Some songwriters can write a melody without even thinking about it. Most of us, though, have to work on our tunes. Here are ten quick tips to get you started:
1. Try staying away from your guitar or keyboard. The best place to write melodies is often in your head. Picking out an embryonic tune on an instrument is a challenging task in itself, and can kill the creative moment. When you get a good idea, take a walk or do some chores and let it develop naturally in your imagination. Only head for the piano once you’ve got it ‘locked in’ to your brain.
2. The opposite approach is to sit down with your instrument and noodle around. The best way of doing this can be to come up with a chord progression and play it over a few times in different voicings and inversions - you may find a melody emerges naturally.
3. For some people, carrying around a portable MP3 or tape recorder can help - you just sing or hum your ideas into it to keep them safe. However, as in tip 1, make sure that concentrating on getting the recording right doesn’t kill the inspiration. This tactic probably works best for very instinctive singers.
4. Think fragments. If you try to write the whole melody for a song in one go, you’re going to get brainache. Instead, develop bits and pieces of melodies over a few days and see what you can stitch together - you might find yourself with material for two or three songs.
5. Think simple. Many, many great songs are just built on simple, repeated melodies - often just a couple of phrases. If all you can come up with is a couple of bars of a tune, you might have enough for a song.
6. If you’re worried about how you’re going to fit words to your melody, check out our post on whether to write music or lyrics first.
7. It’s a good idea to keep a record of the melodies you write. For example, you might come up with a great, ‘hooky’ melody while you’re in the process of writing a song that already has a great hook. So write your idea down and save it for later. A folder of manuscript paper and or an app like Sibelius (or one of its cheaper alternatives) is very useful. Alternatively, you can create a quick draft in GarageBand or whatever DAW you happen to use. If you can’t write music or use a DAW, then it’s time to fall back on the portable tape or MP3 recorder.
8. ‘But I can’t read or write music!’ Learning how to read and write music is not exactly difficult and is tremendously - not least because it’ll give you a clearer appreciation of how melody is structured. Start today.
9. Listen to music that’s outside your regular experience. Even if you spend your life buried in Ableton writing bingly-bongly liquid funk, some experience of the work of really great melodists will make you a better musician. Anything from Bach to ABBA can help you here.
10. While we’re on the subject of ABBA, don’t forget that a great hook or melody doesn’t have to be part of the main vocal. It can be instrumental (the piano and synth tracks in Dancing Queen), instrumental vocal (the brass/backing vox line in the Divine Comedy’s National Express) or carried entirely in backing vocals (the chorus of the Buggles’ Video Killed The Radio Star).
Any other ideas? Add a comment and let us know!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post. #1 really grabs my attention. I tend to get a chord progression going and then write the melody as almost an afterthought. You’re right, though. It’s a great melody that you remember, not a great chord progression. Thanks!
insightful piece about melody writing- good explanation of something which most people regards as somewhat mysterious, but can be practiced or rehearsed.