Why do modern popular songs composed on piano sound different than songs composed on guitar?

Question

Songs that I hear that are piano based - ie. **composed and originally performed on piano**, seem to have a different feel than those composed on guitar. The flow, the movement, the chords used - are often very different for piano based songs vs. guitar based songs. I don't mean which instrument they are **played** on. Any song can be played on either instrument. I am referring to which instrument was used by the composer, to compose or write the music. I am also **not** referring to a situation where someone takes a song, and composes an arrangement for one instrument or the other. I find many songs written on piano, are more difficult to translate to an arrangement for guitar and maintain the same feel as the original played on piano. This is the source of my conclusion that there is something organically different between the two instruments as it applies to the way songs evolve from them. I compose all of my original music on guitar because I am more proficient on that instrument. But I am wondering if I might get some interesting variations in my melodies and progressions if I started to compose some of my music on piano. And I wonder **if some ideas or emotions that I want to convey lyrically, can be conveyed more effectively musically, on piano** than on guitar. What are some of the reasons that a song would manifest or evolve differently if composed on piano than if composed on guitar? And what type themes or ideas suggested by the lyrical content of a song (in the country, folk, pop, or rock genre') might be more effectively conveyed on piano than guitar? **EDIT:** note addition of questions about how each instrument might better convey lyrical concepts musically.

Answer 1

Hey there! To add on, the timbre of piano and guitar are very different (timbre being the character and quality of a musical sound). the acoustic piano and acoustic guitar without any additive sounds are limited in the sounds that they can create. The piano out of shear size and composition will sound much fuller than the guitar. When you bring the added sounds and tech in, there is where the real difference is felt. Because I am a guitar and piano player and composer I run into similar problems. I find that in pop music, guitar is actually used more for its percussive nature. Piano is used to fill things out. I would recommend picking up some piano because the honest truth is the chord wise, there are a lot of things a piano can do that a guitar physiologically cannot.(not bashing guitar) Each carry their own chord experimentation methods but piano puts all the possibilities right at your finger tips with no need to mess with tuning or capos.

Answer 2

I think the answer comes down to the uniqueness of each instrument. I think that a drummer would most likely start a song with a drum beat and then add chords over it or a melody. When you play piano you have more notes available as you play up to 10 notes at the same time with each finger. The chords that we mostly play on guitar are not basic triads at all, they are usually more complex shapes because it is easier to play on Guitar and they sound fuller on Guitar. On the other hand, playing a triad on a Piano is super easy and can sound full very easily. The many shapes bring different melodies and vibes to a song. A guitar is more strum oriented; a piano is more chord oriented, having the sustain pedal makes you feel like you want to focus more on a melody than a chord. On the guitar on the other hand you feel like strumming with your right hand and the song ends up being more rhythmically oriented.

This concludes in a song in which the melody is being inspired by either rhythmical chords (guitar) or pure chord progression not considering the rhythm (piano).

Another thing to keep in mind, which I mentioned, is that we subconsciously look for melodies that sound better with the chord inversion or shape that we are playing. The chords that we play on the piano and guitar are not at all the same. So the melodies/notes that we will choose to embellish the chords, are not going to be the same at all even if it is the same progression.