Tag: melody

Song Starter: Write a song about a place.

There have been many successful songs written about places: New York, Paris, San Francisco, Chicago, and foggy London town.  In these songs, the big city often provides a backdrop for a love affair or nostalgic memories.

But small towns and rural locales can also be inspiring. Jason Aldean’s “Tattoos on This Town” is a great example of a vivid lyric about growing up in a small town. Classics like “Blue Bayou” and “Rocky Mountain High” evoke the feeling of a place.

LYRIC STARTER: Think of a place that holds emotions or memories for you and write a song about it. Paint a picture so your listener can see and feel the place as you do. What is it you remember? What stands out? Why do you feel the way you do?

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Video #6: Find the Melody in Your Lyric

A memorable melody will bring listeners back to your song over and over. But where do you start? The natural melody of speech will give you the raw material for a song that’s focused and original! Learn how to look for the melody in your lyrics and begin building an unforgettable chorus.

Tip: Stockpile Ideas for Songs

Problem: You don’t have big chunks of time to spend on your songwriting. (Not many of us do.)  So when you finally do get an afternoon to work on your songs – or at least a couple of uninterrupted hours – you need to get the most  from it. You don’t need to be spending the first hour or two just trying to find an idea you want to work on.

Here are three BIG songwriting tips that can help you avoid wasting hours!

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How to Rewrite Your Melody

Q:  I usually get stuck on the first melody that I think of but all my melodies are starting to sound the same. How can I rewrite my melody?

A: Most of use know how to rework a song lyric to make it stronger but melodies are often left out of the rewriting process. Try these tips to work on  your lead melody line:

1. Break up a series of similar lines into different lengths. Turn a long line into two shorter phrases or run two short phrases together by adding notes/words. 

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Whose Melody Is It?

Question: “After I write a song, how do I know I haven’t copied someone else’s melody? Sometimes I think I’ve heard it before but I’m not sure.”

Answer: That’s a good question! If the melody sounds familiar to you and it’s a nagging feeling that won’t go away, try playing it for friends to see if anyone recognizes it. That’s what Paul McCartney did with the melody of “Yesterday.” Since it came to him easily, he was suspicious that he might have been re-creating a melody he had heard before. He hadn’t written the lyric yet so he used the nonsense phrase “scrambled eggs” where he would later sing the word “yesterday.” No one recognized the melody, so he went ahead a wrote the final lyric.

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