[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt-IBJpEMzA&feature=related]

When composing a melody, I often find myself stuck after only the first line. I’d guess that a lot of songwriters have the same problem: one killer line, but nowhere to go afterwards.

Here’s one idea: Try the same thing a third up.

What does that mean? In the example above, a song from Les Miserable, the first line after the intro is ‘I dreamed a dream in time gone by…’.

The notes for this are (I’ve changed key for simplicity’s sake) D D D D C# D E F#.

To go ‘a third up’ in a scale, you start on your first note, and then go along to the third. So if D is the first note, you just find the third note, D E F#. And then you start there instead:

F# F# F# F# E F# G A….

Which is exactly what we find on the line ‘I dreamed that love would never die.’

The rest of each line doesn’t follow exactly, because there’s no requirement to follow the ‘up a third’ idea perfectly. However, using the same rhythm and melodic shape, but at a higher place, gives the song this rising, growing feeling and a sense of added momentum.

In Summary

If you’ve got one line of melody, and don’t know what to do next, try going up a third.

If you need further convincing, listen to the chorus of No Woman No Cry.

If you enjoyed this post, why not subscribe?

No related posts.