Seven Steps to Writing Memorable Melodies - Part 1

10/28/2016

Seven Steps To Wr iti ng Memor able Melodi es - Par t 1

Grab 50% off your Student Subscription 埜rst year year... ... but not for long!



FIND OUT MORE



H O W

T O

P L A Y

P I A N O

&

K E Y S

This guy wants to show you the easiest, simplest way to play piano

Advertisement

MUSIC & AUDIO > COMPOSITION

Seven Steps To To Writing Memorable Melodies - Part 1 by Jon Smith 14 Jul 2010 Dif⊺culty: Beginner Length: Short Languages: English

Comp Co mpos osit itio ion n

Song So ngwr writ itin ing g



This post is part of a series called Seven Steps To Writing Memorable Mem orable Melodies Melodies..  Seven Steps To Writing Memorable Memorable Melodies - Part 2

One of the most common questions I get asked by my students is 'How do I come up with a really good melody?' The answer, as with all million-dollar questions, can't be given as a simple "You do it like this..." However, over the years, I've developed a series of techniques and tips which can be used to help beginner song writers and composers come up with stronger melody lines. I've listened to a lot of songs in my time, many of which have been composed by amateur performers and music enthusiasts. I'm sorry to say that the a lot of the song writers seem to forget about the most important element (in my opinion) - the melody - and concentr concentrate ate far too much on instrument selection, production effects, lyrics and so on. The melody simply becomes an almost random selection of notes at worst, or a very dull and 'obvious' melody line at best. Without a strong melody line, a song is rarely going to make it on to someones iTunes iTunes playlist! So, how do we transform the oh-so-common, and dare I say 'boring' melody line, to be something that is pleasant to the ear,, interesting, memorable, and capture ear capture the heart of the listener? In this short series of tutorials I'm going to offer you my seven steps to writing a memorable melody, where where you'll learn how to create a melody a little something like this... 00:00

01:17

https://m us usi c. c.tutspl us us.com /t/tutor ia ial s/ s/seven- st steps- to to- wr wr ititi ng ng- me mem or or ab abl ee- me mel od odi es es- pa par tt- 11- -a -audi oo- 65 6527

1/10

10/28/2016

Seven Steps To Writing Memorable Melodies - Part 1

The example audio above and those throughout this series of tutorials were played on piano, as unfortunately I haven't been blessed with a singing voice that's worth sharing ousite of my own car and bathroom. However, I've accented the melody notes (the highest notes) so that you will easily be able to pick them out from the backing chords and accompanyment. The example song is one I simply played within a couple of minutes of sitting at the piano, it could have turned out very differently depending on my mood, the day, the weather or whatever... but each version would all have one thing in common. They would all follow the basic steps outlined in this series of tutorials. I shall give various examples during this tutorias. Each will show the musical score / notation, plus an audio ⊺le for those who don't read music so well. Just be aware that the score is written in it's simplest form with the accompanyment or backing being displayed as straight forward chords. Where as the audio breaks these chords out a little to provide a similar sound to that of the original example audio track that we're building up toward.

Step 1: Understand The Interaction Between The Chord And Melody This is arguably the most important of all the tips and thankfully is the simplest to achieve for any new song writer. The essential aim is to ensure that at various intervals during the song (such as the ⊺rst beat of a bar, or the end of a musical phrase), the melody note 'lands' on one of the notes that is being played in the chord. What do I mean by this? Well, if the chord that is being played is C Major, then, the melody note to feature should either be C, E or G (the triad that makes up the C Major chord). If the chord being played was G Major, then the melody note to feature should be either G, B, or D. Lets take the example of the following common chord sequence. C -> G / B -> Am -> C / G -> F -> Em -> Dm -> G (If you're not familiar with this standard method of writing chords, then C means the C Major chord, Am means A Minor. G/B refers to a G Major chord, with a B as the bass note - instead of the normal G bass note. You can learn more about chord notation here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_notation ). If we were to write a melody to this chord sequence, using only the advice from Step 1 in this tutorial, we'd get something like this.

https://m usi c.tutspl us.com /tutor ial s/seven- steps- to- wr iti ng- mem or abl e- mel odi es- par t- 1- -audi o- 6527

2/10

10/28/2016

00:00


00:07

Here you can see, the ⊺rst melody note is E, which is played with the C chord, because the C triad is C, E, G. I could have selected C or G and it would have sounded equally correct, but this time I decided to use E. In the second bar the chord is G and I have chosen melody note G (from the triad of G, B, and D). In the third bar, the chord is A minor (A, C, E), so I've selected melody note C. Ok, having played this back, I realize that, purely by accident is already sounds like a rather famous melody from a classical piece of music (Pietro Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana - Intermezzo, about 1minute 40 into the piece). Despite this similarity to an already existing famous piece of music, what is clear is that it's very easy to listen to and pleasant sounding. It doesn't sound like someone picking random notes out from the chromatic scale, there's some structure to it. That's because each melody note sits within the basic chord being played at the time. It doesn't matter which of the notes in the chord we choose. Here's another example where the melody still conforms to the guidelines in Step 1, but using a different melody note for the G chord in the second bar.

00:00

00:07

Again this works really well. (And, if you notice, this is also by complete accident similar to a very famous piece of music, Pachelbel's Canon in D Major from about 20 seconds in). As long as you understand the notes of the chord being played https://m usi c.tutspl us.com /tutor ial s/seven- steps- to- wr iti ng- mem or abl e- mel odi es- par t- 1- -audi o- 6527

3/10

10/28/2016


at any one time, you can start to piece together the 'main' or 'featured' notes of your melody line.

Step 2: Making Use Of Other Notes In The Scale Once we've found some of the chord notes (Step 1) to feature in our melody, it's time to think about adding some melodic movement and interest to the melody line. But how do you choose which notes to add? Well, the most obvious thing to do is work out what key signature your song is in, and then ensure you only use notes from that scale. This will ensure you don't get any 'clashing sounds' that are unpleasant to the ear. (Of course there maybe times when a melody purposefully uses notes from outside of the songs key signature, but, for simplicity we'll ignore such melodies for now.) In the previous example, the song was in the key of C Major. Knowing your key signatures is a critical part of writing a good melody. If you don't know your key signatures, then I suggest you learn them (there are numerous websites and books to help you do this). C Major has a key signature where there are no sharps or ats; on a piano keyboard, no black notes. As such, when composing a melody for a song in C Major, we should focus only on the 'white notes' of the piano to ensure we get a pleasant sound. Ok, so now we're going to use melody notes from the key signature C Major, either going up or down the scale, as we move around to each of the featured chord notes (as decided in step one). I've used a fairly simple movement around the notes in this next audio example, using the tips from steps 1 and 2, to produce the melody line as follows.

00:00

00:08

Clearly adding the extra notes from the scale as we moved from the E in bar one to the G in bar 2 has added some more interest to the melody. Again, it didn't matter which notes of the scale I played, I could have move down the scale instead, https://m usi c.tutspl us.com /tutor ial s/seven- steps- to- wr iti ng- mem or abl e- mel odi es- par t- 1- -audi o- 6527

4/10

10/28/2016


and it would still have sounded pleasant. Try it yourself and experiment a little. What is important is that I used only the notes that are in C Major (no sharps of ats) to get me from the featured melody note of E (in the ⊺rst bar) to G (in the second bar).

Review Stage Using steps one and two above will get you to what I termed in my introduction as an 'obvious melody'. What I mean by this is the western ear is 'trained' to readily accept these kinds of melodies over the given chord sequence and they're fairly simple in their structure. They don't jump around much and have a fairly limited technical involvement. In part two of this series, we'll look at more techniques to add further interest to the melody line and develop it in to something a little more unique.

Advertisement

Jon Smith Jon was introduced to the piano at the age of eight and was immediately in love. Whilst following a fairly classical route in England, UK of the Royal Schools of Music Grades 1 to 8 for piano, Jon's real passion was for playing by ear, composing, and 'jamming' along with other musicians or simply to recorded songs. Now teaching students how to learn and enjoy playing piano, by understanding musical techniques rather than simply sight-reading musical scores.

Weekly email summary Subscribe below and we’ll send you a weekly email summary of all new Music & Audio tutorials. Never miss out on learning about the next big thing.

Email Address https://m usi c.tutspl us.com /tutor ial s/seven- steps- to- wr iti ng- mem or abl e- mel odi es- par t- 1- -audi o- 6527

5/10

10/28/2016


Update me weekly

Advertisement

Translations Envato Tuts+ tutorials are translated into other languages by our community members—you can be involved too! Translate this post Powered by

23 Comments  Recommend

Audiotuts+ 10

⤤ Share

1 

Login

Sort by Best

Join the discussion… James Walker • 3 years ago

Hi, I agree with you about the majority of song writers neglecting the most important part of the song - a melody. I am getting into composing. Really memorable memories are actually the hardest part of writing a song. Take songs like "Michelle" by the Beatles, "La Isla Bonita" by Madonna, "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette, "99 Red Balloons" by Nena, "Piano Man" (Billy Joel?), "Hotel California" (?), "I Would Walk 500 Miles" (might not be the actual title I don't know who wrote it", "The Girl From Ipanema", "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M, or "I Want to Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Houston. Or in classical, "Fur Elise" by Beethoven. Now I'm not much for the synthesized keyboard parts of Must Have Been Love and 99 Red Balloons, but all these songs have great melodies, either all the way through the entire song, or at least in the chorus. A lot of musicians focus too much on showing off in their guitar, drum and keyboard solos, rely solely on blues scale, and never really learn to master the major and minor keys. They criticize #1 hit pop songs saying that those musicians have no talent because anyone can play those songs. But they don't understand or don't want to admit that it's much rarer to find a talented melody composer than to find a talented blues scale soloist who just plays notes fast and shows off. But really what makes people remember your song is the melody. But in reality, this isn't just true for non-famous musicians, but even *most* songs you hear on the radio have really mediocre melodies that were probably thrown together in a few minutes. Ther e's a lot of mediocre songs that become famous. So most musicians that have decent songs rely on the all too easy blues scale because they don't have the talent to write the really alluring melodies that strike to the depth of your core that can only be accomplished in major and minor. Don't get me wrong- blues scale is great for solos because *no one* can improvise amazing sounding stuff in major melodies that draws you in like the blues scale or like a major melody song that you spend hours to hammer out a melody. Like Jimi Hendrix had major melodies in some of his songs, but used blues scale for the solos. Blues scale is fine if it's blues music or for solos in rock or used for a few songs but not all in my opinion, but musicians that can https://m usi c.tutspl us.com /tutor ial s/seven- steps- to- wr iti ng- mem or abl e- mel odi es- par t- 1- -audi o- 6527

6/10

10/28/2016


only write an alluring song in blues scale, or strumming I IV V vi iii chords on their guitar and singing the top note of every chord, letting the see more

24

• Reply • Share › Ephraim Cambronne > James Walker • 7 months ago

Eagle???? Hotel California (?)?????????????? I mean seriously?!!! • Reply • Share › Aki Wayne Ukonmaanaho • 3 years ago

A s uccessful songwriter once said that a s trong (although very simple) melody, even in today's pop music, will have "nursery-rhyme-like" qualities to it. I can't remember who said it, but I can not argue against it. 10

• Reply • Share ›

Vince > Guest • 2 years ago

James, you seem kind of young at this so I'll go easy. Without trying to expand beyond the scope of this article I will just remind you that the major and minor modes are related. I.E. CMaj-AMin. To try to suggest that there is simplicity in major or minor is simply wrong. That's like saying Beethoven only wrote simple music. Or Bach was elementary in his use of diatonic melody. The best advice I can give you to prove it to yourself is to compose a simple melody over the 7th chord of CMaj: Bm7b5 (Half Diminished). Once you realize this seventh chord plays (basically) the same function as the 5th chord: G7 (Dominant), you should be thoroughly baffled. This is the fun in Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and and composer/serious musician. The blues scale, while inherently form fitting to a "sounds good" melody, can take the same "icky" situation when used over a clashing chord. For example a relative major... C Blues used over C Major/Lydian. However, used correctly (listen to Charlie Parker or John Coltrane) it can sound quite BOSS! Also, the genius of J imi Hendrix was that he superimposed MAJOR pentatonic scales over blues in imaginative ways. Once you realize the use of modes in music, you'll start to realize there really is no difference between improvising over major using the relative minor or pulling in tensions from tritone subs or secondary dominants. Simply put, there is no difference (once you know the scales) between an ionian and a dorian b2. see more

• Reply • Share › James Walker > Vince • 2 years ago

I am not really young, but I am not very old either. I am 38 years old and have played piano since age 8, but spent a lot of my life not really playing much keyboard/synth/piano. I dabbled with guitar a bit after age 20. I played percussion from middle school into my twenties, but then migrated more to being mostly just a synth/keyboard player. I took piano lessons between age 8 and about age 15 but did not practice a lot, although I practiced some. Through piano lessons, I learned all the major scales, as well as natural, harmonic, and melodic minor. I also learned the rest of the modes. I learned pentatonic, I can't remember where, it wasn't in piano lessons, when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I understand there is a relative minor for every major, and the relative minor is the natural minor scale. I learned blues scale in high school and improvised a lot in it, as well as in jazz band. But I never got a degree in music, I got a degree in computer programming. I am a web programmer by trade and a musician by hobby. When I was in my early twenties I tried for the first time to write a catchy song in major and was shocked at how difficult it was to do, because even improvising was easy for me from when I just started out with the blues scale. For that reason, I decided to learn guitar, hoping that somehow it would be easier to sing major scale melodies over strumming guitar chords, but I think I just ended up singing a bunch of really simple melodies that just jumped from the top guitar note of one chord to the top guitar note of the next chord, perhaps I threw in other notes, I can't remember, but it was very much like poorly done not-even-fit-for-a-coffee-shop-stage guitar music. I am glad I went back to keyboards as my instrument of choice.


7/10

10/28/2016

Seven Steps To Writing Memorable Melodies - Part 1 see more

• Reply • Share › James Walker > James Walker • 2 years ago

When I talked about combining C major scale with E blues scale, I was off. What I actually did was combine the E blues scale with the C note and the Eb note and I used the C note as the tonic. • Reply • Share › Akash Abkl • 3 years ago

i want to buy u a candy • Reply • Share ›

6

vito75 • 4 years ago

Great tutorial, Thank You • Reply • Share ›

5

Howard Melton Nichols • 3 years ago

I really like your approach. I have been playing Stephen Foster's songs on the piano lately and I also write and perform music. Foster's melodies are addicting. I can hardly break away from them. Great melodies never fade away. They are more important than the lyrics. I tell folks in Nashville repeadly that • Reply • Share ›

3

Craig • 3 years ago

This is exactly the explanation I've been looking around for years! Thank you so, so much! • Reply • Share ›

3

Campbell Lynne • 4 years ago

Absolute genius , took less than 30 mins to open my eyes to stronger melodies and better s ong writing • Reply • Share ›

3

Gary • 3 years ago

This is promising info but where are the rest of the steps? • Reply • Share ›

1

Adrian Try > Gary • 3 years ago

Hi Gary. Apologies. Our new site doesn't yet link to the other parts of a series. Here are the links to Part 2 and Part 3. • Reply • Share ›

23

Pulpfiction • 4 years ago

How does this translate into guitar? So if I play Gmajor I should play either G, B, or D string un-fretted with another guitar to get the melody? • Reply • Share ›

1

Sandarpan > Pulpfiction • 3 years ago

It's written for two guitars. • Reply • Share › Khaleesi 



♡

• 10 months ago

Thanks for this article. • Reply • Share › Bernard • a year ago

This reaaaaaaaaally helped! • Reply • Share › Chastral • a year ago

Question: how do you play those chords magnificently, it's too natural, can you make a chord tutorial? • Reply • Share ›


8/10

10/28/2016

Seven Steps To Writing Memorable Melodies - Part 1 ara • a year ago

Just to clarify - the chords being played with the melodies in part I are actually the arpeggios, right ? I can't name their exact qualities as I understand the overall concept though,.. • Reply • Share › IAMBETTERTHANUALL • 3 years ago

what about catchy tunes ugg no help at all what about other things i need help with lots of not COPYING other ppls melodies they made LIKE U • Reply • Share › James Walker > IAMBETTERTHANUALL • 2 years ago

If you use blues scale or minor pentatonic, your melodies can be catchy right off the bat or with a little bit of practice. But as the poster Vince noted above, finding fitting chords for the blues scale can be tricky. I am not a person to talk about major pentatonic, as I have not tried to play much with it. For memorable melodies in major or minor scale, there is no silver bullet. Understand what is in this tutorial and that the focus notes of your melodies, usually the ones that fall on down beats or have longer durations, for example, should usually match the chord tones. Understand that the first note in the major scale is the home note and you almost always want to end there, not necessarily at the end of a melodic phrase, but at least at the end of the song. Starting on the tonic (first note of the scale) helps to establish to the listener what key you're in, but pickup notes before the first full measure can work well as a nontonic. The 5th and the 3rd note are also very stable tones because the 1st, 3rd, and 5th make up the I chord of the major scale. 2nd and 6th are in between and create more tension, but 4th and 7th create the most tension. You want to have a sufficient amount of stable tones in your song but using tension can make the stable tones more pleasing when you get to them. I have learned two ways to look at melody writing, perhaps there are more, but the two way I know are how melodies fit your chord and how they fit your scale. In other words, chord tones vs passing tones, and tones that are stable to your scale and those that are not. With chord tones, the V and the vii diminished want to move to the I the most. The progression from the V chord to the I chord is the most pleasing chordal interplay to the typical ear. Arpeggiating (that means playing only notes of the chord in your melody) on the notes of the I chord is also very pleasing, and arpeggiating on the V is very pleasing but it wants to resolve to the tonic (1st note). A great technique is to combine arpeggiation with some non-chord tones and this can make for great chorus material. Understanding the theory of chord tones, stable tones, unstable tones, and the function of the 7 chords derived from the scale that you are using is enough theory to write a catchy melody. You will still be hard pressed to produce a song that sounds like a #1 major scale hit of a see more

• Reply • Share › Ben • 4 years ago

I'm not able to get any of the audio examples to play. Tried both Safari and Firefox on OSX 10.6.8. Anyone else? • Reply • Share › Adrian Try > Ben • 4 years ago

Hi Ben. It works for me, both in Chrome and Safari. Unfortunately you need Flash to play the samples. Could that be your problem? • Reply • Share ›

✉ Subscribe d Add Disqus to your site Add Disqus Add

 Privacy


9/10

10/28/2016


KEEP READING

Advertisement

Teaching skills to millions worldwide.

22,746 Tutorials

924 Video Courses

Meet Envato



Join our Community



Help and Support



Email Newsletters Get Envato Tuts+ updates, news, surveys & offers. Email Address Subscribe

Privacy Policy

Check out Envato Studio's services

Browse Wordpress Themes for Musicians

Follow Envato Tuts+

© 2016 Envato Pty Ltd. Trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.


10/10

Seven Steps to Writing Memorable Melodies - Part 1

Recommend Documents