Three Tips For Writing A Great Melody

Melodies are hard. Chords come with all sorts of easy rules about how you're supposed to string them together, but when it comes to writing a nice line to go on top of it, oftentimes it seems like you're just supposed to pick random notes and hope they sound good. And honestly, once you get into the habit you are kinda doing that, but if you feel like your melodies are falling a bit short, there's a few things you should try paying attention to, like melodic shape, note functions, and phrasing!

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[AnymMusic]

the rules of melodies:

1. know what notes sound good together in a scale
2. goodluck

[taylordance]

1:55 years start coming and they don't stop coming

[josephbrandenburg]

Something else to consider: Don't limit yourself to a particular key, use sharps and flats to create modal feelings, or to create feelings of tonal shifts. A scale isn't a list of tones you can and can't use... it's a method for exploring a pitch-area. Moving into a different pitch area can be beautifully expressive, especially if it's supported by creative harmony.

[Phoenix_flame]

Okay I need to come back to this when I understand music theory more XD

[kenmare]

You should put all this in a book. Very good content. Would be an extremely useful reference for a lot of people. Could become a best seller.

[boldapples]

I wish I had watched this when I first started writing music! However, I think to deeply understand and actively practice what you're saying requires some experience. For anyone looking to write a melody, in addition to what 12tone mentions, I'd like to add 3 things that have helped me out significantly:


1. Focus on rhythm first, then attach notes. Or, vice versa. Focusing on one first can help you figure out the other one. Suppose you have rhythm sketched out first, this can *loosely* help you determine when to skip or to leap. If you have consecutive 16th notes, you might want to apply more skips than leaps, so that you don't lose your audience. Skips are generally easier to digest than leaps I think. For longer notes, it might be more interesting to the listener if you apply unexpected leaps over skips. If you start by determining a sequence of pitches, you can similarly determine what rhythm might make more sense based on how much you are skipping and leaping.


2. Start simple, but develop your ideas into something big. When I'm drafting a melody, I've recently started experimenting by writing down a few quick melodic measures on paper, and based on the rhythms and notes I've selected, I'll create new melodic measures that are very similar in structure. Do this enough and you'll have a bunch of puzzle pieces, and your goal is to try and connect them. Connecting the pieces together is a challenge on it own, but the task is now more reduced then from before.


3. Don't scrap ideas. Sometimes, I will have written something down, and then think that it's complete garbage. However, whenever I come back to it later, I realize that I was too hard on myself. Working on something for hours and struggling, can lead you to become your biggest critic. Never throw anything away that you've spent hours working on. If you come back to it at a later time, you might be able to make something special out of it.


I'd like to lastly emphasize, that some of the melodies that I am most proud of were created because I took the time to reduce the task into multiple easier subtasks. When you have reduced the problem into something easier, it becomes more apparent where you should go with it.

[TheArrangment]

A melody is defined as a logical progression of tones and rhythms. A tune set to a beat. A melody is not random group of notes but they relate to and follow each other. A melody also consists of many parts. Those elements are contour, motion, tension-resolution, center, repetition, form, and range. The melody is the most important aspect in a piece of music because it’s what you go away remembering most. Sometimes it can leave you feeling sad, happy, or even relaxed. Some tunes are so mesmerizing to the point you cannot stop listening to it. A melody is pretty interesting.

[pringelsthegamefreak]

Here is a video summary for everyone:

1. Intervals- the spaces between the notes and the the relationship between each other,

Examples: small steps (notes that don't stray too far from each other), leaps(notes that are far away from each other that "leap") or static motion (the same note repeated)

2. Functional Harmony- the relation of the chord progression with the individual notes,

Example: stacked 3rds and 5ths that make up a chord and how it relates to other chords in the melody. Like a I V VI III progression with the notes in between or notes that make sense for the progression.

3. Questions and Answers (Antecedents and Consequents) - a melody that keeps going and seems unstable that "asks" the listener a "question" and keeps them hanging and interested that finally gets "answered" and resolves, at rest.

Example: a melody in G major that could use steps to create G major and D major triads with passing notes that keeps going until the F#, or leading tone, resolves to G and it can finally rest, giving the listener satisfaction.

Or it could be subverted and you can avoid resolving to the tonic and give you this "energetic" feel.

[thenerdherdforum]

Just found out about this channel, it's amazing! Time to binge watch some videos

[johnskerlec]

This was really well explained. Considering the complexity of Melodic Construction against the backdrop of infinite chordal and rhythmic possibilities, this was well done.

[boarhead]

One of my music teachers told me once, that melody, bass and rhythm are the bricks of a piece and harmony's just the mortar to glue it all together... Kinda made sense to me.

[IcyMidnight]

5:06 - "The rules are fuzzy because melodies are hard"... I'd say it's more "melodies are hard because the rules are fuzzy" 😜

[s.sbless]

I'm certain this channel will become huge in a short space of time, one of the best on YouTube.

[gingercore]

another thing... most catchy melodies fall in one of 3 styles... either zig zag back and forth between 2 or 3 notes, (first part of fur elise, the voice in walk by pantera, wrecking ball, etc) the climbing up and down(in classical period it was used without resolution in fur elise, the chorus on moves like jagger, in last drop falls by sonata arctica, etc) and step + same note for a while...(johnny be good, snow by rhcp, american idiot, etc...)

[pablohowardcello]

I unironically like how 12tone doesn't shy away from the 'will of the tones' - "the 4th may want to resolve down, or it may want to continue up." I concur

[BrunoTaglietti]

I'm just loving the channel. It explores exactly the level I am personally interested; not too easy, not too hard. Thank you. Just, thank you.

[jeremylimmusic]

Perfectly explained! When I started paying more attention to melodies, it's like everything I listened to gained a visual, narrative element to it. Thanks for another great video!

[itskarl]

It is just as important to mix things up horizontally as vertically - rhythm is often key to what makes a melody memorable.

[kalevang]

I like your analogy. Your lessons are great for story teller learners like myself. Glad I found you.

[ConfoundSound]

The way you've built this channel and every episode with it is truly inspiring! Love it!