melody

[Granskog]

hello, i just discovered that my melodic sense is pretty bad. how do you go about when making up melodies? the usual "it just pops up in my head" doesnt really happen for me. and when i TRY to make melody (in my head) it usually becomes something similar to songs ive heard.

as a person, im conviced that there always are a way to get better at something.

 

[ABQShredHead]

My first suggestion would be to make sure you act on those melodies in your head. Even if they sound like something unoriginal, learn it on your instrument. Then work to morph it into something different - change the rhythms, transpose it to different keys, etc. Another hint would be to take the melody and adapt it to a chord melody - get jazzy, even if you only consider yourself a rocker or whatever. Learn the chordal harmonizations of the scales and you can open your world to something very new and eye-opening, indeed.

 

[ElPredicador]

well, I usually just improvise stuff and when something cool arrives, I write it down. Also what ABQ said is an easy way to go.

 

[dargormudshark]

Make sure your ear is trained well so that the melodies come out right off the top of your head. Luckily from what people tell me is that I have a really good sense of melody.

 

[ElPredicador]

Strangely enough, you can also come up with visual patterns (imagine your hand moving on the fretboard, keyboard, whatever). When you have an ear sufficiently trained, those patterns start sounding like something perhaps cool, and you can build on top of that.

 

[Katalepsy]

Take a music theory class...that's what I'm doing. I actually take notes in my own free time (Seriously). I wrote down all possible intervals (With the exception of Augmented 7ths), and a bunch of other crap. As far as rhythm goes, just experiment, you don't have to have the perfect melody right away, just find a good rhythm, and THEN figure out the notes to use, and there you go. I probably didn't help at all...but whatever, maybe some other people can use my advice, haha.

 

[seed2003]

play what you feel, know the scale and just play what you feel. Thats the best way to come up with beautiful sounding melodies.

 

[Katalepsy]

play what you feel, know the scale and just play what you feel. Thats the best way to come up with beautiful sounding melodies.

I would agree with that statement, provided that the guitarist knows what he's doing, or else "playing what you feel" can often sound like complete shit, which is how my older material used to be....And now I don't even need an instrument to write some amazing shit (Not random or just thrown together).

My keyboardist and I wrote a 10 minute 44 second 'epic' without even touching any instruments while writing it for the whole 3 months we worked on it. And then I (Just myself) wrote an entire song that no one in my band can play, with the exception of the keys. The song sounds an awful lot like something Evergrey would write, lol.

 

[DoktorShred]

for the most part, you want to be staying in one key. Therefore its nice to know the theory. After that i find its just 7 notes to choose from, and it can flow a lot easier.

Of course chromatics and key changes are cool aswell, as is limiting yourself to pentatonic for some phrases.

A good thing to do is play mostly stepwise melodies with occasional interval leaps.

 

[Katalepsy]

for the most part, you want to be staying in one key. Therefore its nice to know the theory. After that i find its just 7 notes to choose from, and it can flow a lot easier.

Yeah, 7 notes if you don't include half steps, so if you know how many half steps are in a key (Sharps or flats) then that's always a plus. Before I took a theory class, I would write down the combinations of notes that sound the best together, and later I would find out that I always stay in key when I write like that, but that all just boils down to being very good at guessing.

 

[DoktorShred]

Well every key has 7 notes in it regardless as to wether a particular note is a half or full tone up from the last. Half steps outside of this = chromatics. Which also have their place in melody.

EDIT: Theres exceptions such as the whole tone and diminished scales, which i dont tend to use.

 

[seed2003]

I'v found just playing scales through over and over again can make your runs sound processed. A good way around this is to get a fret board layout of the scale in front of you and just memorize some patterns and make your riffs and such from the chart. Works for me anyway lol
Of course im fairly unexperienced too, only 3 years of playing lol

 

[Katalepsy]

I've been playing for a little over 2 years, and I agree, memorizing scales does help a lot. I would actually have to say that being able to sight read music fluently is the biggest advantage. Also, knowing what intervals are consonant and which ones are dissonant, which really just comes down to sounding good, or sounding like shit (And of course, everything in between). Even though I have only been playing for such a short time, I think I can safely say that I know my way around the fretboart pretty well.

 

[ElPredicador]

Also, knowing what intervals are consonant and which ones are dissonant

This is a really huge plus. That helps, if for example you are going insane, throwing some dissonances in may be really cool

 

[Katalepsy]

After playing for so long, a good metal guitarist will learn to appreciate dissonance on a small scale, and not cringe at the sound. I use quite a few dissonances in some of my songs, as well as going off key for maybe one or two notes and then jumping right back into it. It's all in the way you use these techniques, that's what makes your writing a little bit more interesting, especially when you get sick of perfectly consonant chord progressions and scales.

TIPS FOR EVERYONE:
1. For writing good metal riffs, use Minor 6ths, Minor 7ths, Perfect 4ths, and of course, Perfect 5ths or Power chords (The ones we all know and love)
2. Use stacked 5ths, they may hurt your hands like hell, but they sound awesome!
3. Write in a minor key, or using minor scales. They give you a kind of "dark" sound
4. Experiment with different rhythms and tempos, don't stick to the ordinary, it's no fun.

 

[ABQShredHead]

Good stuff, Katalepsy. Coming from some jazz training, I would also recommend stacked fourths on three consecutive strings. John Scofield is pretty big on this technique and you can really come up with some cool stuff. As an exercise, I recommend going through the modes playing stacked diatonic fourths below each note. Something like this for the G Major scale:

Gmaj7
4/4
Gtr I
Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q
|-------------|-------------|-3--5--7--8--*|
|-------------|----3--5--7--|-3--5--7--8--*|
|-------2--4--|-5--2--4--5--|-2--4--5--7--*|
|-4--5--2--4--|-5--2--4--5--|-------------*|
|-3--5--2--3--|-5-----------|-------------*|
|-3--5--------|-------------|-------------*|

 

[ElPredicador]

I use quite a few dissonances in some of my songs, as well as going off key for maybe one or two notes and then jumping right back into it. It's all in the way you use these techniques, that's what makes your writing a little bit more interesting, especially when you get sick of perfectly consonant chord progressions and scales.

I think that scales and stuff are a utility to help you, not limit you. Staying inside a scale surely helps, but it is not a rule. Suppose you have a progression of 4 chords. You can find a scale that will match all 4 chords, or you can find several scales that will match only a certain subset of the chords, and play over different scales when you are over a different chord.
The important thing is to remember you should use the scales, not be used by them.

 

[seed2003]

I think that scales and stuff are a utility to help you, not limit you. Staying inside a scale surely helps, but it is not a rule. Suppose you have a progression of 4 chords. You can find a scale that will match all 4 chords, or you can find several scales that will match only a certain subset of the chords, and play over different scales when you are over a different chord.
The important thing is to remember you should use the scales, not be used by them.

I have to agree with you here. makes your playing more interesting

 

[ABQShredHead]

I think that scales and stuff are a utility to help you, not limit you. Staying inside a scale surely helps, but it is not a rule. Suppose you have a progression of 4 chords. You can find a scale that will match all 4 chords, or you can find several scales that will match only a certain subset of the chords, and play over different scales when you are over a different chord.
The important thing is to remember you should use the scales, not be used by them.

Definitely. But switching between scales is mostly dependent on the rate of the chord changes. Obviously, if you're changing every half measure at a quick pace, it will be rather difficult to switch scales that fast. But, if the chords are somewhat stagnant, it is best to play the scale to fit the current chord rather than to stay in an Amin pentatonic needlessly.

Take a simple chord progression like

Am |D |C |G Em9 |

Obviously, you can play an A minor scale throughout, but that can get boring and redundant, particularly at slower tempos. If you look closely though, over Am you can play A Ionian, over D you can play D Aeolian (A Mixolydian), over C you can play C Aeolian (A Ionian), and over G-Em9 you can play G Aeolian (A Dorian). Putting that all together, you can choose from A B C C# D E F F# G at certain points throughout the progression. Subbing other minor and major modes throughout the progression will yield more note choice (look at D Lydian rather than D Aeolian to add a G#).

Having the ability to switch from A Ionian to A Dorian to A Mixolydian or to A whatever mode is a great tool for a guitarist.