Hey guys, I’m Shreezen and I’m a Grade 3 guitarist (from Justin’s course ofc).
I’ve recently got my own electric guitar (been using friend’s acoustic up until now). Exams were over yesterday and I’ve been enjoying spending time with my guitar finally and I came up with a riff I think is cool and will make for a good intro to a song. I’ve tried and tweaked the notes for 4/4 time signature at 200 bpm (only for the riff). So far, I’m satisfied with how it sounds and I’ll attach an image of my tone settings (I’m using amp sim as I can’t afford one, and a neck pickup with tone max-ed out on a Strydom Magna Strat). I do not know much about what scales to use and what notes are in each scale and after figuring out what notes my riff has, I’ve asked ChatGPT what scale be appropriate and it said G and G# don’t belong together in a scale but out of what it recommended, A Harmonic Minor sounded good (just putting it out there if needed).
As anyone with a head, I decided to ask some humans as ChatGPT can’t understand music. I wanna make a good song of my own with this riff as my starting point and kinda stuck not knowing how to write a melody and how to structure it up. When I tried using A Minor pentatonic scale, it sounded like I’m writing the solo and not the melody/chorus/verse. Apart from that, I need some help figuring out what scale I should use for this songwriting side quest of mine. I’ll attach an audio of me doing the riff, the tab I’ve written along with this post.
It sounds to me like you’re playing a B on the 7th fret in the first phrase, rather than a C on the 8th fret as you have written.
If that’s what you intended then all the notes (except the G#) are in the E minor pentatonic scale. The G# is the major 3rd of the scale and you are using it as a passing note, which is fine.
I’m not sure about how it sounds as I am not that good at identifying notes from recordings, but I slide upto the 8th fret as I’ve written. Took a ton of takes before I could get the riff perfect . Never thought I have learnt my own riffs like it’s not mine. Once it gets and then I be like, oh this sounds amazing, let’s try again and minor stuff going off.
Thank you for the help mathsjunky, I’ll experiment with the scale and if it sounds good I’ll upload in the community.
@shreezen the note you’ve used exept for the G# are the chord Am7. Lets get your terminology correct. You use Keys not scales to write music. The chord Am7 is the 6th chord in the key of C. The note G# in your riff sounds like a passing note and would be called Ab it creates a feeling of decending.
Try using the chords out of the key of C major to write the verses and chorus and use the scales of C major or A minor for your solo. Just a reminder Am pentatonic scale is 5 note out of the A natural minor scale and C major pentatonic is 5 notes out of the C Major scale. So you could use any of these scales.
I’m definitely not a songwriting master, but I have spent quite a bit of time doing it over the last year. Here a couple more ideas that may help you get your song from riff only to completion
As @stitch mentioned, you will want to start your song using the key as your foundation, not any one scale. Scales a great for adding solos/embellishments, but will not give you your basic chord structure. You need the structure as your foundation to lay everything, including the riff you wrote, on top. If you continue to write songs and get more confident in your skills you can start to venture outside of the key or add key changes, but to start, staying within the key will make things much easier for you.
Assuming you will be adding lyrics/vocals- I like to play my basic chord structure and hum or sing overtop whatever comes to mind to get ideas for the vocal melody. This may or may not work for you, but I tend to have Justin’s “if it sounds good it is good” mentality here.
If it sounds good it is good. Hel yeah!
At least that’s what audience care about.
I’ll sure introduce some vocals. I’m layering things and experimenting as of now. Maybe I haven’t paid much attention to the difference between key and scale while I watched guitar vids. But hey, now I know.
I sure will stick to the key but a little experimenting won’t kill me.
Kudos and good vibes for coming up with your own riff and looking to create your own songs.
Here are two versions.
This is your recording followed by a Guitar Pro version. The tab of the Guitar Pro version is shown below.
It is in the key of E minor (equivalent to G major) and yuor riff uses the E minor pentatonic scale plus one passing note (G#).
You can hopefully detect from this version that you need to work on your timing as the second section slows down.
This is a suggestion of how you might build … but do not take this as the only way. I have shifted the riff across a string set.
You could play an E5 power chord then and A5 power chord if you wanted, behind these two parts.
. Never thought I have learnt my own riffs like it’s not mine. Once it gets and then I be like, oh this sounds amazing, let’s try again and minor stuff going off.
