Melody:

[Music60s70s]

As a beginner wanting to know about form and function of song structure, I'm standing at base camp, gazing upward at the mountain called "melody."  I play rhythm guitar, have been in bands and oddly, I think of lyrics but not music/melody.  From what I've read, and what 1 person here has told me, it appears that I should first think in terms of melody and lyrics later.

 

I also have a junker keyboard, 1-2 very good piano books, and between that and guitar I am "armed" with enough knowledge (along with reading I've done lately) and it's bound to lead to trouble I would guess.  I have thought about composing a song of music only, for my own benefit and experience, then seeing if I can write lyrics to it and apparently many here do that.  In the past, when helping a friend with lyrics, when he sent me music .mp3 files I wrote lots of lyrics and quickly - when hearing the music.

 

I also now would ask this: can you name a very good book or two, about melody concepts/writing?  (A mod. has suggested one title by J. Webb, in another area that I'd asked about).  I would like a book or books that aren't way above me.  With guitar, and drums, I just learned how to play over the years as did many, so my actual knowledge is limited but I'm "rich" with ignorance: playing music does not mean I know how to write music/words or do it well, but that won't stop me from trying to learn.

 

I'm doing this, because I like words and music, and to learn about how music comes about - i.e., how it's written.

 

Thanks, for book ideas and/or comments from your experience.

--Pat

Edited February 8, 2015 by Music60s70s

[Rudi]

I know of no book I can recommend, but I have a suggestion. 

The song format is something you should understand.

 

You dont literally have to understand how many bars are used, but for most of us its largely instinctive.

 

Why not pick a song you are very familiar with and write down whatever you need to understand it. By this I mean chords, lyrics etc.

 

When you can play it confidently, change the melody. If you cant because the original is too distracting, then change the chords. Change major chords for minor ones or whatever. The format then will be familiar and give you a starting point for a new melody,

If needed you can keep the same melodic format & meter.

 

It would be good to record the new melody/ when done then change the rhythm or phrasing of the melody.

 

The whole point is to play around with the mechanics of the song and emerge with something original.

[Music60s70s]

Thanks to you both, for replies, and for the "sound" advice.  :-)  I do appreciate that.

 

Cheers, --Pat