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Courses/Stage 12

From Covers to Originals + Simple Arranging

Songwriting8 minFrom progressions to a melody · building structure · rhyming lyrics

You don't have to grind out a song from nothing — let the songs you've figured out feed your own writing, take a three-stage leap to a complete original, then arrange a good intro and outro with a single guitar.

Video lessons are in production — follow the notes and practice checklist below and you'll learn it just fine.
Stage 12 · Write Your Own Song5 lessons

You're on lesson 5 / 5 in this stage

Show all 5 lessons
  1. If You Can Strum, You Can Write a Song: Don't Wait Until You've “Learned Enough”7 min
  2. Hum a Melody Over a Progression: Your First Original Phrase9 min
  3. Build the Skeleton: Verse, Chorus, and Bridge8 min
  4. Fitting Lyrics and Rhyming: An Intro to the Thirteen Rhymes9 min
  5. From Covers to Originals + Simple Arranging8 min

Covering is the best teacher

When you figure out a song you love, ask one more question: how are its verse and chorus split up? What progression does it use? Which chord gives you goosebumps? — upgrade “figuring out a song” from “copying” to “taking it apart.” When you hear a progression / strumming pattern / inverted chord you love, practice it on its own for a week, and you'll have it ready for next time you write. “Steal plenty from everyone first, then blend it into your own” is the widely accepted right path.

The three-stage leap: tweak → rewrite → original

① Tweak: give the song you covered a different strumming pattern / key / arrangement to make the cover “feel like yours”; ② Rewrite: keep the structure, but swap out the melody and lyrics; ③ Original: write the whole thing from scratch. Take it step by step — you don't have to pull off the big move right away.

Arranging with a single guitar

Intro: just pull the chorus or verse progression and play 2–4 bars; for something more advanced, pick out a “melody note within the chords” on the treble strings as a hook. Interlude: it's basically a verse / chorus progression with no singing, giving the listener a breather. Outro: repeat the last line fading out, or stop on the tonic chord (I) for a “home at last” feeling, and you can echo the intro so the start and end close the circle. The essence of arranging is just “deciding what to add and what to take away in each section.”

  • 💡 When you've finished, record a pass on your phone, play it back to spot problems, then bring it up to full tempo step by step — the same review method as learning a song.
Find inspiration in the song libraryFigure out a public-domain / original-progression tune, and look at how it's built with “taking it apart” eyes.→

Practice checklist

  • Give a song you know a different strumming pattern or key, doing one “tweak” for practice.
  • Write a 2–4 bar intro and an ending for your original.