Keller VandeBogert wrote a paper about creating an original instrumental guitar piece for their senior project. They began playing guitar 4 years ago inspired by the video game Guitar Hero. For their project, they researched musical composition techniques and genres. They worked with a facilitator, Katie Anglin, who is experienced in music theory and teaching, to write and organize their piece. It took many months to write and perfect each section, incorporating advanced guitar techniques. Recording involved setting up equipment and software to create drum tracks and record guitar parts. While challenging, the process taught Keller about their work habits and communication skills.

1. Keller VandeBogert
Mrs. Lester
Advanced Composition
12 March 2012
Speech Paper
It is estimated that only about 7 to 8% of the US population actually plays the guitar, and
significantly fewer ascend to a skill level above that of basic mediocrity. I am proud of the fact
that I have nearly mastered many aspects of the guitar ever since I began playing guitar over 4
years ago. Ironically, my interest in guitar was born out of the video game Guitar Hero. I
remember playing songs such as Beast and the Harlot and Hangar 18, songs with incredibly
complex guitar work that would require many years of experience before I could actually play
them on real guitar. I received my first guitar on Christmas day in 2007. Having learned
countless songs in the years since picking up my first guitar, I had always loved the idea of
creating my own music that someday others just like me would try learning as well, so this is
why my senior project was to create my own instrumental.
In order to start this instrumental, I had to research the techniques and genres of musical
composition throughout history. Since I had to create my own instrumental, knowing the types
and common techniques used in composition was absolutely essential to my project. I chose this
topic mainly because although I did have some prior knowledge in music and how to compose, I
was fairly limited compared to what I had to create in the coming months. The paper I wrote
relates greatly to my project because it gave me extra knowledge on how and what to write in
regard to my particular taste in music and guitar playing.

2. Now that you have an idea of the research I conducted, I will go through the steps that I used to
actually create my product. My facilitator’s name was Katie Anglin. When I began thinking of
what I needed for a facilitator, I realized that I needed someone who was fluent in music theory
and had some sort of teaching experience before. I found this person because she happened to be
the mother of my band’s rhythm guitarist. My facilitator has played piano for a very long time, is
fluent in music theory, and is most conveniently a music teacher.
Once I had my facilitator, the real work began. I had to figure out how I should go about
writing and organizing my piece of music. I looked into the elements of musical genre I prefer. I
scrutinized the work of bands such as Between the Buried and Me, The Human Abstract, and
Born of Osiris. These were all bands that utilize a wide range of techniques and sounds that were
both heavily influenced by classical music, heavy metal, and extremely complex guitar work.
After conducting this unofficial study of these bands’ songs, I began writing my own piece. This
was easily the longest step in the process, taking many months to perfect. In order to feel
completely satisfied with how my piece was progressing, I had to correct and reorder parts over
and over, constantly adding to and omitting sections that I was not completely content with.
Once I was able to organize everything, I had to perfect every section of the song I planned to
play. This required lots of time to perfect the extremely advanced techniques that I would be
using, including sweep picking, speedpicking, and extremely fast legato. After this was all done,
I was able to obtain gear which I was able to set up with the help of a friend. I then had to
research microphone placement for recording in order to get a desirable sound out of my guitar,
because the angle and distance of the microphone from the amp has a profound effect on the
sound of the recording. I then was able to get two pieces of software, the first being FL Studio 9
and the other was Audacity. Since I did not own my own drumset, these programs allowed me to

3. create my own drum tracks without having a real drumset. Once I had rendered all files and set
up the tracks in the recording software, I was then able to record. Recording the guitar went in
the order of rhythm guitar/bass tracks first, then solo parts. Any parts that were to be harmonized
were done afterwards. I then tinkered with output levels and any audio effects until the final
version was able to be rendered. Once I rendered the final song, I was done.
Creating this instrumental was not only time consuming, though; not everything went
exactly as planned. One of the first problems I encountered was the fact that not all of the
techniques I wanted to use were possible for me at the beginning of the year. I had to practice for
many months until I could effectively utilize every type of playing I wanted to use in my
product. Not only did the song make use of many playing techniques, but it also used many
different keys. I had to research key modulation and end up shifting keys for some sections or
creating transition phrases that would modulate smoothly. Also, I did not have gear for
recording, so I had to borrow it from my friend and he taught me how to set up and how to use
the gear. Because of the amount of gear we had plugged into one room, the amplifier and PA
system both let off a high pitched humming sound. I had to reroute wires so that they were not
touching and also plug the wires into different rooms in the house. Not only was the hardware
annoyingly advanced, but so was the software. I ended up spending countless hours reading,
watching videos, and experimenting with the software until I was finally able to make it do what
I wanted it to do.
Lastly, partaking in this year-long endeavor to create just one song has taught my many
things about myself. In terms of my work habits, I learned that I can work extremely efficiently
and progress very fast when I absolutely need to. For example, the many of the techniques I have
learned throughout this project take other guitarists many, many years to grasp. I also have

4. learned that I am extremely good at getting off-task. Somehow, I always manage to wander onto
Youtube of Facebook. The communications skills required to complete this project were more
essential that I would have ever thought. Things like asking my facilitator required me knowing
musical terms having to do with theory. I also required a small degree of persuasion for things
like convincing my friend to allow me to use his particularly expensive hardware and also for
communicating with people on Youtube and other sites in order to figure out how to perform
specific functions for the software I was using to record. All in all, I am definitely interested in
the prospect of me creating music for both myself and others to enjoy. On the other hand, the
technical work, having to do with recording and mixing did not interest me at all and bored me to
tears with the massive amount of work you have to put into post-production. In terms of post-
secondary education, I definitely want to pursue a degree in music although it will probably be a
minor because music is a very difficult field to make it in unless you are able to be in the right
place at the right time.