Guys I have a question about Guitar theory

[MaveDatthews]

Or music theory if you will. Do you need to know basics to write songs on guitar? Because every time i come up with a little catchy sound i always get lost. I know i have an ear for sound too, i know what is good but i dont know anything about my songs, ie: what key it is in etc... I know it takes creativity and time but i have all these little ditty's (i hate that word by the way) that could make good verses or chorus's. But the second i want to switch to another chord i just get lost. I have mastered all but a few of Dave's songs simply because i wasnt interested in learning them and never really got around to it, and a pretty big chunk of john mayer's songs and now it bores me to play covers. I want to be all about my own songs now. can someone offer some advice for me? It would be greatly appreciated, thank you very much guys. p.s. i have been playing for about 2 and a half years now. 1 and a half solid, but lately just been losing interest.

[handyc7]

Follow your ear. you don't have to know the appropriate chord or change to go to because that's what makes creativity great. Pop has a format but rely on your ear to lead you to the next chord. The cool thing about that is you don't have to follow the rules and you may come up with something new. Dave MAtthews was the exact same way. He was not well versed in theory and because of his musical experiences (diverse living in several different cultures) his playing and songwriting was very unorthodox. But at the same time it was a unique style. He relied on his ear and went to places different but still listenable. don't think about theory. if it sounds good, do it.

[MaveDatthews]

THank you VERY MUCH for the reply. Thats pretty much what ive been doing is following my ear, but it seems to be very stressfull, i find myself trying to find something to fit with, lets say a verse of a song, and it will take me hours and i have not gotten anywhere. The funny thing is when i hear almost any song, just as any musician i can hear where the song is going, if it will go up or down, before it even happens. I feel at times i try to be *TOO* creative but i dont want to sell myself short i know i have it in me. Its very stressfull knowing that after 2 and a half years of playing guitar almost religously (spelling) i dont really have a full song to my name...

[slowjoec9]

I learned the same way that you did. Covered songs until I could puke. I too reached a point where I was stuck. Here's what I did. At first, I took the songs that I covered, noticed patterns, then started combining and switching some stuff around. Eventually, you get to a point where you say, instead of this chord, I can go lower. I can just add this note to this chord. The next thing that you know (if you do it every day like I did), you know your guitar. You know scales, even if you do not know their names. Then you write songs. I feel your pain. I was stuck at that point for a while. That's how I did it.

[wAvy]

Oh man, you are in the EXACT same spot as I am right now. I've been playing for the same length of time. I know the inverse of what you know, medium amount of John Mayer, but tons of Dave. Starting to lose interest but I've been thinking about taking classes. Can anyone else provide some help? Should I take some classes?

I just want to be able to think of a sound and produce that exact note on the guitar so I can just go crazy. Isn't that what mose guitarists are after?

[Sciaracastro]

knowing theory does help you very much. you'd know which chords fit in and which not. you can still do it by ear, but it's more difficult IMO

anyway, since it's not a "Dave guitar" discussion, you should have posted in the General Guitar forum...you would have got more answers