Thanks everyone for your input on the last post! Keep it up! Here are few thoughts on writing melodies, including the process I go through when I write.
1. Play An Instrument
You'll find that being able to competently play an instrument is essential to writing melodies/chords. Pick up guitar, piano, ukulele, or any other instrument that appeals to you. You can write on any instrument. I personally do most of my writing on lapsteel. Further, the ability to pick up multiple instruments can be very helpful. If I find myself stuck in writing a melody on my lapsteel, I usually switch to dobro, which gives me a "creative jolt", so to speak.
2. Do Your Research!
Listen to as much music as you can get your hands on. Go outside your comfort zone in listening as well; don't stick with your favorite genre only. Listen to rock, jazz, classical, folk, pop, latin... the list goes on and on. Turn on the radio and listen to what's popular (even if it can be quite painful occasionally). Listening to the melodies that other people have come up with is immensely inspirational. Consider the Albert Einstein quote "the secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources" or the quote attributed to Pablo Picasso "good artists borrow; great artists steal". With this, I'm not intimating that we should consciously rip off other people's songs. I just think that great songwriters take what's already been done, build upon it, and make it their own. This is a healthy forward motion and is seen in many fields. Think of the sciences: the next generation builds upon and moves forward with the work of the previous generation. Listening to a lot of music facilitates the percolation of previous artists' work into your own writing. Note, however, that it is important to listen to many different kinds of music, because you don't want to be a copy of someone else. You want new combinations; you want a piece of a bluegrass melody you once heard to mysteriously work itself into your hard rock song.
3. Chords
Al asks: "I struggle more with squeezing an original melody from the key/chord progression/pattern.....any thoughts?" Now, of course everyone's writing style is different and there are many, many ways to arrive at the same outcome. But, when I write, very rarely do I write the chords first. Because there so many different chords that can fit with the same note, I suggest writing the melody first before the chords. Here's my melody writing process: I sit down with my instrument and noodle on it while letting my mind wander. Eventually, a run of notes will pique my interest (here's where that "research" comes into play), then I'll focus on fleshing out that melody. If I like it enough, I test it out with my voice, usually humming or singing gibberish lyrics. Then I experiment with chords behind the melody to decipher which chords bring out the melody the most. Experimentation is key. After that I decide if it's good enough to be fitted with lyrics or start over again. Also, make sure to always, always record your ideas, because you will forget them!
Do you have any questions? Send them to me and I'll give you my thoughts!
Megan
Since you mentioned borrowing, but not stealing melodies, I thought I would share a little anecdote from the recent past.
ReplyDeleteBob Dylan was infamous for stealing traditional melodies for his early "original" compositions. Sometime in 1965, the British folk singer Donovan, who idolized Dylan and knew of this early habit, met the man and proudly played for him a new song of his called "Darling Tangerine Eyes" - a perfect rip-off of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man": one of Dylan's truly original melodies. It's questionable whether he ever played the song again.
Also, your melody writing process reminded me of some Beatles trivia. Apparently Paul McCartney was very fond of using breakfast foods as gibberish lyrics for his melodies, for example the original title of "Yesterday" was actually "Scrambled Eggs"
Personally, I always feel like the chords and melody are negotiating with one another. Sometimes the melody has to let the chords have a little fun and other times it's reversed.
I find it interesting that part of your process is letting your mind wander while noodling on your instrument. My best melodies and licks always seem to come from that place (perhaps some shade of the over-soul? :)