How to Write Fingerstyle Melodies

Simple Example in A Major

Hey guys. welcome to another fingerstyle lesson! Today I want to answer one of the question you ask me most: How I write fingerstyle melodies”.

It would be impossible to explain that in one video so I though I would show you one of the system I use to write simple fingerstyle melodies using the Major scale.

In this video you will learn the A major scale and the chords of the A major key. Then I am going to harmonize the scale with chords.

I want to quickly debunk all the rubbish about writing and composing as one of the most difficult thing to do in music.

The reality is that you can write a beautiful melody with simple chords and few notes as long as you know how to combine those two elements with rhythm and musicality.

In this lesson I am going to show you how we can create a beautiful melody with the A major scale without even mixing the notes. I am literally playing the scale and I am adding chords in few places.

This is probably the easiest process because you follow the scale and the chords coming from the scale so you can’t really make mistakes.

Obviously, it isn’t easy to write beautiful things right-away.

Take it step by step and start with this lesson before trying your own things.

Good luck guys!

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The Video

Writing a Melody in Three Steps

Step 1: Learn the scale and the chords coming from the key. In this example we are are going to write fingerstyle melodies in A major. Learn the A major scale (A B C# D E F# G# A) and the chords A major, B minor, C# minor, D major, E major, F# minor, G diminished.
Step 2: Learn the major scale horizontally (instead of vertically) so that it’s easy to visualize the scale in a melodic way.
Step 3: Add chords on some of the notes of the scale to make it sound musical.

Below the A major scale and the chords coming from the scale.