How To WRITE MELODY - Step By Step Complete Guide

Think of any great piece of music from any genre and it'll (most likely) have an excellent melody.
I have heard it often said that “writing music takes 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration”.
I’m unsure of the maths, but melodic writing certainly involves a mixture of those 2 elements.

Sometimes an excellent melody will just pop into your head as if it's been divinely inspired; on other occasions you'll need to work on 2 or 3 melodic ideas over an extended period of your time, mixing them up until you finally produce a melody that inspires.

THE MELODY WRITING TOOLKIT

It helps if you've got an awareness of what’s within the melodic toolbox.

So, here are a couple of ideas for a way to write down an honest melody.

How To WRITE MELODY - Step By Step Complete Guide 

CHOOSE A KEY

Choose a key to compose in.

The basic rule of thumb

• If you would like your piece to sound happy or uplifting then choose a serious scale.
• If you would like it to sound sad/reflective/melancholic then choose a minor mode.
• If you're just starting out I suggest you compose using C major and A minor.

Production music live how to write melodies download

There are 2 main ways of composing a melody through improvisation

writing a motif/riff and writing a melody over a chord progression.

 WRITE MELODY: MOTIF WRITING (OR MOTIVIC DEVELOPMENT)

This is a really popular way of writing and developing a melody.
You can compose a melody during this way by either improvising on an instrument/voice or by employing a musical composition software programme.

1. Play (or sing) the size of the key – try playing it rising then play it taking place .
2. Try picking out 3 or 4 notes of the size . misunderstanding the order you play them in.
3. Try repeating 1 or 2 of the notes and alter the rhythm of what you're playing until you discover a thought you're proud of (this initial concept you come up with is named a motif).
4. Record/write down your motif.
5. Repeat the above process until you've got 4 or 5 possible melodic ideas/motifs.

WRITING A MELODY OVER A CHORD PROGRESSION

The most contemporary popular music genre is written during this way.

1. compute the first chords of the key you're writing in (these are chords 1, 4 and 5 of the size and are written in Roman numerals – I IV V). for instance , if you're writing in C major the first chords are C F and G. If you're writing during a minor the first chords are A minor, D minor and E.

2. Choose a chord progression. A chord progression is just the order during which you select to vary chords. I suggest that you simply start by writing a chord progression over 4 or 8 bars. confirm you begin and endways chord I. aside from that, simply try experimenting to figure out which sounds “best” where.

3. Play your chord progression on the piano using your left . Once you'll play the chord progression you're able to improvise a melody over the highest .

4. Improvise a melody – Play the three notes of every chord one after another within the right (this is named a broken chord) at an equivalent time as you're playing the chord within the left . In other words, if you're playing a C major broken chord you'd play C – E – G. Try mixing up the order you play them in (you could play G then C the E). Maybe play 2 of 1 of the notes (G-G-C-E), etc.. Also, try varying the rhythm of the notes you're playing.

You will soon find that melodic ideas come and “work” with the chord progression you've got chosen.

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