Ideas and Advice for Real Songwriters (formerly songwright.co.uk)
Category
Melody
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04.06.10Melodic Devices – Steps and LeapsThis small series of posts will look at the different ideas and devices you can use when creating a melody. Today we're going to look at movement from one note to another in steps and leaps, but before we do that, here' s a definition: Melody - a linear succesion of notes that the listener hears as a whole musical entity. That's just off the top of my head, I'm sure we could come up with more detail but at its heart, a melody is a linear sequence of notes that sound like they're joined together. For a melody to make sense ...
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02.14.10What makes a good melody?What makes a good melody? It's a difficult thing to pin down. Easier to define is an effective melody. An effective melody will: Mostly move in step (C to D) with only occasional leaps (C to G) Be rhythmically coherent - not using too large a variety of note values Have a well defined tonal character (major scale, minor scale, one of the modes) Have a clear structure, divided into clear phrases, often related to multiples of 4 (four lines of four bar phrases for example) Make use of call and answer phrasing (First half ends unresolved on D, Second half resolves on C) Those sort of ideas will ...
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08.12.09Songwriting Sketches – The Exorcism of Marjorie GraceFor the 50/90 challenge I'd thought I'd try something different and write a set of lyrics before I composed any music. Usually, I write lyrics and music at the same time, starting of with melody ideas and a mixture of possible lyrics, nonsense verse and random 'la' and 'doo' sounds. This time I forced myself to write lyrics to 'The Exorcism of Marjorie Grace' before I sang a note. I haven't finished yet, I'm about halfway. However, I've recorded some sketches, so I thought I'd share the process with you. Sketch one - The chorus melody Something interesting happened as I was ...
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08.03.09John Mayer and Synthetic Muso-RegurgitationHere' s a really interesting video from John Mayer, on a songwriting technique of his. What he does is take a tiny melodic fragment from three well known songs and plays them one after the other in the same key to create a new melody. Is that cheating? No, I don't think so. After all, he's only using tiny little melodic fragments that will have been used countless times in different melodies. It's no different from using standard chord shapes or progressions. It's also something I've never tried before:
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06.14.09Stealing Ideas From Iron Maiden’s Fear of the DarkIron Maiden are one of my favourite bands, and one of the most influential heavy metal bands ever. A great post over at 'Troll in the Corner' got me thinking about them, and listening to some of my favourite Maiden songs. Fear of the Dark, the title track from their 1992 album, the last before Bruce Dickinson left (temporarily) to pursue a solo career. It's far from Maiden's longest song, but at seven and a half minutes it's a masterclass in how to manage pace and momentum over longer periods of time. I want to point out two great ideas that could be ...
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06.01.09Ultimate Songwriting Lessons – Songwriting Hooks and Songwriting MeatI just stumbled across this video, via this post. It's from this website. First off, let me make clear that I have a very low opinion of sales pages like this one. I know they've been shown to work, that they're 'good marketing,' but I really don't like them. However, don't take that us an opinion of the book, as I haven't read it, I've just seen the video. A few thoughts occured as I watched, and I made some rough notes: The narrator equates artistic worth with 'lyrical depth'. Personally I would argue that lyrics are not the main conveyor of meaning in popular ...
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05.17.09How to Harmonise – Part 1Edit: The free ebook 'How to Hamonize' is now available. Click here! This is the opening section of a new Ebook I'm writing 'How to Harmonise'. What Does Harmonise Mean? The most common subject people search for on www.songwright.co.uk is 'how to harmonise'. When I talk to people, they seem to mean two slightly different things by this: how to add chords to a melody, or how to add vocal harmonies to a melody. These are similar concepts that both contain the idea of harmony, or more than one note sounding at the same time. Both also pre-suppose the existence of a melody. ...
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05.17.09Eurovision 2009 – Alexander Rybak – FairytaleNB.I've since written a follow up to this post which can be found here I watched Eurovision 2009 on Saturday. I even drank Bucks Fizz and managed to get through the interminably long scoring section without getting bored and turning over. I've watched Eurovision for the last three or four years, and the standard is getting better. Now the rules have been changed to mollify the geographical bias of some countries, it's nearer to being a song competition than it has for a while. Were there any world beaters this year? No, even the best songs were merely okay. For this post, let's ...
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11.09.083 Great Songwriting PostsThere are plenty of good songwriting bloggers out there, so I thought I'd share some of the good writing out there. I've been known to complain about songwriting er... writing. My biggest gripe is those posts that confuse songwriting with lyric writing and imply that all you need think about are the words you use. But of course lyrics, while not the whole thing, are very important. So here's a great post about rewriting your lyrics by Andrea Stolpe Post 1 - Quick Rewriting Tips I particularly like her advice on using specific, interesting verbs, rather than generic ones. On the subject of lyric writing, Gary Ewer has some ...
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09.29.08Melodic ShapeI want to draw your attention to three great posts by a man named Jerry Gates. Melodic Shape 1 Melodic Shape 2 Melodic Shape 3 They're about three types of melodic shape that Jerry calls 'Line', 'Circle' and 'Square'. I'm not sure if I would have picked those particular shapes for his examples, but the principles he's talking about are sound and should help you get a handle on the type of melodies you want to write.
