The media often portrays great songwriters as simply having inspiration strike them, then magically writing inspiring songs on their first try. In reality, a lot of revision is done between the song’s first draft and the version that the listener hears. Here, we’ll discuss how revising your songs is a necessary habit for great songwriters.
A famous quote often repeated by many artists which was originally said by RC Bannon, is “Great songs aren’t written, they’re rewritten.”
Amazing songwriters understand that the majority of songwriting doesn’t happen from flashes of inspiration. They don’t assume that the way the song came out first is the best way. In fact, they realise that the best version of the song can only be reached through various changes and iterations.
Revising your songs gives you the chance to take them through a process of development and refinement to get them to the finish point.
If you’d like to discover more ways you could improve your songwriting, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Who Revise Their Songs
Neil Finn:
This genius behind Crowded House champions this concept and talks about revising his own work. He says “I’ll try as many times as they can possibly be improved on. Occasionally, that does mean that things get over-polished or overworked, but I actually think that most of the time when I’ve gone the extra mile to refashion something or re-edit or change words, it’s almost always ended up better.”
Paul McCartney:
A great example of how revisions can make or break a song is Yesterday by Paul McCartney. Contrary to popular belief, the song did not come to him in a dream. The song actually came out with a jumble of lyrics such as “Scrambled eggs, oh my darling, how I love your legs”.
Only after spending a year on revising the song did he manage to create the version that we know and love today.
Conclusion: Songwriter Habit #2 – Revise Your Songs
In conclusion, great songs don’t just appear on the page magically. We don’t wake up one day, have inspiration strike us and write the next great hit of the century. Instead, disciplined songwriters take the time to revise their songs. This way, they manage to turn them into the best songs they can possibly be.
Step #4 of Writing Great Lyrics – Create Rhythmic Interest
Although the notes that you choose for your melody are important, that’s not the only thing that matters. We also need to think about the rhythmic variation of our melodic phrases. In this blog post, we’ll discuss creating rhythmic interest in our melodies.
Beginner songwriters habitually start all their melodic phrases on beat one. However, this isn’t necessarily the best thing to do, as it can make your melody feel cluttered. It’s easier to understand this by comparing rhythm in melodic phrases to body language.
Starting on beat one can be thought of as very forward-leaning body movement. It’s quite assertive in nature. When you alternate between starting on and off beat one, you create this dance in body movement similar to a body swaying back and forth. This is when a melody really starts to breathe and dance.
By creating rhythmic interest, we also are able to make more use out of the 4 notes we’ve chosen for our melody. Check out the article here for a refresher on creating a 4 note melody. Through varying your melody rhythmically, you can use your 4 note melody in different sections of your song, without sounding repetitive or boring.
What’s important to observe here is that longer melodic phrases are often built out of smaller melodic motifs that are varied in different ways.
To help you build your melody quickly, click here to download a free PDF eBook containing all the diatonic chords written out in 6 different keys titled “Diatonic Chords in 6 Different Keys”:
An Example of Variation in Practice
The song “When the Party’s Over” by artist Billie Eilish is a great example of the usage of variation. It doesn’t demonstrate rhythmic variation but it does show melodic variation.
In the verse of the song, the same melodic fragment is used four times. However, each time the fragment is repeated, it’s moved up the scale. This creates a beautiful sense of rising tension, which then resolves itself in the chorus.
Conclusion: Step #4 of Writing Great Lyrics – Create Rhythmic Interest
Crafting melodies that dance and breathe requires a deep understanding of rhythm and phrasing. By experimenting with the placement of our melodic phrases, we can create songs that genuinely come alive.
We’ve all been there before: You get a sudden idea for a song, and you tell yourself that it’s alright, you’ll remember it later. But let’s be honest, most of the time, we won’t be able to accurately recall what it is later. In this article, we’ll teach you how you can collect everything and ensure that you’ll never lose an idea again.
Collecting everything doesn’t so much mean that we have to record everything we see or hear. It means ensuring that we have a system in place that easily allows us to record any songwriting ideas that come to mind. Whether that’s through carrying a notepad around, recording voice notes or typing in your phone, you need to ensure that you can keep track of your inspiration somehow.
If you’d like to discover more ways you could improve your songwriting, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Collecting Everything
Bela Fleck:
Grammy award-winning banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck has spoken about how he used to have to tour around the world at a time where handphones didn’t exist. When he got an idea for a song, he would call his house and leave a voicemail, singing whatever idea he had in his head. Then, when he got back from tour, he’d listen to all the voicemails and jot down the ones that he liked.
This story sums up really well the sense of desperation to capture an idea that a great songwriter should have.
Taylor Swift:
When you watch documentaries of Taylor Swift, you’ll notice that she always has her phone with her. In Thiago Forte’s book “Second Brain”, he talks about how she makes a habit of capturing every single idea that she has as it’s happening.
Then, she uses that as an archive that she can return to during the songwriting process. This is reminiscent of the cliché where songwriters are seen to have stacks of journals, lists of voice recordings and voice memos in their phones. The point here is that you should collect your ideas however you can, using a variety of different formats.
Max Martin:
Sometimes, ideas strike you at the most inconvenient moments. However, that doesn’t mean that you should just give up on recording them. Max Martin talks about this in the making of the popular Britney Spears song, “Hit Me Baby One More Time”.
The idea for the song came to him at 1 AM, when he was already fast asleep. Instead of telling himself that he’ll do it when he wakes up, he forced himself to roll over and mumble the melodic idea into his phone. After that, he had another idea and couldn’t quite go back to sleep. So, he rolled over and recorded another voice note into his phone.
This whole situation sounds inconvenient to us, but it shows just how determined songwriters have to be when collecting ideas.
Relating this Back to Stepping Away
All of this relates back to when we talked about stepping away as being part of the songwriting process. If you haven’t read that article, you can check it out here.
It’s important to understand that stepping away is part of the songwriting process. You’re not taking a break from songwriting, you’re just moving into a different mode of the creative process. So, even when you’re out taking a walk, having a long drive or jogging, be sure that you bring with you some method to collect ideas.
We shouldremember that inspiration could strike us at any time. In order to capture that inspiration, it’s imperative that we prepare methods to record ideas no matter where we are. In this way, we can be sure that we won’t lose any of our songwriting ideas and will always have a creative archive to draw from.
Step #3 of Writing Great Melodies – Use Steps and Leaps
A common trap that most songwriters fall into, is not making enough variations to keep a listener’s interest. In this blog post, we’ll explore the importance of combining steps and leaps to make melodies more interesting and emotionally resonant.
A step melody is defined as a melody where all of the notes are next to each other in the scale. For example, let’s say that we’re in the key of G Major, and we use a melody with the notes G A B next to each other. This melody is a step melody because all of the notes aren’t more than a 2nd away from each other.
On the other hand, a leap is defined as when you skip over at least one note to reach another note in the scale. As an example, a melody composed of G B D in the key of G Major is one that’s made out of leaps. This is because all of the notes are more than a 3rd away from each other in the scale.
To help you build your melody quickly, click here to download a free PDF eBook containing all the diatonic chords written out in 6 different keys titled “Diatonic Chords in 6 Different Keys”:
Why and How to Combine Steps and Leaps in a Melody?
If we use only steps, then our melody will sound boring and uninteresting, despite being easy to sing. However, if we use only leaps then our melody will sound chaotic and incoherent. Finding a really good balance between steps and leaps is the key to creating great melodies.
One method that we can use is to determine what moment of our song that we’d like to stand out. Leaps are great at shining spotlights on moments in songs. The larger the leap, the more excitement and energy it invokes in your listener. In addition, the placement of your leaps is also an important factor to consider. For instance, placing a large leap at the beginning of a song provides a lot of drama and emotion – almost as if announcing the start of a story.
An Example of Combining Steps and Leaps
The classic tune “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is an amazing example of using steps and leaps to great effect.
At the beginning of the song, there’s a full octave leap on the notes of the word “Somewhere”. Since this is an A A B A song, there isn’t a chorus. So, the large leap on the hook of the song allows it to stand out even further, and be more memorable to our listener.
Through this example, we can see that one of the biggest reasons to use leaps is that it helps create memories for our listeners. Leaps allow listeners to latch on to a song, and it helps provide them excitement.
Conclusion: Step #3 of Writing Great Melodies – Use Steps and Leaps
By combining steps and leaps effectively, you can craft melodies that are not only musically pleasing but also emotionally resonant. Finding the right balance between the two is the key to writing melodies that capture the attention of your audience.
Turn your inspiration into beautiful songs with step-by-step guidance through two professional songwriting methods. By the end of this course, not only will your tool belt be stocked; you’ll have a plan and a method for finishing your songs – all of them:
Songwriters are often solitary creatures. Most of us like to work away at our projects, treating them as our babies and ensuring that they never reach another person’s ears till they’re complete. However, one of the most crucial habits that distinguishes highly effective songwriters from the rest is their willingness to seek and embrace feedback. In this blog post, we discuss what getting feedback means, why it matters and more.
It’s necessary to understand that getting feedback doesn’t mean sharing your song the week before it releases on Spotify. While that is important, that’s asking for support and not getting feedback.
Getting feedback means asking for a third party’s opinion during the process of creating your song. This gives you the chance to take their opinions onboard, and consider how you might better improve your song.
If you’d like to discover more ways you could improve your songwriting, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Who Find Getting Feedback Important
John Legend:
During a Hollywood Reporter Roundtable discussion, John Legend talked about how he shared a collection of songs that included his hit single “All of Me”, with a group of trusted friends and collaborators. What’s important to note here, is that at the point in time of sharing his songs, he didn’t know that he would release “All of Me” as his single.
However, when he got feedback from the people he shared them with, all of them unanimously agreed that “All of Me” was the song. In this instance, John used feedback to help him narrow down which of his songs he should focus on and develop further. He understood that a third party would be able to make a more impartial decision, since he as the songwriter was too close to the matter.
Dua Lipa:
Sometimes, feedback can be given in the form of collaboration or co-writing. On a Song Explorer episode, Dua Lipa discusses the writing of her song “Levitating”. She talks about how the song was constructed working with some of her long-time collaborators in the studio bouncing ideas off each other.
This situation can be described as her receiving real-time feedback. She’s essentially taking their suggestions onboard, making changes and throwing it back to them again. Through this, we can see that collaboration, co-writing and feedback sometimes all blur the lines between each other.
Sting:
In interviews, he talks about how he often starts a song by himself. Then, he takes the song draft to his band, and if they can’t make it work within 30 minutes, he scraps the idea.
You can see from this that Sting uses feedback not only as a way to develop a song, but also as a process of elimination. In this manner, he’s able to ensure that he doesn’t waste time on developing songs which might not work out. He uses feedback as a tool to help him decide.
When to Ask for Feedback
There are multiple stages throughout a song’s life where you can ask for feedback. The initial draft phase of a song is one of the best times that you can get feedback. Since the song is in its early stages, everything is still very easily changed and there are so many different directions that it could go in. By asking for feedback, you’ll be able to easily influence your song in the early stages of its life.
However, for some people, it’s too difficult for them to share a song in its first stage. This is understandable as the first stage is when things are still very raw, which would make many songwriters embarrassed of sharing. If this is the case, you could polish your song a bit more first, before using the second or third version to seek feedback from other musicians, producers or songwriters who don’t necessarily write in the same genre or style as you.
Who to Ask for Feedback
A lot of musicians aren’t sure who to ask for feedback. This is mostly due to the fact that songwriters are often solitary, and have trouble forming the right relationships to help with this process. One way to go about it, is to seek out a community of songwriters or join some songwriting groups.
An amazing example of this is our Patreon channel which we specifically set up to invite other songwriters in and give them a safe space to be able to share their songs at different phases of the writing process. We also host songwriting groups that run 4 times a year that anyone in the world can join. – click here to check that out.
Another thing that’s really important, is to identify and follow the kinds of songwriters whose music and songwriting you love. Find out who the producers on that record are, then take a chance and reach out to them, asking if it’s alright for you to get some feedback.
You should also be sure to actually go watch live music shows. These environments are great to physically meet people in, foster relationships with people and ask for the kind of feedback that you’d require as a songwriter. This might result in you having to pay people for their help. However at some point, it’s really important to hire people who have the skills and knowledge to help you take your own craft to the next level.
As songwriters, we need to be open-minded enough to understand that feedback is meant to be a tool to help us grow. To that end, we should actively seek out feedback to further develop our craft and ensure that we can make our songs the best versions of themselves that they can be.
Step #2 of Writing Great Melodies – Create a 4 Note Melody
Songwriters commonly assume that using as many notes as possible in your melody is a great thing to do. However, the truth is that when you first start composing a melody, it’s best to limit yourself to using 4 notes from the scale. In this blog post, we’ll discuss creating a 4 note melody as part of the melody writing process.
There are 3 main reasons to limit yourself to 4 notes. They are as follows:
Encouraging creativity: By imposing limitations, you encourage yourself to work within those limitations. Thus, you also encourage yourself to be more creative with limited materials.
Avoid sounding like an exercise: When you use all 7 notes of the scale, it often tends to sound like you’re just running a scale. This makes melodies boring and sound like exercises.
Reserve material for other parts of the song: It’s important to leave some of the notes for you to use in other parts of the songs. Having somewhere to go is what gives melodies a sense of purpose and a journey to follow.
How to Use 4 Notes to Create a Melody
Before trying to create a melody with 4 notes, be sure that you’ve picked your scale, key and chord progression.
If you need some help, click here to download a free PDF eBook containing all the diatonic chords written out in 6 different keys titled “Diatonic Chords in 6 Different Keys”:
A really important thing to establish at this point is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. In further steps, we’ll be refining and creating different iterations of this melody to work with. Start by singing the 4 notes you’ve chosen over the chord progression you’ve chosen. Experiment with different combinations of the notes and remember to try and keep it simple, as simplicity at this point is key.
Conclusion: Step #2 of Writing Great Melodies – Create a 4 Note Melody
By limiting yourself to four notes initially, you create a foundation upon which you can build an engaging melody. Through experimentation, you’ll be able to compose great melodies that work well over your chord progression.
Songwriting isn’t just about writing songs. It’s about how we find inspiration and ensure that we can write not only consistently, but also regardless of whether inspiration jumps out at us or not. Here, we’ll discuss a part of that process: Stepping away.
It’s important to note that the creative process is not just all about being hunched over your desk or laptop and pounding away at a line that you can’t solve. While this is important, it‘s only half of the process of songwriting.
When we step away, we allow ourselves to enter a different headspace. By taking a break, we can achieve breakthroughs and gain new perspectives that we may have never thought of before
If you’d like to discover more ways to enhance your creative process, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Who Find Stepping Away Important
Sting:
In an interview on the Sodajerker podcast, he says “There’s something about the binary rhythm of walking around – left, right, left, right – that opens up the creative channel. If I get stuck with a problem, I’ll go out and walk it off.”
Paul Simon:
Songwriter Paul Simon is also a fan of stepping away when he’s stuck. He has said “I think it’s very calming, it’s like a Zen exercise really. The act of throwing a ball and catching a ball is so natural and calming that your mind kind of wanders. And that’s really what you want to happen. You want your mind to wander, to pick up words and phrases and fool around with them and drop them.”
Tom Waits:
This prolific songwriter has also talked about how he will deliberately go for long drives as part of the creative process. He feels that by putting his brain in a completely different state of mind, it helps to create new connections between ideas that he wouldn’t have come up with sitting at a desk.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Even classical musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been quoting saying “When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone and of good cheer – say, traveling in a carriage or walking after a good meal or during during the night when I cannot sleep – it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly.”
Conclusion: Songwriter Habit #5 – Stepping Away
Stepping away is a habitthat is just as important for songwriters to practice, as it is for them to practice writing songs. By stepping away, you allow yourself to create connections you never would have thought existed. Thus, helping you to write songs more consistently and efficiently.
Step #1 of Writing Great Melodies – Figure Out the Scale
Many songwriters often wonder where they should begin when trying to write melodies. In this blog post, we’ll demystify the first step to creating great melodies – figuring out the scale.
Imagine composing a song as preparing a recipe. You begin by deciding on the essential ingredients. When melody writing, your ingredients are the notes of your scale. Common scales used for melodies include the major and minor scales. By determining the scale, we narrow down the number of ingredients we could possibly use in our recipe i.e. our song.
For instance, let’s take a look at the scale of the key of G Major:
G A B C D E F# G
By deciding on our key as G Major, we can narrow down the notes our melody uses to the notes in the scale.
Using the Scale to Compose Melodies
There are a few ways we could go about using the scale to start composing our melody. We could simply sing up and down the scale, randomly picking notes to combine with one another. However, an approach that tends to be more intuitive for beginner songwriters is to pick 3 or 4 chords from the key, and write a chord progression.
Click here to download a free PDF eBook containing all the diatonic chords written out in 6 different keys titled “Diatonic Chords in 6 Different Keys”:
By using chords and notes from the same key, any melodies that we create will naturally sound good over the chord progression we’ve chosen.
Conclusion: Step #1 of Writing Great Melodies – Figure Out the Scale
Starting the processof writing melodies doesn’t have to be daunting. Through deciding on our key and scale, we provide ourselves with a framework to create melodies on. In this manner, we won’t feel lost or overwhelmed when trying to begin the melody writing process.
Turn your inspiration into beautiful songs with step-by-step guidance through two professional songwriting methods. By the end of this course, not only will your tool belt be stocked; you’ll have a plan and a method for finishing your songs – all of them:
Songwriter Habit #6 – Thinking Like An Anthropologist
It’s easy for us as musicians to say that we listen to lots of music. However, what differentiates the way we listen to music from the way popular songwriters listen to music? In this blog post, we’ll discuss what we mean by thinking like an anthropologist when listening to music, and why it matters.
In 2008, when I was given the chance to learn from John Mayer, he talked about something that stuck with me till this day. He said that on every day of the week, he listens to the Top 10 Hits. However, he doesn’t listen critically – instead he listens with curiosity and with the intent to learn from the song/ artist.
This is essentially what it means when we say to think like an anthropologist, in regards to listening to music. It means to listen to without judgement, and only with the intent to take things apart and learn. You don’t have to enjoy what you’re listening to. Instead, listen with an open mind and understand that it’s possible to learn something from anything.
If you’d like to discover more ways to enhance your creative process, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Question 1: Why Do Millions Love These Songs?
The first question that John Mayer asks himself when he listens to songs, is “Why do millions love these songs?”.
Music doesn’t just end up in the Top 10 because it’s had millions of dollars pumped into it. Rather, it’s because millions of people actually enjoy it that songs can become famous. While it’s easy to dismiss popularity as a product of mere marketing or trends, that would be a mistake.
Taking the perspective of an anthropologist allows you to think more about why these songs are loved by millions. Then, we can take what we learn and try to apply it in our own songs.
Question 2: How Can I Use These Elements in My Own Songwriting?
The second question he asks himself is “How can I use what I’ve learnt in my own songwriting?”
Learning from a song and using it in our own songwriting doesn’t necessarily mean that we should be imitating what we hear. Instead, we should be trying to understand the mechanics behind what makes these songs great.
For example, if you enjoyed a bass riff in a song, understand why you enjoyed that bass riff. And then, maybe use a bass riff in your own songs as well, but put it through the filters of your own style and aesthetic to truly make it yours.
Remember, the key is not imitation, but emulation.
Question 3: How Would I Improve This Song?
Finally, the last question John asks himself is “If I was the producer/songwriter of this track, what would I have done differently?”
As songwriters, it’s not sufficient for us to be able to say that we just enjoy the vibe or mood of a song. We have to be able to articulate exactly why we like the song. For example, ask yourself, is it the melody, chords or lyrics that you enjoy? Then, try to articulate the mechanics behind what makes that part enjoyable to you. If you can identify and articulate what it is that you enjoy, this will enable you to then emulate it.
The next part of this is understanding that we all have something to contribute to a song, based on our own experiences and knowledge. You should try and develop the mental flexibility to listen to a song and ask how you could make it closer to what you’d imagine it to be. Not be judgmental and simply brushing it off as being a style that you’re not a fan of.
Conclusion: Songwriter Habit #6 – Thinking Like An Anthropologist
In conclusion, it’s important for us to develop a non-judgmental attitude when we listen to music. This way, we’ll be able to learn from songs and provide ourselves with a larger toolkit to draw from when songwriting. If we listen judgmentally, then we deny ourselves that chance to learn and grow as songwriters.
Writing great melodies often feels like a mysterious art. In this blog post, we’ll break down the melody writing process into 7 simple steps. Of course, there’s no one right way to write a melody and these steps are just designed to show you the essential elements of melody writing. So, you’ll be able to write songs better and faster.
Choosing the right scale is like selecting the key ingredients for a recipe. When you know your scale, you’ll be able to narrow down the choices of notes you have to build your melody from. Common scale choices are usually either major or minor.
For example, if we choose the key G Major, we’ll automatically know that the following are notes we have to build our melody from:
G A B C D E F# G
From here, you could just sing the notes of the scale and combine them till you form a melody. However, a more intuitive method for most beginner songwriters is to pick 3 or 4 chords from the key you’ve chosen, create a chord progression and sing over it. This makes it really easy for you to form a melody from the scale, and always have it fit over the chords you’ve chosen.
Click here to download a free PDF eBook containing all the diatonic chords written out in 6 different keys titled “Diatonic Chords in 6 Different Keys”:
Step 2 – Create a 4 Note Melody
Limiting the number of notes you use from the scale is important, because of a few reasons:
Imposing limitations forces you to be more creative with less material.
Using all 7 notes will result in a melody sounding just like an exercise.
You will be able to save some notes for use in other parts of the song.
At this stage, it’s not necessary for the melody you create to be perfect. This melody will be refined and you’ll create different iterations of it in later steps.
Step 3 – Use Steps and Leaps
Before we discuss how to use steps and leaps to add variety to your melody, we must first understand what they are. Below are the definitions of both:
Steps: When the notes are all next to each other, this is called a step melody. For example, a melody composed of G A B would be considered a step melody because all of the notes are next to each other in the G Major scale. The largest interval possible with a step is a 2nd.
Leaps: If the melody skips over notes in the scale, this is called a leap. For example, a melody composed of G B D would be considered a leap melody because all the notes aren’t next to each other in the G Major scale. The smallest interval possible with a step is a 3rd.
A well-written melody should have a good balance between leaps and steps. Using only leaps results in a melody sounding chaotic, whilst using only steps makes it boring and monotonous. The placement of your leaps is also important, as a leap denotes a sense of drama and emotion. By using leaps to highlight specific moments, we can create memorable moments in our songs.
An example of good usage of leaps in melodies in the classic tune “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.
Step 4 – Create Rhythmic Interest
Rhythm plays a vital role in melody writing. The placement of notes within the beat pattern can drastically change the feel of a melody. Beginner songwriters tend to make all of their phrases come in on beat one. This can make the melody feel cluttered, giving the feeling of all of the space being occupied.
We can liken rhythm in a melody to body language. Coming in on beat one is extremely forward body language. When we mix up phrases coming in on and after beat one, we get a sort of push-pull body language that makes our melodies dance. Varying the rhythm of our melodic phrase in different ways allows us to get more use out of the 4 notes that we’ve chosen. This way, they can be used differently in different sections of the song.
It’s also worth remembering that long melodies are often made up of smaller motifs that are repeated using different variations. A song that demonstrates this beautifully is Billie Eilish’s song “When the Party’s Over”, where the same melodic motif is moved up the scale four times in the verse.
Step 5 – Repeat the Phrase
We’re going to call our phrase the combination of our melodic motif plus its rhythmic variation. For an example, view the picture below:
What we can do is repeat the melodic phrase that we’ve come up with again. However, ensure that we vary the repeat in some way, whether that be going up the scale, moving the notes around slightly or changing the rhythm.
During this process, you may realise that you find other chords which work well with your melody, that are different to the initial 3 or 4 you picked to start out the song with. This is entirely natural because the first few chords we pick are just to establish the key and keep ourselves grounded. They by no means have to be the only chords we ever use.
Step 6 – Introduce Some Variation
Once you’ve managed to build up a fairly long melodic phrase – which you can think of as a part of a section – we should start thinking about how we can introduce variation to provide the element of surprise to our listeners. The best way to do this is to break the pattern that you’ve been using.
When you regularly create small changes to your melodic motifs, you keep your listeners interested. Great melodies are made out of a well-balanced combination of repetition and variation. The secret is to try and ensure that every melodic motif that you write slightly varies from the others in some way.
Step 7 – Write More Melodies
After writing enough melodic material for one section of a song – say a verse – you need to write more melodies for the other sections of your song such as the chorus, and bridge. One of the easiest ways to do this is to look at the contour of the melodic material you’ve created so far. Contour is just a very fancy word to describe the shape and direction of the melody.
For example, if your melody was ascending, then you could change it to be descending instead. However, a great melody doesn’t just change the contour – it also varies the starting note. You could also decide to simplify the melody instead, as some melodies can benefit greatly from restraint. After all, the key to writing great melodies isn’t complexity, but contrast.
Another important thing to think about is where the most important moment in your song is, and try to place the highest note in your song there to highlight it. You can also try to refrain from using the root note of a key in a build-up, till you need to deliver a message with a punch. This is a common strategy used when writing a pre-chorus.
Finally, remember that throughout the process of composing melodies, you don’t have to worry about your lyrics. What we’re really focusing on here is finding some nice melodies – lyrics can come later.
Conclusion: Writing Great Melodies in 7 Steps
Crafting great melodies doesn’t have to be an overwhelming or daunting process. By following these steps, you’ll be able to compose amazing melodies in a systematic and consistent manner.
If you would like more details, explanations and examples, then be sure to check out the video now.
Level up your songwriting with five radically practical exercises used by professional songwriters around the world:
