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Hello vocalists,

There is a topic that has been bugging me for the past years, but in particular the past months... creating melodies.

I am very interested in how you all come up with melodies. Do you just hear them subvocally? Or do you play around on your guitar or keyboard and then magically find one? Do you have an approach to analyse if these melodies sound good? What do you change when you feel like something's missing?

Thanks!

SoD

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I usually start singing with guitar, I have some kind of riff going and then try singing with it. I don't have much problem with melody that way, something comes up and I change it up until I like the outcome. Kinda similar approach as finding riff on the guitar. Sometimes I write lyrics as I sing with the music, otherwise I write lyrics first and then I either have an idea of how I want to sing it or more often I just use the lyrics I have with some music that I've written.

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90% of the time I normally don't write anything down unless I do have a melody in my head. I basically have 3 methods I use.

The first one starts when one line pops in my head complete with melody. If I like it, I actually build the song around that. Sometimes it ends up being in a verse and write others to match, other times it becomes the chorus.

The next method is to find a cool melody starting with the guitar and see what kind of lyric pops out when I'm playing based on the overall feel of the music.

I've also blindly written lyrics and then put the music to it afterwards. Due to my inabilities, that method is always harder for me. I've had so-so results as there are always parts that feel a little forced. When I do this I can always count on my lyrics changing to fit the music better.

The only way I can tell if the melodies are any good or not is by posting the songs on forums and see what people think. As far as what I would change if something is missing... that is kind of an open ended question. I could change 90% of the song based on what I come up with for what is missing. I have a few songs that seem to have something missing and they're put on the shelf until something comes along.

Edited by just1l
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Layne has pretty much summerized the majority of my and many other musician songwriters including yours truly (in the past)

I'm not a lyricist so melody has a special meaning to me. I have to put my all into how the melody sounds with out the lyrics and the most important part is.... Keeping it musical and repeatable as opposed to simply putting in a series of random licks over a chord progression. There are several ways to actually do chord/melody. (finding the right notes that work well with the progression but also don't become..To sing song

Rudi and I cover a lot of ground here -

There are somethings I've still excluded which is when the melody doesn't need to be in lockstep with the progression as much.

{Which is pretty much more blues/rock/folk (and sometimes country) and less "Jazz" which usually is more chord/melody

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i don't play any instruments but when something pops yes pops into my head i try it out in my head ,if i can i write the words down all the time hearing the music , because i hear it as i write i think it sounds ok but when i started posting , wrong! so many other things to think of,scotsman

Edited by scotsman89
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A majority of songs are chord dependant. Its a characteristic of modern (1950s-60s onward) songs.

By this I mean that you dont get the gist of how the song should sound without the accompaniment.

Therefore its reasonable to assume that those songs were created with accompaniment (chords, basslines etc).

Older songs were created with strong melodies that could be sung unaccompanied. This was deliberate.

Remove the accompaniment from modern songs and they are generally the weaker for it. Since this almost never happens, its not significant.

The singer in Blown Out (my band) has created songs without accompaniment. They are generally modal and contain blue notes (like a soul song). The time is regular 4/4 or devisible thereof. I have added chords to a couple of them. They have wonderful potential for all kinds of harmonic structure.

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That is exactly my treatment with instrumentals. However even within that frame work and the other stuff I've already written there is still a place for motives (motif's) and devices like pedal point, backstepping which move a little beyond simple modulations.

Do you get the buzz that I do?

When you generate surprises?

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Sorry to take so long in replying.

I pretty much know myself on guitar and yes occasionally still surprise myself. A lot of that has to do with ones emotional state (at least for me) When I'm confident and things are turning my was things simply seem to flow.

I've been under the influence of the great transistion in my playing style. I'm trying to greatly expand my technique on the ztar because it offers so much in regards to music in general, composition and arrangement. But there is the caveat of technique. Most of what I'm doing is "Exploring possibilities" of new techniques. and it's daunting to say the least. Going where no one has gone before means you don't have a roadmap before you. Sure there are some "best practices" or concepts borrowed from piano and guitar but... It's not a piano nor a guitar and me not having developed independent and interdependent techniques on the piano am having a hard time getting things to go smoothly. Another difficulty I'm having is simply concentration on a single new method. I've got several and I try to juggle with each for a little bit. Never quite mastering one before going to the next. As a result each time I pick up the instrument I find myself going four steps back as opposed to one or two to move one step foreward.

In short it's a labor of love.

I'm hoping in time all the things I'm scheming of will come to fruition. But in the meantime it's mostly been woodshedding to get there.

Mike

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step one: play random stuff on guitar

step two: squak over it

step three: add words to squaking

step four: SONG

I have the best 4 step process

Ditto. I've been playing guitar for so long that I can usually come up with some interesting music. The feel of that music then leads me to a melody. The melody invokes a certain type of lyric....love, broken heart, storytelling, etc. Hopefully, in the end a song results. But the final melody is the last thing that comes about, after I've sung the original melody about 100 times.(usually by that time I'm pretty sick of it)
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hi,

step one: starting with 1 chord or better with !one tone

step two: Hum a start of a melody depending on my mood.

step three: add another chord or tone when i feel i have to "move" the melody.

step three: I avoid intentionally a certain note or a chord when it sounds too well known or too expected. Most of the time i do best in looking for an emotional connection between the melody and me. 'cos then i dont mind if its well known or not.

step five: if i found it i hold on to that melody and start changing the key/mood of it.

step six: What comes out is a total different melody than it was at the start.

These are the steps before i write a song! If the melody was good - it stucks in my head. A few days later or even on the same day i start with the steps what layneGreene mentioned...

Andre

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I don't think you can write in steps... Writing is unpredictable. You never know what you will wrie or how it'll turn out. Songs just pop into my head. I take my cell phone and do a voice memo. Then see if it's worth working on. There are no steps. It's harder to write they lyrics first and then the melody. I do them at the same time,but that's just me.

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I do all the time. When I go down the random path I never come back and nothing gets done.

My Steps are:

Step One: Figure out how I want to say it. Bluey, rockish, folky, trad, fusion. Which leads to..

Step Two: Decide on a song forum. It makes your life easier knowing how much space you have to do what you are going to do.

Step Three: Write the progression(s). Pen and Paper, Band in a box...doesn't matter.

Step Four: Lay down a basic rhythm track that isn't too busy. If you put to much into the first track then there isn't enough room for the other parts.

Step Five: Work out the melody. If you are a singer songwriter most of the time you can combine steps four and five. Whether you are playing instrumental music or vocal music having a clearly defined melody helps to guide all parts that follow. Including the solo, the bass and other instruments. Yes there is sill plenty of room for variation.

Step Six: Work out your other parts so they support the melody/harmony.

When you have a plan you can focus more on what needs to be done next as opposed to what do I want to do now.

Edited by TapperMike
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Lately I write out lyrical ideas in notebooks. There is no song idea or intentional rhythm or rhyming. I do this on holiday, when my partner is watching TV, or in hospital waiting rooms etc.

I now tend to begin tunes with melodic ideas.

Today the main idea was two notes with minimal interval (F# and E). Then I placed chords against the alternating notes and finalised an order of 4 chords.

Next I will add more melody and cycle the chords into a time signiture.

Only when this is done will I reach for the lyric notebook to see what suits the music. Then comes the bit I am weakest at; shoehorning the words into the melody. This takes longest of all, and the longer it takes, the less sucessful it is. So I try to work quickly.

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