How do you write melodies?

u0421793

This is a really good topic, with some very useful and diverse contributions, which just goes to show.

For me, lyrics are the primary thing, and the melody / leadline is the song, and everything else is decoration. I don’t really have much cognisance of chords (I presume some fit the melody, others don’t, and those that don’t actually can in fact be seen to do, if one were to argue the case well enough). Any chord is as good as another for most cases. When I was young, basslines are what I used to start a song with, then another bassline. Almost all of my early years songs have twin basslines, usually counterpointing or something. Drums are not even in the picture for me, I’ll happily call a song finished, then remember there’s no drums, and feel I have to slap something in there from a drum machine. If someone else did the drums I’d be perfectly happy.

The lyric is the thing that will form the shape of the melody from a rhythmic point of view. I’m using rhythm in the sense of asymmetry and pattern, here, rather than repetition. What I never used to be aware of but try harder to bring in these days is the idea of a motif, or set of motifs which use the asymmetry of the rhythm to iterate or repeat or invert or mutate, etc. It’s a bit like the thing that fugue machine lets happen, but not polyphonically, but rather, sequentially. Take a small motif, maybe repeat it, maybe put a gap in of a certain related length before repeating it, maybe repeat a part of it, maybe repeat the other part, maybe invert the direction of part, maybe invert the frequency readout ordering, maybe put the beginning of the motif after the end once in a while, etc. It used to be that I’d think of a melody as some big long flowery flourish that had complex artistic form and decorative pomp and tedium, but really, some of the best melodies are actually componentised sliced recombined salads of quite simple clumps of bits.

But yeh, saying out loud the lyrics will then afford a rhythmic approach to motif playtime, and there appears my hooky melody.

JohnnyGoodyear

@u0421793 said:
This is a really good topic, with some very useful and diverse contributions, which just goes to show.

For me, lyrics are the primary thing, and the melody / leadline is the song, and everything else is decoration. I don’t really have much cognisance of chords (I presume some fit the melody, others don’t, and those that don’t actually can in fact be seen to do, if one were to argue the case well enough). Any chord is as good as another for most cases. When I was young, basslines are what I used to start a song with, then another bassline. Almost all of my early years songs have twin basslines, usually counterpointing or something. Drums are not even in the picture for me, I’ll happily call a song finished, then remember there’s no drums, and feel I have to slap something in there from a drum machine. If someone else did the drums I’d be perfectly happy.

The lyric is the thing that will form the shape of the melody from a rhythmic point of view. I’m using rhythm in the sense of asymmetry and pattern, here, rather than repetition. What I never used to be aware of but try harder to bring in these days is the idea of a motif, or set of motifs which use the asymmetry of the rhythm to iterate or repeat or invert or mutate, etc. It’s a bit like the thing that fugue machine lets happen, but not polyphonically, but rather, sequentially. Take a small motif, maybe repeat it, maybe put a gap in of a certain related length before repeating it, maybe repeat a part of it, maybe repeat the other part, maybe invert the direction of part, maybe invert the frequency readout ordering, maybe put the beginning of the motif after the end once in a while, etc. It used to be that I’d think of a melody as some big long flowery flourish that had complex artistic form and decorative pomp and tedium, but really, some of the best melodies are actually componentised sliced recombined salads of quite simple clumps of bits.

But yeh, saying out loud the lyrics will then afford a rhythmic approach to motif playtime, and there appears my hooky melody.

You say it very differently to the way I would (salads and all , but this is more in line with how it ends up working in my fuddled self....

SpookyZoo

@Richardyot @Moderndayompiler

I remembered reading an interesting article about the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" very nearly not making the film as the producers hated it.

In my search just now for that article I came across this video. It's kind of a 'twee' interpretation but also an interesting dissection of the song at the same time.

Video is 6 mins. I'll post it below while I search for the article.

@JohnnyGoodyear interesting thread. For me, melody is the very first step, usually created by noodling, very rarely created in my head, everything else comes after. I'm such a sucker for melody. Some of my favourite songs are guilty pleasures.... Take on Me by Aha, Complicated by Avril Lavigne (written by producers Matrix), If She Knew What She Wants
(Bangles version). I've strangely never been asked to DJ an event!

Lady_App_titude

Basically I hear them in my head, and the struggle is to try to figure out the notes before something else gets in the way and the tune gets erased. But rarely do I hear the melody first. Usually I have the chord changes first and then the melody suggests itself out of that. Or I start improvising with an instrument and a melody comes from that. I have learned many different instruments over the years, and one of the advantages of that is that each provides a different approach to writing melodies. The melodies you might write on guitar, piano, or a woodwind instrument can be very different. And sometimes if I'm stuck, I'll switch to a different instrument to open up new possibilities or directions.

However, I think the best, most tuneful, melodies develop when you come up with the melody first and then construct the chord changes around the melody. A good singing melody should not be constrained by key or chord considerations.

dokwok2

@Lady_App_titude said:
However, I think the best, most tuneful, melodies develop when you come up with the melody first and then construct the chord changes around the melody. A good singing melody should not be constrained by key or chord considerations.

Chords can be a source of melody, as well as a constraint. This has been my experience with the guitar.

I agree with the earlier comment that time is as much a part of melody as rhythm. I've been using Rock Drum Machine when I play guitar, and have found much inspiration in the combination of the two. I'm just playing chords on the guitar, but at a certain point I start hearing the melody in the chords.

supadom

It happened to me to wake up in the middle of the night, sneak out of bed quietly and go to the greenhouse at the bottom of my garden to record the melody I happened to have in my head in that moment.

Edit: I have to agree with some others who suggested that it in fact is just like with writing lyrics. They just come, and at times the more one tries to get them out the less they're likely to appear. I find best melodies when my logical brain is disconnected I.e. Early in the morning when I'm home alone, which doesn't happen all that often these days.

Carnbot

Interesting thread. When I think about it I usually always start with a medodic hook or melody after playing around and then build from there. But there's never an exact process I go through each time. I prefer this otherwise I'd get bored. But I don't usually think about a melody before I start making one, they come from working through a process of playing and making. It can be a bit like sculpture, chipping away and refining, adding stuff and taking stuff away.

setAI

minimal structures - repeated- Glassism

RUncELL

Thanks for posting that video @Flo26. Steve Vai is an amazing guitarist, and great to hear him talk about creativity.. I agree with him on all points. Enthusiasm

[Deleted User]

I hear Steve Vai likes a spanking! Lol

rkmonkey

I hear melodies in my head and sometimes in dreams but have a terrible time getting them out and recorded. Doesn't come easy. Strangely, my brother writes hooks and melodies with ease.

I almost posted the video of Steve Vai battling the karate kid from that old dumb movie.

JohnnyGoodyear

I saw this and thought of melodies and making music in general. Probably good for kids to see/understand as well.

It's a brilliant way to show the fact that even 'great' or 'famous' artists, in whatever field, develop their work from the smallest scraps, rather than it appearing all at once and of whole cloth etc.

http://nobrashfestivity.tumblr.com/post/130105237498/edward-hopper-sketches-and-preliminaries-for