concept has been extremely helpful to me when writing some of the very progressive rhythmic ideas on my HESS ~ Opus 2 CD. I strongly recommend to read that article before reading any further. Here is the link, Musical Creativity And Self - Expression For Guitarists- Part 1
Here is an example of Destructive Creation. Do this: Get a pencil, eraser and a sheet of paper. Write down thirty-two 16th notes. (in 4/4 time this will be 2 measures of steady 16th notes). Now randomly erase 7 (or 11 or 14 or any other number) 16th notes. Now play the resulting new rhythm on your instrument (you can also do this on a drum machine, computer, etc. If you don't like the results, try erasing more or less notes or change the order of the notes.
Once you have a new rhythmic idea that seems to have potential, apply the other ideas on rhythm already discussed to this rhythm. Augment the rhythmic values, diminish it, play it in retrograde (play it backwards) or do some combination of these ideas, the possibilities are endless. If none of these ideas seem to be helping you, it might be because you have not yet written an interesting melody for these rhythms. So begin composing new melodies, or chord progressions, or riffs, etc. for these new rhythmic ideas. Then they will begin to come to life.
Tom Hess is a professional touring guitarist and recording artist. He teaches guitar players around the world via online guitar lessons, Visit http://www.tomhess.net to get free guitar playing tips, assessments, surveys, mini courses, and to get more guitar playing articles.
Want to get the absolute best rates and best quality when you record your album? Check us out! We provide THE best quality recording at the best rates for Nashville AND Los Angeles. You won't find better. Click here.
Pages: 1 2 Social tagging: part > Songwriting
