Hey Gang!
I get asked quite often about how I approach fingerstyle guitar arranging, and suddenly – this simple idea came to mind.
I hope this gives you a little “AHA!” moment – to brighten your day.
Disclaimer – there is always “more than one way to do it”. Here’s one approach that I use, 90% of the time.
The Dark Ages Way of Guitar Arranging
Most guitarists come out of a “chord” approach, which leads to picking patterns on the chord, and ultimately “jimmying” little melodies on top.
For example, if you are playing an open position C chord, you sooner or later mess around with lifting your first finger on & off the B string, or using your pinky on the high E string.
If you have done this, you know what I am talking about.
In order to understand the way I approach arranging – you have to throw away this “jimmying melodies on top of the chord” idea completely!
The New Age, Enlightened Way of Guitar Arranging
Melody is king. What do I mean by this?
Please understand, I grew up on Jimmy Page guitar solos (when I had hair I wanted to be him) and later fell in love with George Benson – and Wes Montgomery – not to mention all the jazz greats (horn players, pianists, singers, etc)
When a melody is played by someone who is playing melody ONLY (forget about fingerstyle for a moment), it has to posses certain qualities:
- Lyricism
- The Blues Feel (depending on context)
- Proper Rhythmic Accents for the Style
- Delicious Fat Tone and Touch
- Touches listeners hearts
Melodies have to “sing”. There is a HUGE difference in playing a single line melody that makes people’s hearts sing vs “plunking out the notes.”
You may need to get up (oh no I’m scared) past the 4th fret!
So – imagine that you are playing LEAD guitar, melody only – and you have to pour your heart into a melody, bending strings, sliding – making it sing. Yes, you may have to practice a melody a LOT to find your “interpretation”.
Examples, off the top of my head, of “lyrical melody playing”:
- George Benson – “Breezin” & “This Masquerade”
- Wes Mongomery – “What’s New”, “Portrait of Jennie”
- Jimmy Page – “Stairway To Heaven”, “Since I have Been Loving You”
None of these are icy cold, precise melody statements. They all touch the heart and have “love” woven in an ingredient.
It’s INSTANTLY available on StudyWithAdam.com and no worries, there is a free 14 day trial.
Go sign up for the free trial, and download the course and audiobook – and start learning NOW!
Step 1 – Get Your Melody ‘Singing’
This is your starting point – play a melody with no accompaniment. Make it sing…break all the rules your teacher told you.
For example, does it “sound” better on the B string, but is it easier on the E string?
Make the choice that sounds better, sings and will move the heart – rather than the easy and convenient one.
Listen to your own playing with your heart – not your head.
Oh – and are you playing the rhythmic accents exactly where you what them?
Yes, syncopations and exact phrases are hard to figure out….but don’t cop out!
Get that melody sounding as much like the original as possible – or as close to your intention. Don’t settle!
No matter how incredible your “arrangement is” – if you leave out the crafting and playing of a great melody – your arrangement will fall flat on it’s face.
Many fingerstyle players do not pay enough attention to this.
Step 2 – Your Bass Desires
Now comes the part where you use any finger available or open string to try and grab the bass note of the chord on (lets say) beat one of every measure – WHILE playing that lyrical loving melody.
Don’t go for chord shapes. Do go for lyrical melody – with a bass note added.
The more this comes into focus, see if you can plop out a rhythm with the right hand thumb, against the melody. Some combinations may be rhythmically tricky.
You may need to look for new left hand fingering solutions for the melody – but do your absolute best to retain the feel.
Step 3 – Fill the Middle
Without losing the lyrical quality in the melody, and keeping a firmness in the bass now you’ll look for possible places to play one or two notes of a chord in the middle.
The middle is “subservient.” Imagine if you spoke all the time (the melody) and had a servant by your side constantly saying “yes” in the pauses. That’s what the middle does!
Step 4 – Put it on a low flame, and let your soup “cook”!
The top, middle and bottom will come into focus slowly. Go for your unique blend of lyrical melody, groove, middle, and comfort.
The separate parts will start to “blend” and it will start sounding like an arrangement.
Any questions?
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Thanks for the great column Adam! This is the same approach I use also. Melody is king! The use of open strings really opens up lots of different positions in open tunings that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Keep up the great work!
Aha! All of my compositions have been created with the chord/melody approach. I will certainly give your method some serious “playing time”. Might just be the creative spark I need. Thanks, Adam. You da man!
Bill – chord based shapes for arranging – that’s like painting the floor, and then you’r ein a corner & can’t get out! Have fun with the new ideas! – AR
Great article by a great player!
Is there going to be a part 2? Also do you have any advice on creating variation so the song doesn’t get boring? One thing I do is I will play the song with just the melody. Then I will play it tenths. Then I will play it with chords or bass note and melody note. Sometimes I also play the melody in the bass and use open strings for harmony. Sometimes i will travis pick it. Do you know of any other useful ways of creating variations on a tune?
Francesco
I have a new course on studywithadam.com on building arranements. There is a free site trial – go and download the course for free 🙂 – AR
Wow, Adam… Exactly what I needed! I love beautiful chords and all the added notes that make them beautiful. So when trying to arrange those beautiful compositions from people like Bacharach, McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, I was trying to fit in all the 9’s, 6’s, 13’s etc. When watching your vids, I became a fan of your Stevie-arrangements and it inspired me. I wanted to arrange songs like “Golden Lady” and “Love’s In Need Of Love Today”. Although I gave up on the last one (the backings…… too important to miss it on any arrangement) I was still struggling with “Golden Lady”. And I was, like you said, goofing around, trying to build a melody AROUND the full chords. This helped me!
Greetings,
Matthijs
Adam, loving your videos and would love to see you live one day as I think you as a player are exactly where I want to be in ten years! I do have a qestion though – when I have worked out my melody line how do I find the right chord that fits around those individual notes to thicken it all up and make it sound like I am actually playing that piece?
Thanks again man, you rock!
This piece of writing will help the internet people for setting up new blog or even a blog from start to end.
How about playing the song in the key it was written in like fake books? Some times it’s hard making an arrangement in those keys.
Hi Adam,
I’ve been following your tasty playing on YouTube for a while. You have a great facility for arranging and performing engaging and expressive interpretations of songs. I admire your talents and artistry!
I, too, am a fingerstyle guitarist and have been performing, recording and teaching for over 40 years. You hit the nail on the head with your synopsis on approaching a vocal song and building the guitar arrangement. I’ve been using a similar approach for many years. Are you familiar with Eric Schoenberg? He used to live in Cambridge, MA and was a partner at the Music Emporium. I mentored me a bit (in the early 1980s) on arranging concepts for fingerstyle guitar after hearing both his duo recording with his cousin, David Laibman of Scott Joplin and other complex piano rags for fingerstyle guitar and also his own solo recording of covers of Beatles and other popular favorites as fingerstyle pieces.
That’s when I first had the breakthrough moment of seeing the arrangement as 2 to 3 voices moving horizontally concurrently rather than vertically (chord forms). What a freeing realization!
I’m sure you’re aware of another mentor of mine, Pierre Bensusan. I call him a mentor even though after following his music for the past almost thirty years and teaching myself several of his challenging pieces, I finally got to meet him and know him when I brought him here to Sedona, AZ to perform and teach a master class just a couple of years ago. His style is also in line with your thinking. In his original pieces as well as the Celtic and world music he plays so masterfully, his melodies are always expressively articulated so beautifully as they glide above the counterpoint and bass lines.
The characteristic of a player who successfully masters this approach is that listening to someone arrange and play at this level, it sounds as if each voice in the arrangement is totally independent and almost as if each voice is being played on a separate instrument.
Adam, your music has this effect as does Bensusan’s and Schoenberg’s.
Much kudos! Continued success to you….
Rick Cyge
rick@earthsongmusic.com
Wow Rick, I am honored – thank you so much for the compliment & insightful comment! All the best – AR
I’m a little surprised that you didn’t put more emphasis on groove here, but my guess is that you see groove as not a separate component, but integral to melody, bass, and fills. But from hearing you play, I would guess that definitely the bass and the fills would have to get sacrificed if they got in the way of the groove. And if the groove and the melody don’t fit together, then there’s something seriously wrong to begin with.
You also say that chords come third, but listening to you, it sounds like chords is only one possibility of what comes third. Sometimes, you will fill in with something other than a chord. I was really pleasantly surprised to hear Jobim’s counterpoint piano melody line after the first phrase in the bridge of Girl From Ipanema. And in In My Life, again in the chorus, you could say that you are playing the chords, but from the original, what you are playing is the backing vocal harmonies. So, vocal harmonies, counterpoint, maybe an instrumental fill line, maybe even just a rhythmic drum pattern — I’ve heard all of those in your arrangements. Chords is what we guitar players tend to think of first, but its amazing how far of a back seat they take in really nice arrangements.
Groove is of course the first & last, but for explanation of a song layering, I had to simply set that aside.
“Chords” were originally lines if you go way on back to gregorian chant, which got another interval tacked onto it, and eventually 3 part counterpoint where the goal was a “set of intervals” that we know as a triad today.
In “In My Life” and “Ipanema” I am doing the same bass rhythm, alternating root-5th and getting as much of a ringing cross string approach to the melody that I can. It gives the illusion that more is going on than there actually is.
“In My Life’s” counter vocal line over the melody was all that was needed to make this “complete.” I flesh things out more when I can & if it sounds good, but often just the lines needed sound good if played clearly.
Thanks again!
hi adam,
I enjoyed reading the article on how to arrange. Is there a book that you recommend that teaches exactly that. thankyou
Jose
I learned this all from a non guitar teacher, I may have to write the book you are talking about 🙂
I have listened to this flute & guitar melody, and after watching somebody playing it fingerstyle with a single guitar in Youtube I tried to learn it. However I am not experienced enough to detect all of her notes, fillings and chords, so then I faced the challenge of trying to figuring them out, visually and by ear. In addition I discovered more versions done by different people, and all versions were different! Being a bit dissapointed on my poor skills, I soon realized I better do my own version, and I think your article has set the guidelines I should follow, thank you very much!
Awesome sauce. I’m gonna give it a whack.
For years I put off writing my own arrangements always search for the” best arrangements”. With this profound article and a new year resolution I just wrote a beautiful fingerstyle arrangement. I knew the neck of the guitar and could easily construct any chord or scale,but I forgot that melody is king and less is on the guitar is more. It feel so good writing my own arrangement . Howard Morgen’s book Concepts: Arranging for fingerstyle Guitar is not a bad place to start if your not a complete beginner and can read on the guitar. Adam concept is the icing on the cake! start with a singing melody. For all your follower on the internet we thank you Adam for your giving spirit . Because there is some priceless wisdom in this article if you can here it.
How To Build Your Own Fingerstyle Guitar Arrangements – Part 1 when can we expect part 2?
Thanks.
I am trying to stay caught up…please standby!
I have a new course on studywithadam.com on building arranements. There is a free site trial – go and download the course for free 🙂 – AR
Hi Adam, my names Rich. I’m a newer guitar player bbut I havve a naturaul affinity for guitar. I learn at a ridiculous rate like a sponge absorbbing water. One day when you hear my songs on the radio you can be sure it was written using the information I obtained reading your articles. Can’t wait for part 2
Rich I’ll be waiting!!!
I have a new course on studywithadam.com on building arranements. There is a free site trial – go and download the course for free 🙂 – AR
Interest in article: To help in journey to play guitar
Background:
Summer private lessons 3rd Grade – introduction to music, period.
Summer church guitar with Sister Roberts – taught me what a basic song sounds like.
High School talent show – learned 3 songs on bass
College apartment – shuffled around on the neck of roommates stat. re-introduced myself to closed chords
25 up – 5 years lessons – learned how slow I was at learning
30 up – played in a jam band $250 awesome 8 week rock experience. we played 10 songs.
35 up – buying song books, playing bits from book
40 is now – learning to memorize neck – trying to decide where to go with what I have learned.
What I know now – substituting my own learned theory of music to help play songs instead of just looking at sheet music. Not really successful.
What I am doing to build – learning different scales, training my ears, listening, practicing chords, triads, power chords, voicings, caged chords all around, boom chucking.
My Mission – I thought I was opening a new page in my guitar journey when I discovered plucking the notes of chords and moving around the neck.
Moving from chord to chord with turn arounds and fills.
Touching the musical vocabulary of verse – chorus – melody – yata, yata! song building… with my cookie cutter look at arrangements..
I started by playing melody because that is the jingle or hook of music to a kid… the hum or whistle…
I just don’t see why this is a new idea.. did somewhere I not get a notch on my belt that you more blessedly talented musicians have gotten… I don’t think missing the melody has ever been skipped rather the chords and other parts are the more challenging part to requisition as a player technically…
Did in your mission you concentrate all your time on the learning of the more technical parts and now you are just seeing the fundamentals need to be re-looked at…
I am not saying this in a degrading way!!! I am trying to make your purpose real to me… I tend to over think things and am not sure if I see you as you are or if you are in fact on a whole other level of savant talent I cannot fathom…
Thank you!!!! I wish to make it!!!!!
i have always tried playing along with the fingerstyle arrangements of others but it hasn’t really helped me much because i couldn’t develop my own skills easily, i think with this your write-up i can start to build my own arrangements, thank you very much.
Building one’s own arrangements is really a good move…I’ll do more on that! Thanks Dave!
Hi Adam
Thanks for the heads up on Arranging .
Do you have a visual piece to help us solidify what you wrote about?
Could be another DVD ?
; )
Hp
D
David I plan to do some arranging lessons. Thanks for posting! – AR
Hi Adam –
Fantastic post – I can see now how I’ve been painting myself into a corner. Not sure if it’s appropriate to post links – but here is one that, while not specifically relevant to “melody first,” does contain some great context on arranging for finger style.
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=198894
Thanks for sharing your wisdom. I look forward to Part Two.
Jody
great article. would be helpful to see an example in a video.
thanks.
Tom, will come…when I get a minute! AR
Adam,
As a “Dark Ages” arranger, this was EXACTLY the “Aha!” moment I was looking for! As I am arranging for a trio (vocals/guitar, cello, upright), I will try to apply this idea to harmonies and counterpoint as well as melodies. I can’t wait to get home from work and get started…
THANK YOU!!!
Nate
Nate – super!
Adam — great things come in small packages — and this short article is just that. It also would be an excellent topic for a workshop or DVD or camp. I’d love to explore this as a student with you as an instructor. It’s just flat out great advice. I know you offer a lot of free music on Youtube — but your instructional tips expanded into a 60 or 90 minute DVD format would be great. Gotta get you hooked up with Stefan Grossman.
PS — I missed Swannanoa this year and I see you did as well. Maybe next year or certainly after the kids have graduated from college in 2017.
Tim, thanks. I am planning a lesson one-on-one site with some videos where I delve deeper in…stay tuned.
Adam,
thanks for your hints which are always a valuable help.
Greetings
Klaus
Hey! I thought this was awesome, but I am really sort of lost. I taught myself how to play chords and strum but am looking to expand my guitar playing and really wanted to get into fingerstyle (i can do typical patters, but i want to make my own and get better) and i was wondering if you could explain the steps and what you mean by stuff a little more in depth… like melody and such?
Ethan start by learning melodies to tunes you like. After that, contact me again – seriously, with no melody you can’t begin to do an arrangement. – AR
Loved the article, as I do have an interest in writing a fingerstyle piece, I have written several songs from the steel string with chords, but desire the freedom that a fingerstyle song gives. Unfortunately I cannot use your advice as you state that I have to finger with the left hand and pick with the right hand. You see I am left handed and that just won’t work for me. The rest of the article though was two thumbs up!
Hi. I’m 14 years old. And I have been playing guitar for 10 months. I did not go to guitar lessons and learned complex lessons. But instead, I read tabs of Sungha jung and also Peter Gergely who are amazing fingerstyle artists. When I am unsure of something in the tab i just watch them in youtube instead of asking ( Which should had helped better). Now, my friends call me a great fingerstyle artist ever since i learned wristbumb and thumbslap but I can’t seem to arrange a fingerstyle song of my own (which sucks). What technique do use? Do i just find the arrange song by randomly ( I mean not doing chords) by ear???
Josh – get lessons from a teacher.
Pretty much a newbie to this, only have played other people’s arrangments yet. So thanks for the tips, will try it myself now ^_^
Christy, that’s great. Learn others so you get a vocabulary and then amking your own will be easier! – AR
Hi, I am enlightened by your tips. Thank you so much.
But I have few idea for the middle part, of how to choose notes. or make it more interesting.
Could you give me some more tips on that ? :”)
Thank you again !
Great lesson Adam! Hoping that after 3.5 years you’ll be able to post Part 2 of the lesson, though obviously it’s great you are so busy. Continued success.
LOL yes I am busy…:-) but there is good stuff over on https://studywithadam.com – that’s where a lot of focus has been AR
Thanks man, I never thought about it like that. That was definetly an AHA for me, i really enjoy your articles and your YouTube Videos. Greetings Form Germany
Adam,
As always , your posts are extremelly useful and helpful. It says a lot , that you take the time to do this.
I am VERY GREATFUL.
I would like to ask you something…… on Step 2 you say : “Don’t go for chord shapes. Do go for lyrical melody – with a bass note added.” And then in Step 3 you say that without losing the lyrical quality in the melody, and keeping a firmness in the bass now you’ll look for possible places to play one or two notes of a chord in the middle.
My question is….. this chord notes , of which chord should be in relation with the bass note. Could you give an example?
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Hi Adam.
My name is Alessandro, I’m 32 and I’ve always enjoyed creating and playing solo fingerstyle arrangements of famous songs.
I am happy about the way I arrange, but, one day, a cousin of mine, who is a professional guitarist (I am not) and gave a listen to one of my arrangements, told me that, while I was talented, I should have put a free-time approach into my creation (and my arrangements are usually in perfect 4/4 time). When I made him listen to a rubato version of the arrangement he had already listened to, he said: “Better, less boring. But you should learn where to slow down and where it would be not appropriate”.
I trust him, but I also think that he is not a big fan of fingerstyle (he prefers arranging in a more jazzy /single line way). I’d like to ask you two questions:
1) Is it so important to play in a rubato style? Many people on Youtube seems to play with the precision of a metronome.
2) If you decide to play in free-time, are there still important time rules that a musician should not violate? If so, what are the most important ones?
Thank you.
Awesome. A great lesson from a great guitarist. Part 2 coming out yet? 🙂
Great post Adam – just did a seminar with John Knowles before CAAS – he did an entire discussion on this, almost verbatim to what you’re saying. I think the hard part is to get going – perhaps a song is needed as an example or something like that. I tend to play too much chord melody style even though I can play a number of TE’s songs, Pete Huttlinger, etc. but when I’m trying to pull my own material together for my sunday bruch gig, it ALWAYS ends up almost entirely a chord melody solo – old habits and instincts are very hard to break. Hope to see you on the road somewhere – your training here is invaluable…thanks Adam! David
I started out as a Travis Picker, but ultimately felt I was bumping the limits of what that style can do. My next step in arranging was to create an independent bass line that harmonized and enhanced the melody. I think of the combination as a main melody and a support melody, interweaving, harmonizing, leading and following. I’ve still got a lot to learn, but I think that’s the essence of what you’re saying.
My melody/countermelody approach shifted my thinking from vertical to horizontal, and has helped my enormously. It led me away from rigid Travis Picking toward Free Fingerstyle. Now my challenge is to broaden my thinking to incorporate other musical elements and other playing techniques. I’m still on that journey.
If your song is in the key of G major would you use the G major scale to make the melody
It all depends 🙂 You could also use G blues – depends on the tune…
thanks for the information
Now its 2020, and I see this the first time, cause Im new here. I feel soooooo inspired, and actually, for the very first time, I feel I listen to someone (you) who communicate your experience and knowledge in a way that makes so much sense for me. I will for sure stick around.
Funny enough I just read, that you went from thumb pick back to fingers, and right now I debating with my self If I should give thumb pick another serious try. Have been there before, and some things feels really good with thumb pick (a control thing I think), but also feel I miss/lack something more organic/intuitive. And for me I cant do both, to different technique. Lets see 🙂
Thanks for amazing inspiration…
Thanks for the comment. I am about to do some videos on this.
If you had to play a really steady thump on your low E string just a 1-2-3-4 quarter note bass, like your life depends on it and so everyone can feel your beat – which way feels best?
There’s your answer.
AR
Nice post. I recently began to think about arranging a guitar like that too. You clarified it pretty well. But it’s still pretty hard for me to come up with good melodies. They a rather too simple or have little movement, cuz my technique isn’t that great yet and yes I also used to play melodies based on chords. I also know how the CAGED system works as well as pentatonic scales, but usually it helps if you already have some foundation and just have to play on top of it. The question is how to build this foundation? Do I have to just trust my ears and try to play as close as I can to what I hear in my head? I would appreciate any of your tips. Thanks for sharing knowledge.
Oooooops! Guilty. I am the chord-centric guy. I am new to the fuitar and I will have to learn your technique in addition to many other things. Thank you for the eye-opener 😊