{"id":416345,"date":"2020-03-31T18:01:39","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T16:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/?p=416345"},"modified":"2022-04-12T12:02:31","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T10:02:31","slug":"how-to-b-a-h-a-melody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/gear\/how-to-b-a-h-a-melody\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW TO BUILD, ARRANGE & HARMONISE A MELODY"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all have a different process for writing songs: lyrics first, music first, a full progression or several pieces assembled later… No matter what the approach, it is important to remember why we started playing an instrument, and although we get lost a little in the maze of equipment, improvisations and endless jams, the objective of the instrument is to create melodies and to transform them into songs!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It starts with a feeling, an idea, a word or a note, and then you have to work this to arrive at a landscape capable of transporting your message and your emotions to music. But how? Here are a few of our tips…<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

#StayAtHome #MusicNeverStops<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Improvisation is key when building a melody!<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

If you have a short melody <\/strong>or phrase<\/strong> in mind, this is advice that has worked for me on a regular basis and allowed me to bring it to something more complex: improvise<\/strong>! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And what I mean by improvisation<\/strong> is very often creating a loop with the melody<\/strong> in question (either by recording it in your DAW<\/strong><\/a> or via a looper<\/strong><\/a>) and then playing it over and over! This really allows you to find interesting harmonies<\/strong> and a few chords<\/strong> that would go under the melody.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s an easy way to develop your original idea, make it more complex<\/strong> (or more simple<\/strong>) and generate new ideas that could quickly lead you to see the structure<\/strong> of a song.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a><\/p>\n

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Use Chords & Theory to build a melody<\/h2>\n

I know that the theory<\/strong> part can sometimes be daunting<\/strong> and you probably want to learn to play songs<\/strong> more than spending hours reading about secondary dominants\u00a0<\/strong>or the circle of fifths<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But you have reached a point in your composition where a little theory represents a phenomenal leap forward<\/strong>! If you have a sequence of 3 chords and completely block out how you are going to solve or continue the progression<\/strong>, a good way to move forward is to take a look at what you have, and to determine in which key<\/strong> and mode<\/strong> you are.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We can conclude with a practical example: You have found the sequence C Major<\/strong>, A minor<\/strong> and D minor<\/strong> (I, VI, II), you can fairly easily determine that you are in the key of C<\/strong> and that a possible resolution is G Major<\/strong> (V).<\/span><\/p>\n

It is not the most rock’n’roll way to do it, but it is a great way to advance your ideas<\/strong> and develop what started as 3 random chords for a verse part.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Don’t get stuck on one rhythm or tempo!<\/span><\/h2>\n

You have your 4 chords<\/strong>, it’s a verse<\/strong>, we are progressing! Now we arrive at a stage where we will have to think about the message of the song<\/strong>, what emotions<\/strong> you want to convey. Is it a cry of anger, a declaration of love, a reaction to the world around you?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These subjects, beyond being the source of potential lyrics<\/strong>, will greatly influence the WAY in which you play<\/strong> your 4 chords! Experiment, play your chords at different tempos<\/strong>, at different intensities<\/strong> and within different structures<\/strong>!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone has heard the chords E, G, D<\/strong> and A<\/strong> one behind the other in 4\/4<\/strong> hundreds of times in hundreds of songs. But put these same chords in 7\/8<\/strong> and it immediately becomes another universe!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Try experimenting to find a melody<\/h2>\n

You have advanced enormously and now have several<\/strong> melodies<\/strong> and harmonies<\/strong>, a tempo<\/strong> and a structure<\/strong>. The next big hurdle will be the organisation<\/strong> of these ideas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This initial idea<\/strong> that you had, these 3 notes, why not try them as a bridge<\/strong> or even a chorus<\/strong><\/span>? <\/span>If you h<\/span>ave managed to organise the structure of your new song, do not always persist in trying to make this or that melody work within it. If it does not flow naturally modify it, or use the original idea as a chorus but over different chords. Because as we all know , the <\/span>initial ideas<\/strong> always have some sort of inexplicable magic<\/strong> about them…<\/span><\/p>\n

Sort through your different parts, and experiment! <\/span>Put one in a verse<\/strong>, the other as a pre-chorus <\/strong>or\u00a0transition<\/strong>… it may not lead to any concrete changes but, in any case, doing so will push you to question each melody<\/strong> and question its qualities in the context of a song<\/strong>. Remember to use feeling<\/strong> as a decisive factor<\/strong>, always before thought<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Choose the right instrument… and the right key!<\/span><\/h2>\n

Ok you’re almost there! The song is there. Now is the time to concretise<\/strong> all this work<\/strong> and arrange the music<\/strong>!<\/span><\/p>\n

This means determining which melody will be sung<\/strong>, which melody will be played<\/strong> and on<\/strong> which instrument<\/strong>. This is not always easy and once again it means keeping an open mind<\/strong> to last minute changes! Whether in a group<\/strong>, orchestra<\/strong> or even just with the virtual instruments<\/strong> of your DAW<\/strong>, it is quite possible that this harmony which sounded good on guitar<\/strong> will sound absolutely incredible<\/strong> on violin<\/strong>!<\/span><\/p>\n

And this also means that if brass instruments<\/strong> are required to make a certain part explode, then by all means, go for it! Don’t cut corners<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If the rhythm<\/strong> is too intense or too slow to work with a saxophone<\/strong>, which would make the song a thousand times better, make some changes. Or if the range of your voice <\/strong>doesn’t fit with the key, shift it one or two steps lower or higher to make it work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And bang! It’s a song<\/strong>!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Conclusion<\/span><\/h2>\n

Before we finishing this article, keep in mind that the points mentioned above are only advice<\/strong> and do not constitute a magic recipe<\/strong> for releasing an album per week! <\/span>If only…\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But if you encounter problems while composing<\/strong>, or tend to get stumped when someone asks you to play an original song from start to finish<\/strong> we hope these tips will help you move forward<\/strong> and add confidence<\/strong> to your composing \ud83d\ude00<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tips to create, arrange and harmonise a melody: These tips for writing melodies will help you! \u2713 Read them now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":416982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tblog_post_audio_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1083],"tags":[12417,12419,7667,12421,12033,12427,12415,11680,12425,12413,12411,3204,12423,11498,12429,12431,11989],"class_list":["post-416345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gear","tag-arrange","tag-arrangement","tag-chord","tag-chords","tag-compose","tag-composition-en","tag-harmonic","tag-harmony","tag-key","tag-melodic","tag-melody","tag-music","tag-progression","tag-song","tag-songwriter-en","tag-songwriting-en","tag-write"],"category_colors":{"color_key":"gear","css_classes":{"text":"cat-gear","text_light":"cat-gear-light","bg":"cat-bg-gear","bg_light":"cat-bg-gear-light","border":"cat-border-gear","text_on_bg":"cat-text-on-gear"}},"reading_time":{"minutes":5,"formatted":"5 min"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}