Remember your melody is critically important to your song’s success. They should be memorable, easy to sing and should not sound as if notes are missing-or extra notes have been crammed in-to accommodate lyrics. It can help to assess your melodies by singing them a capella, to be certain they stand up on their own. Chord progressions, drum patterns, guitar licks and bass lines need to be paired with fresh, original, can’t-get-them-out-of-your-head melodies and rhythms for the singer to sing. The foundation is crucial-but not more important than the house. Giving more attention to these components than to the melody that sits atop them is analogous to a builder spending the majority of his or her time and energy on a house’s foundation, then haphazardly slapping together the actual home. While these are all important components of successful songs, they aren’t enough. No one walks down the street humming chord changes, guitar licks, drumbeats, grooves or bass lines. There may be nothing “wrong” with these melodies, but “nothing wrong” is a far cry from melodies that are unforgettable, fresh and original. So, you might ask, “What wrong with that?” In my workshops, I, too, often critique songs with melodies that sound as if they were created as the result of writers strumming predictable chord progressions on a guitar-then imposing melody that works perfectly fine with those chords. The problem arises when the vocal melody sounds as if it has been imposed on those chords as an afterthought. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to write a great melody, and countless successful songs have begun with a chord progression. In country, Americana, roots and folk music, although a full musical track is not typically created prior to a vocal melody, chord progressions played on an acoustic guitar often precede the melody. While this approach to writing is not typical in country music, there are more instances of songs being created for the Nashville market by using this method. A vocal melody is then crafted to work with the chord changes, beats and grooves that have been established. In these instances, a musical “bed” consisting of the keyboards, bass, drums and guitars is composed and produced prior to the melody that the vocalist will sing. Many of the songs by current pop and urban music hit-makers are crafted by creating a music track first. Crafting Melodies That Sound as if They’ve Been Imposed Upon Predictable Chord Changes While it might be evident that a line of lyric is cliché and needs to incorporate a fresher, more original approach, it might be more challenging to diagnose the reasons why a melody fails to jump out of the proverbial pile or remain seared in the brain.įollowing are some of the melody pitfalls I most often encounter-and their remedies.ġ. It’s often easier to identify weaknesses in lyrics than in melodies. But they sometimes forget that we’re not writing poems, but songs-and if we hope to create songs that resonate with listeners, our lyrics need to be delivered on the wings of outstanding, memorable melodies. Many of the writers whose songs I listen to at my workshops work long and hard on their lyrics, striving to find unique, fresh ways to tell their stories and express their concepts.
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