In the beginning ...
1) Pick a song that has some harmonic motion to it. *2 or 3 chord songs are difficult to translate to a solo instrumental arrangement. Certainly not impossible, just harder. The more chords (harmony/motion) the easier to keep and add interest to the arrangement.
2)Learn the chords and melody separately.
3) In 'general' try to keep the melody on the top 3 strings (G, B and E) so you can have some harmony below.
4) Learn the notes that make up the chords so that you can re-arrange the voicings. This is helpful when the melody is a chord tone that is not usually on top (the highest note) of the chord - which is much of the time.
5) Listen to as many different versions of the song as possible (vocal, instrumental, etc). Steal the ideas that you like.
6)
Learn as much as you can about harmony (more of a long-term process - TG knew more about harmony than any other musician I've ever met).
*All these suggestions are just that -
suggestions. I actually don't
play anything like Ted Greene when I do a chord melody arrangement.
'My journey' was an unintentional one. I always loved and still do love playing in a band with other musicians. Playing solo evolved from my love of melody and harmony. And probably from the fact that I'm a really lousy singer ... but I want to play 'songs'
If anybody has specific questions I'll be happy to talk about it.
**I love the Bachata stuff. It reminds me a bit of Mexican
guitar feature bands like 'Trio Los Panchos' from the 50/60s.
'Sin Ti' and 'Perdida' were big hits even in the States ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDme9SBjfec...Dme9SBjfec#t=10 Tons of 'lead' guitar in these tunes.