Melodies consist of note progressions at certain intervals. They are the "cantabile" part of a piece of music, the one that emerges above the accompaniment parts and embellishments. Whatever kind of song you have in mind, you will need a melody. With a solid basic knowledge of music and a little practice and simple "tricks", you will find that writing a melody is easier than it sounds.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Building the Knowledge Base
Step 1. Learn music theory
If you want to become good at writing melodies, it is good to know at least the basics of how music works before you get serious about composing. Of course it isn't closely necessary, but the more basic theory you know the easier it will be to understand musical concepts when they are explained.
In this article we will make use of musical terminology as these are difficult concepts to explain without doing so. Some will be explained, but others are too difficult to exhaust in one sentence. If you don't know the meaning of terms like "movement", "beat" or "tempo", we recommend that you read about them first
Step 2. Choose a shape for your song
The shape of a song is something like "genre" applied to music. All music, in general, follows a pattern (or shape), which determines which parts will be similar to each other and when the changes will occur. You will probably be familiar with this concept from pop music and verse and chorus ideas. You don't necessarily have to follow the same pattern, but it can serve as a starting point for writing your own melody.
- The most common form for a song is AABA. This means there are two "verses", one "chorus" and another "verse". In other words, a section that sounds a certain way, the same section repeated, a different section, and then the same initial section again.
- There are several forms actually, so you may want to research which one may work best for you. You could consider, for example, AAAA, ABCD, AABACA, etc. Or, of course, you can always decide to break any pattern!
Step 3. Study the musical genres
Some genres of music have a style to adhere to, and if you want to achieve the same kind of "sound" you will have to adopt the shape for your melody. Read up on the genre of music you are interested in before you start writing, in order to understand if there are particular structures, tonalities or progressions typical of that genre.
For example, the chord progressions for blues and jazz follow particular forms. Jazz makes extensive use of a particular type of chord, which is a good idea to read up on before writing a song related to this musical genre
Step 4. Think about the performer
Whoever is performing your song will need a break at some point. The fingers will need to stop for a moment and the singers will have to catch their breath. It is good to understand how to insert rests into a song, and add them here and there. Try to insert them at even distances between them and enough to make your song playable!
Step 5. Analyze your favorite songs
A good start for developing your compositional skills is to analyze your favorite songs. Collect some songs with beautiful melodies and listen to them carefully. Usually when we listen to music we get lost in listening, but in this case try to focus to draw a "road map" to use for your song.
Take notes on how notes change. How is the structure built? What emotions does the tone used generate? How do melody and text link together? What do you like so much about the melody? What doesn't work, or could be improved? Anything you learn this way can help you when it comes to writing your own melodies
Part 2 of 3: Creating a Base
Step 1. Try not to start with the text
If you find it more natural to write lyrics, you may tend to want to start with the latter, but it is not recommended as it is more difficult, particularly if your musical knowledge is limited. If you start with the words, you will then have to adapt the melody to their natural rhythm and doing so can be difficult, especially for a beginner. In any case, this is a general advice: if you want, you can also start from the text.
Step 2. Try playing improvising
It may sound silly, but many famous melodies are born from playing random notes on a piano. If you have a tool to do this on, go for it. Improvise by building patterns or even just playing random intervals until you reach something to your taste.
If you don't have a tool, you can use your voice or an online tool. On many websites you can find piano keyboards that you can use for free, or you can use an app for your phone or tablet
Step 3. Transform a simple idea
You can start with a very simple idea, even just a series of three or four notes, and then develop this "core" into an entire melody. For example, you can start with a small group of notes identified as explained in the previous step. Try to think about how to use it as a starting point for developing a melody.
People with a natural musical inclination often have ideas for "melodic nuclei" of this type, just as painters have ideas for their paintings. If this is you, always have a digital recorder or notepad handy (if you know how to write music)
Step 4. Start with the agreements
If you are used to playing chords, you can write a melody by improvising chords. It is a common practice for those who play the piano or guitar, both instruments on which it is common to play chords. Improvise and play randomly as described in the previous step, but starting with the chords, until you find a progression you like.
- If you don't have an instrument to play chords on, or if you don't know many, you can always use websites that allow you to select and play chord sets.
- Try humming over the chords and "playing" a bit trying to add complexity to the initial melodic core. Since you can only sing one note at a time, you will find that you have a melody sooner than you think. Don't think about the lyrics at this stage: professional musicians almost always write the melody first, using random sounds instead of words.
Step 5. Borrow an idea from an existing melody
Stealing someone else's song may seem like a bad idea, but basically starting with a fragment of another song's melody to write something completely different is a bit like transplanting a seedling to grow a flower bed in your garden. If you only borrow a succession of three or four notes to vary in an original way, it will always be something of your own. But remember that your purpose is to turn it into something different.
A good exercise is to borrow ideas from another genre of music. Do you want to write a folk song, for example? Try borrowing ideas from rap. Do you want to write a country song? Borrow ideas from classical music
Step 6. Build a reason
A "motif" is a group of notes that form a musical idea. Many songs use a motif repeated several times, with small variations, to form a melody. If you're having a hard time coming up with a melody, this is a great alternative as you only need a few notes as a starting point.
A great example is the Allegro con Brio of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, in which a very simple and basic motif is repeated over and over again creating one of the most iconic pieces in the history of music
Part 3 of 3: Embellishing the Melody
Step 1. Create a bass line
Once the melody is created, it's time to write a bass part to accompany it. Of course, it is not necessary to have a bass in the instrument group (for example if you were writing a piece for a trumpet quartet …), but a bass line is something more than a part for a specific instrument such as a bass.. The bass line is the accompaniment part that forms the "backbone" of the piece, and can be played by any instrument that has a lower range.
A bass line can be simple or complex, fast or slow. In some genres of music, the bass line follows particular patterns, such as in "jump blues", where a quarter note scale almost always plays. The important thing is that the bass line fits the melody you wrote, supporting it
Step 2. Add the chords if you haven't done so yet
If you haven't started with the chords, it's good to add them now. The chords will give fullness and complexity to your melody, although you can always decide not to add them (or to use very simple ones) if you want to achieve a bare and melancholy sound.
- Start by establishing in what key the melody was written. Some chords sound better in one key than in another. If the song is in C, for example, it will be natural to start with a C chord.
- The song itself will determine when to change the chord, but try to position the changes in correspondence with the important parts or passage points of the melody. Typically, chord changes occur on downbeat beats, at the beginning (or near the beginning) of a bar. You can also use passage chords that "lead" to another chord. In a 4/4 song, for example, you might have a chord on the downbeat and another on the fourth beat of the bar, leading to the chord change at the start of the next bar.
Step 3. Experiment with the other sections of the song
A melody can be enough to fill a large part of the song, but many songs also have sections that break with the melody itself, or introduce a second one. It can be a refrain, a so-called "bridge", or even something else still. Variations like this add excitement or make the song more dramatic, so consider them if you are looking for such an effect.
Step 4. Try to have others listen to your composition
Play it to others and ask for their opinion. You don't necessarily have to share all their ideas, but others may always see (or rather hear) details that escape you. If there are many who give you the same opinion, it means that it could be the case to change something in the melody or in the accompaniment parts.
Advice
- Learn about intervals and the concepts of "phrase" and "theme" in music.
- Listen to the melodies of other composers. Pick a song that you particularly like and try to figure out what makes it special.
