I''ve been sitting on a nearly finished song for about three days. In fact, I started it a long time ago, and dropped it because, well, I couldnt find a melody. I still cant, and if I could bring one to bear, I could have this thing in post quick as a jackrabbit. My problem is, melodies are extremely hard for me to come by. Rhythm, hooks, percussion especially is easy to me, but melodies don''t come easy. I can''t post the song under NDA, but is there some food for thought you guys might share for fitting a melody into a song that pretty much already exists(as opposed to having the tune to begin with, and building the song around it.) I''ve immersed myself in the song for hours at a time, dropped the project completely for hours, honestly I just don''t have a technique for finding a tune.

Ummm...aren''t typically hooks are part of the melody?

How on earth can you write a song with no melody?? Do you just have a bunch of block chords over drum beats?? How can you even call that a nearly finished song?

Sorry, I''m not trying to jump up and down on you, it''s just that I can''t even conceive of what you are saying.

What you are saying is perfectly reasonable, given certain genres. I'm working in electronica on this one, specifically a sort of psytrance. As such, it is extremely easy to create almost an entire song, feel, mood, story and movement without having a "melody". I've run into the same problem before with other genres, I guess I build my songs backwards, finding the chord progression that define my mood, and then be at a loss for what actual melody to overlay on them, regardless of instrument. It's what usually takes me the absolute longest, and this is no exception, even in a musically simpler genre.

I would go so far as to say I dont have a feel for creating a tune, and Beyond knowing my chords.
Does anyone else build their songs 'backwards' like me? I know a lot of people get their tune first, then flesh the song out. I almost always go with my feel and mood first, then build the chords around that, then melody, which is where I hang. I've got a great progression of instruments and moods, but there really isnt anything to hum or whistle along with.

[edited by - krikkit on January 30, 2004 5:23:46 PM]

Okay, I get it now, I was really misreading your post (just got out of a theory exam ;-) )

I tend to work both ways depending on the situation, but usually within a couple measures worth of music I''ve already got a basic melody starting to work itself out in my head.

You should probaby start really basically, and just sort of "practice" writing melodies from there.

For a good "basic" beginning, make some kind of goal, like starting and ending on the tonic note for a phrase, try to keep jumps to a fifth or less, and if you do make a leap, resolve it by moving back in the opposite direction stepwise.

The best way to get good at stuff like that is to just start simple, and keep doing it. Force yourself to write little melodies (just a phrase or two''s worth) everyday in your head, it''ll only take 10-15 minutes, and is good practice.

If you don''t know where to start, start with a scale, and make some rythmic shifts (rubato), then start making some little leaps, and just gradually get a little more complicated each day.

Being able to create and hear melodies in your head takes practice, just like everything else.

Thanks for the input, looks like I just have another evening of buckling down, and not checking email or penny arcade, and just working till it works
I am so gonna have a beer when this thing is done.

If nothing comes to my mind instantly, I have 2 approaches:

- Pick up an instrument and just play along, recording everything I do. Eventually something good comes out of it.

- Deliberately think about the chord progression, and plan which notes you could add over each chord to create a little tension and resolve it at the end. Then spice it up by looking for extra passing notes, variations, and so on.

I write in a variety of ways, but it''s never melody first, mainly because of the sort of music I write. Sometimes it''s the chord progression first, other times I try to write it as a 2-part harmony (generally the bass line or the root of the chord, plus a lead instrument) and flesh it out later.

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Two things:

1. Melodies are not as important as motifs. Even the most complex melodies can be broken down into smaller melodic and rhythmic cells that kind of resemble motifs. Once you have a motif, you can do things with it such as play it again up a whole tone, or slightly change the rhythm, or add embellishments, etc. Eventually, there has to be some sort of end, for example, if you are building a melody upwards it will probably fall back down to the tonic or thereabouts at the end.

2. A good chord progression is not as important as good counterpoint (like what Kylotan was describing as 2-part harmony). If you come up with a good melody, an interesting bass line can do wonders to enhance it. However, I believe it doesn’t matter at this point what the harmonies are exactly, they can be figured out afterwards. If you end up with a few chords that look like they don’t belong to the tonal center of your piece, then congratulations, you’ve discovered how to make the music just that much more interesting. And remember, root position chords aren’t great for all occasions.

Personally, I never even start on a song before I have a clear melody in mind. Though it might be an interesting excercise to try it the other way around, could learn a few things about chord progressions that way...

Personally, I find melodies either come before or after I start writing, and it doesn''t depend that much on genre - for instance, I''ve been writing an atonal orchestral score, and have been using some of the random notes from that to form a tonal section.

As for one for your piece, Krikkit - does it really need one? Obviously I can''t know much about the piece in question because of your NDA, but I do wonder at times whether melodies are as important as people think they are.(A good historical example is Bach''s C major Prelude - there is absolutely no melody in there at all).

BTW, you''re in good company with having difficulty with melodies - Beethoven had a hell of a time writing a melody!!

Barry Ryerson
Head of Audio Development
Ryerson Sound Solutions
URL:http://www.ryerson-sound.com

It would have done well with one. Actually, in the end, I decided that I had completed too much of the song, while leaving a couple holes open for this phantom melody, and that I had somehow boxed myself into a corner where i was trying to make a melody fit into the spaces provided, which just wasn''t working.
Since, I have taken the song apart, and am beginning from the ground up, we''ll see where it comes from this time.