz263 » 18 May 2014 10:56

Huh. I never considered doing that before. Thank you so much for the advice. I guess my next question would be is how do I write the drum track?
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Audio Interface:
-Fractal Audio Axe-FX II XL

Guitars:
-Fender American Standard Stratocaster (Standard tuning)
-Fender American Standard Telecaster (Eb standard)
-Fender Squire Bullet Strat (Drop C#)
-Gibson Les Paul Standard 2013 (Drop D)
-Ibanez RGIR27FE (Drop A)
-Ibanez RGIR20FE (Drop A#)

Bass:
-Fender American Standard Precision Bass

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-Logic Pro X
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Re: How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

Postby The_Rariot » 18 May 2014 13:00

To write the drum track you're gonna need some drum samples or a drum VST to work with.

Personally, I use the Addictive drums demo (looking to eventually upgrade to full version in the near future). The demo only includes a pretty bare bones kit (kick, snare, hi hat, crash) but it can get the job done for the time being. It sounds great and it's useful for a least helping create a frame work for your drum track.

Your drum track will likely be comprised of a series of drum loops. Some programs will have preset loops and grooves to use, which can be helpful when experimenting. But, you're most likely going to want to create your own loops. Writing loops can be tricky depending on how complex and long your trying to make the loop, but you eventually get the hang of it.

Then again, I'm no drummer, and only have limited experience using DAWs. So, take that as you will.

Hope this helps!
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Re: How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

Postby itroitnyah » 18 May 2014 14:30

For writing drums, do you mean that you're going to record the drums yourself as well? Just do the same thing as writing the drum track as midi so that you have a good loop going. In fact, you can even record with the drum loop playing and that can help you stay in beat.
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Re: How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

Postby hunterz263 » 20 May 2014 16:26

Thank you both for the reply. I currently use Studio Drummer from Native Instruments. I have tried making my own loops before, but it is a huge pain since I have no idea how real drummers play. Either way, thank you two for the help. Is there any other tips I should know about?
Soundcloud: hunterz263
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Audio Interface:
-Fractal Audio Axe-FX II XL

Guitars:
-Fender American Standard Stratocaster (Standard tuning)
-Fender American Standard Telecaster (Eb standard)
-Fender Squire Bullet Strat (Drop C#)
-Gibson Les Paul Standard 2013 (Drop D)
-Ibanez RGIR27FE (Drop A)
-Ibanez RGIR20FE (Drop A#)

Bass:
-Fender American Standard Precision Bass

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-Logic Pro X
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Re: How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

Postby FLAOFEI » 20 May 2014 21:07

hunterz263 wrote:I have tried making my own loops before, but it is a huge pain since I have no idea how real drummers play.

I could give you a brief walk through on the techniques I use/know about while drumming and their limitations. But if your not going to have a drummer actually play the loop you shouldn't have to worry about it. As long as you remember one drummer has 2 hands and 2 feet there's probably somebody out there who could play it. And all the percussion doesn't even have to be played by one drummer, you could have some people playing around with cowbells, congas and chimes and stuff like that to. So just make it sound good.

Otherwise, if you want real drums in your track, you have to take into consideration the drummer in questions skill level, his or her style of drumming, what drums are available, and so on.
The easiest solution if you want live drums is probably be first programming your loop to approximately the way you want it to be, then giving it to the drummer and asking them to play something like that. They might not be able to play every single accent accurately, but it'll probably still sound like the loop in essence.

Hope I made sense, I'm tired. If you have questions about drums or percussion and how they play, I can probably answer. So ask.
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Re: How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

Postby hunterz263 » 21 May 2014 22:04

Thanks for the advice, FLAOFEI. Unfortunately, I have no drummer in my area so I am simply programming the drums in with Studio Drummer from Native Instruments. It has been a while since I have played around with it, so I might give it a shot this coming weekend. I will post a little demo of my first song on here whenever I get some stuff done.
Soundcloud: hunterz263
YouTube: gamer263

Audio Interface:
-Fractal Audio Axe-FX II XL

Guitars:
-Fender American Standard Stratocaster (Standard tuning)
-Fender American Standard Telecaster (Eb standard)
-Fender Squire Bullet Strat (Drop C#)
-Gibson Les Paul Standard 2013 (Drop D)
-Ibanez RGIR27FE (Drop A)
-Ibanez RGIR20FE (Drop A#)

Bass:
-Fender American Standard Precision Bass

DAW:
-Logic Pro X
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Re: How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

Postby hunterz263 » 28 Aug 2014 16:35

Kyoga wrote:edited the OP to get your vids to show. :3
for future reference if you want your videos to show you have to use http instead of https.
*themoreyouknow*



Oooh... thank you Kyoga! That is a massive help!
Soundcloud: hunterz263
YouTube: gamer263

Audio Interface:
-Fractal Audio Axe-FX II XL

Guitars:
-Fender American Standard Stratocaster (Standard tuning)
-Fender American Standard Telecaster (Eb standard)
-Fender Squire Bullet Strat (Drop C#)
-Gibson Les Paul Standard 2013 (Drop D)
-Ibanez RGIR27FE (Drop A)
-Ibanez RGIR20FE (Drop A#)

Bass:
-Fender American Standard Precision Bass

DAW:
-Logic Pro X
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Re: How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

Postby NightmareRare » 30 Oct 2014 04:33

Well there's a whole tree of thought on this, too much to give you a descent run down everything. But I can give you a few key points you want to look into if you're planning on recording guitar for instrumental songs.

- basics of mixing ( so everything comes through and is individually audible )
- audio processing ( compression and EQing so everything can sit nice and sound clean )

These are very important if your planning on recording your own live instruments

If you need any specific tips on recording or audio processing send me line!

Good luck!
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Re: How Do I Write A Guitar Instrumental Song?

Postby GhostXb » 05 Dec 2014 16:30

Studio drummer does come with a large library of configurable groove patterns that you can drag and drop into your project, after which you can further customize if you wish. It used to be my go to drum vst. I don't use it as much anymore but I do still like browsing the grooves for inspiration. You might also try using the "metal" mixer preset. It sounds really tight and is particularly good for fast and djent style playing.

Here's a video explainging grooves a bit more.

http://youtu.be/OwZqLfWxS6o?t=3m16s

Oh and here's another video giving you in depth advice on writing music for guitar (or anything). I can personally vouch for it's effectiveness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlCRfTmBSGs
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