how do YOU make your melodies?

Sickk1

Sickk1

New member
i can make some bangin beats but never have a good melody with brass and synths and stuff like that. what do you use?
 
idk ... you just gotta be awesome. it's hard to do things in life when you're not awesome.


No but in all seriousness, I improvise over chord changes until I find something "that works" to me. Then I phrase it in a way that it sounds like a melody and not a nigga just rambling about. Over time my ears started to internalize what scales & arps I used 90% of the time so what's in my head isn't hard to get translated on 2 the keys.

But my last few beats haven't even had "melodies" like that. -- they've had pads and chords and shit played in different octaves. Like the bassline was really the only "melodic" unit.
 
Chords and Scales. Learn them and use them. The are what dreams are made of. Ok maybe not dreams, but definitely melodies. I like to imagine someone singing...i think it may be called phrasing. But just play the scales and chords up and down and around as if you are saying something
 
My mind creates my melodies, my fingers merely transcribe my thoughts.


But, I learnt to write melody the old fashioned way.

What chords am I using?
Define my rhythmic motif(s).
Angular or smooth melodic contour (am I looking to make the notes jump around or do I want to move through the scale)?
Remember to have both rising and falling ideas.
Look to create variations on the ideas so that melody becomes self-referencing.
Don't be afraid to make changes on the fly.

This is how they taught melody writing from the middle of the 19th century (1850) until the late 20th century (1980's) for examination and elementary composition.
 
i just play random stuff over a looped beat until i find something i like, once i record in a basic idea i quantize it then do all the small stuff like resizing notes and add extra notes if needed.
 
It really depends on if you even know what you want the melody to be, try humming it then pecking it out, If you know scales and chord formations and intervals Its easier cause you can accidently stumble on to a nice melody.
 
I know how to compose melodys because i have been practising for years and years. I recommend choosing an instrument and practising and practising. It is important to both learn others songs for influence and to make your own songs to stimulate and make grow our compositonal capabitlites. first step with instruments is learning basic major and minor chords and scales. then more complex chords and scales. but to be honest u dont need to learn anything if u are a natural and can just hear it allready in ur head. but if not learn and insturment !
 
Start off by emulating songs you like that inspire you and fit your style, as well as songs on the radio... By doing that, you can get a feel for some common melodies heard in different songs. This can just give you a feel for creating melodies, then you should be able to translate that into your own creative process in developing melodies. I'm not saying go to a Timbaland song and copy the melody...just emulate what some of the popular songwriters and composers are doing, and you will start to pick up your own style of creating melodies
 
I agree with everyone, but not everyone knows music theory well enough to just bust out a melody in the key of "x" (I know I don't). What I usually do is just mess with synths (both hardware and software). I've found that different sounds make me want to compose different styles of music; different instruments bring out different styles within me; knowing more of how I "react" to different instruments makes me learn more about my styles and how to apply them. It gets to them point where I'll just be sitting down and hearing something will trigger a melody or rhythm in my mind. I won't know the name of the notes I'm playing or what key they're in, but I know how I want it to sound and whatnot.

So I guess what I'm trying to so say is have fun and explore. Don't be afraid to try new instruments; don't be afraid to listen to new and different genres; don't be afraid to slam on your keyboard and listen to the things that come out of your speakers/headphones.
 
I agree with everyone on here. I have a few methods I use to create melodies. Sometimes I would just hum out loud what I'm thinking in my mind, and try to replicate it back on the keyboard, other times I just make a drum loop and just listen to what the beat is saying (i know it sounds crazy but I hear melodies coming from those loops). And other times I just play a few chord progressions and come up with something. It is also good to listen to different styles of music it gets you inspired sometimes. Also it is a good idea to learn basic chord formations and scales it really helps!!!

I just recently started 2 seriously pay attention to chords and scales and it's slowly starting 2 help me improve my music
 
bandcoach said:
What chords am I using?
Define my rhythmic motif(s).
Angular or smooth melodic contour (am I looking to make the notes jump around or do I want to move through the scale)?
Remember to have both rising and falling ideas.
Look to create variations on the ideas so that melody becomes self-referencing.
Don't be afraid to make changes on the fly.
Click to expand...

If I may add to the ideas of motif, contour, rising-falling, variations..

I also sometimes like scalar-skips on an upward rise and scalar-steps on a downward fall (and vice-versa). This variation of steps and skips seems to work quite well for me.

To expand the melody and add depth of emotion I would add note length changes, velocity variations etc.
 
(starting) I usually just hear it in my head then i hum the melody a thousand times. i might even have a little hook to it so the melody can flow smoothly in my head. Then i just recently learned how to layer the melody. Then i do the easy part. Drums,snares,claps and hi hats. Towards the end i through some little touches and thats it. (also having a synth helps and you know little things) check me out on soundclick backslash PushinKEYZ
 
To me its ALL about knowing the scale your working in and what type of sound you can get out of each interval. Start with a 2 bar motiff and in any scale and just build untill it is a 4 bar melody. Then consider adding a counterpoint to it. It's all about what sounds good THERE ARE NO SET RULES
 
learn some chord progressions then play with them using different instruments, then construct your melody around the chord progression (i compose my bassline around my chord progression as well, everything sounds good together when its composed around a certain progression ;P) its all about scales and chords...or find decent samples n u dont have to compose the melody yourself but i prefer composing to sampling
 
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