Ok, then, since it IS serious and I know it, I will try again, and bear in mind this is what I have to tell MYSELF every day when I sit down to write. I know I am guilty of lazy melodies at times and I try and work on that.

If you follow Rick Beato you will see him rant on and on about how a lot of music today sucks and is lazy and has a two note melody. He is right.

I bet you a million Paul McCartney sat at his piano and fiddled with those Hey Jude notes until he thought they were perfect. THEN he sang. Today, most people just walk up to the mic and blurt out whatever comes into their heads. It is LAZY.

SO, all I am saying is, if you have a song in a certain key, say E, and you are a typical tenor or baritone, you will sing most songs in ONE octave plus or minus one or two notes. Just find the lowest note in your range on the fretboard and highest note, and fiddle with it for hours until it doesn't suck anymore (I am talking to myself here) and save the highest notes for the rise and chorus.

No need to worry so much at first about what notes go with what chords. Chords can wrap themselves around a melody as long as the notes are in the scale--and the surprises are often pleasant.

For example, try writing ONLY the melody line sometime first and then layer in the chords underneath, as the bed. That is, write the top line FIRST, then the chords. Just try it. It's fun. Experiment. What you discover will surprise you. Like: "Dang, I never thought an F#m would work there but it damn sure does!!!"


Bottom line: you have affirmed what I know to be essential.

In order for melodies not to suck, you simply have to sit down with a guitar or piano and tediously work them out until they are sing-a-long and catchy. Or they will suck.

Hope that makes more sense. I know it sounds like common sense but few people do it.

P.S. I don't think there is a way to make better guesses. You don't have that many notes to choose from in a given vocal scale. There are millions of ways those notes can be combined though. You simply have to fool around with an instrument until something original and catchy happens and you hear it.

Truly great melodies defy algorithms and "methods." They are surprising. "Surprising" hates rules. You just have to play.


David Snyder
Songwriter/Renaissance Man
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