Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you want to learn how to write a melody? A melody is a series of notes that sound in rhythmic sequence. In a song, it’s the musical part that the lead vocalist sings. It’s the main focus of the music, because it’s what sells the song. Keep reading What’s a Melody (and How to Write Strong Ones) to learn what it is and how it works.
What’s a Melody (and How to Write Strong Ones): The Scale and Chord Approach
How do you write a strong melody?
- The first step is to write a lot of them.
- Why? Because some of the melodies you write will be banal, others will be good, and a few will be really special.
- The more you write, the more you’ll uncover the special ones.
There are a few ways you can start writing.
- The scale and chord approach
- The rhythm approach
- The intuitive approach
Start with scales and chords.
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, rotate your screen 90o to the right.
Afterimage Soundtrack:
One idea starter is to noodle around in a key and see what you can come up with:
- Many pop songs stay entirely within one key.
- The example above is in D Major, meaning that all the notes come from this key.
- The D major scale has these notes: D E F# G A B C# D.
The following chart shows you the notes for the triads in D major:
If you look at the Afterimage example above, most of the notes in the melody are harmonic tones:
- This means that the lead vocalist’s notes are the same as the notes in the chordal accompaniment.
- In fact, 11 of the 12 notes in the melody above are harmonic tones.
- The only non-harmonic tone is the E in measure two that lines up with the syllable “ter” in the word “afterimage”.
- Not all melodies will be this stuffed with harmonic tones.
- However, most will have more harmonic tones than non-harmonic tones.
How does this help you?
- If you’re low on inspiration, you can begin by using non-chord tones from the scale to connect chord tones together.
- You’ll do this in a music notation program, which will allow you to hear a preview of your song.
- Keep messing around with your tune until you get something that sounds good.
Once again, create lots of melodies and set aside the best ones for later development.
For more information on notation software:
What’s a Melody (and How to Write Strong Ones): The Rhythm Approach
Experimenting with rhythm is another good idea starter:
- You can take different rhythmic patterns (like the example at this link for creating guitar riffs) and mess around with them.
- Another thing you can do is use the rhythm of your lyrics as the basis of the rhythm for a melody.
- The final idea is you can use repetitive rhythmic patterns, called rhythmic motifs, to structure your tune.
For more information on how to use your lyrics to inspire melodic ideas:
For more information on rhythmic motifs:
Furthermore, you can put the scale and chord approach together with the rhythmic motifs approach to create full motifs.
What’s a Melody (and How to Write Strong Ones): Intuitive Approach
The intuitive approach is similar to the scale and chord approach in the sense that you start out with some chords:
- The idea is to sing over a chord progression.
- It can be any chords (even ones from your favorite pop songs) because you can’t copyright chord progressions. If you could, no one would be able to write certain styles again (e.g., blues, jazz, and doo wop).
- However, since an arrangement can be copyrighted, you need to make sure your rhythm is different so that you’re not just copying someone else’s song.
- Once you’re happy with your chords, record them. (If you don’t play an instrument, you can input the chords into your notation program.) Next, start singing over the chord track and record your vocals.
- Or you don’t even need a chord progression if a tune pops into your head when you read your lyrics.
Once again, create lots of melodies so that you can find the gems.
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- What’s a melody? It’s the musical part that the lead vocalist sings.
- One way to start writing is to noodle around in a key and see what you come up with.
- Experimenting with rhythm is another good idea starter.
- With the intuitive approach, you can just begin singing and see what comes out.
- Once again, write tons of tunes so that you can discover the keepers.
Have fun writing!
Related Posts
- What Are Some Elegant Examples of Polyphony?
- 10 Ways to Spice Up Your Melodies with Variations
- D’you Want Some Music Tips and Tricks I’ve Learned Over the Years?
© 2025 Geoffrey Keith
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