Simple Melody Writing for any Level

A focused approach to fleshing-out and writing melodies.

The Importance of the Melody

The melody is the driving factor in all forms of music. You can play a song by chords all day, but music doesn’t come to life until the singer or a melodic instrument joins in. A great example of this is when people play a “Name That Tune” style of game. One person hums a song, and the others try to guess the name of the song. The person humming does not use chords or rhythmic tapping. All that is heard is the melody. This is usually a lyrical line, but if the song to hum is “Back in Black” by AC/DC, then humming the intro melody would be the way to go.

Framing a Melody

Creating a melody can be frustrating if you don't know where to start. In my previous lesson we talked about chords as shapes and began to dive into chord formulas. You don't have to know a lot about chords to make it work because the scale is more important. If you want to learn about the basics of the Major Scale then check out "Getting Back to Basics for Beginners and Pros". Learning a bit about chords with "Chord 'Shapes' for Beginners and Intermediate Players" can help, but scales are more important right now.

To summarize what we need to know, you take a scale and use every other note to create chords. The C Major Scale uses the notes C D E F G A B. A C major chord would use C E G. A D minor chord uses the notes D F A. You can start on each of these notes, skip over every other note, and get a chord made of three notes as shown below. This even works with four notes.

To "frame" a melody, I like to start with two neighboring tetrachords. C△ and Dm7 are both right next to eachother and playing these back and forth slowly lets me hear C E G B and D F A C. Put these notes together and you have all seven notes of the scale. Any two neighboring tetrachords will give you the complete scale to hear. Now we can begin building a melody.

I’ll pick the Dm7 chord because it isn’t the tonic. We’ll talke about tonics in a minute. Now, playing the notes of Dm7 (D F A C) individually lets me create a simple melody that exists with the "frame" of a chord's structure. I can then add in the remaining notes, also called “non-chord tones”, of E G B to add color to the overall sound. But which notes should I pick and why? You could play be ear and see if any non-chord tones work, but there is a more guided way to figure this out and it all start with the tonic.

Tonic vs Tonic

I've talked a lot about functional harmony in the past because it is a great tool to help make better musical decisions. When it comes to melodies it is no different. First, I'd like to point out that when we talk about functions, we always have a note called the Tonic. This can be confusing because there is a function called Tonic. Let me explain.

In the above chart we have the C Major Scale with a Tonic note of C. A great way to understand this Tonic is by treating it as the "tonal center". Without the central pivot point we do not have a first degree. Without a first degree, there can be no second degree or higher. This centralized idea affects all other notes. Even notes that are not part of the scale. With C as the Tonic, E is the major third degree. If we used the note Eb, then Eb would be the minor third relative to C. Just playing C with E gives a major tonality. Playing C with Eb gives a minor tonality. What's happening is that the Tonic, or tonal center, is defining the function of all other notes and makes E and Eb function as the major third and minor third.

The next chart shows chord functions. If a chord does not use the fourth degree of a scale, then it is a "Tonic Functioning" chord. This means it is at rest with little to no tension in the way it feels. Chords that use the fourth degree, but not the seventh degree, are Pre-Dominant chords. These have some tension and create movement. Chords that use the fourth and seventh degree notes are Dominant chords and have high tension and call for resolve back toward a Tonic function. I’ve also got the list of tetra chords with their notes to make this easier to understand visually. The fourth degree note of F and seventh degree note of B are highlighted so you can see where the functions of Tonic, Pre-Dominant, and Dominant come from.

Remember, “Tonic Fuction” as shown above means “at rest”. “THE Tonic” is the tonal center of a scale.

Musical Sentences and Punctuation

A melody can be thought of as a musical sentence. We play some notes and say something important. The end of our sentence uses some type of punctuation which gives the sentence closure and meaning.

Let's imagine that each note of a scale takes on the functionality of the chord that it starts. I could play my Dm7 notes of D F A C and as long as C is the “Tonal Center /Tonic”, the notes themselves take on a little of the function of their corresponding chords. This isn’t always true as there are many ways to manipulate music and change the function of notes.

To make this easier to hear in your own playing, try focusing on the last note of a melody. This will always draw out the function of the correcsponding chord, unless you are modulating. Again, we ‘re not going to get into any overly technical stuff. Just focus on the functions. By relying on the last note of a melody to draw out the function you can make melody feel at rest, feel like there is movement, or feel like they need to resolve to the Tonal Center.

Below is a melody over Dm7, C△, and Dm7. I have only the root notes of the chords shown so the melody doesn’t get lost. I also have a green line that shows the path of the melody. To make this even easier, I’ve place a red asterisk next to each D and F note. Remember, these are the 2nd and 4th degree notes and give some Pre-Dominant / movement. The remaining notes are all C, E, or A, which are Tonic functioning and give a sense of rest. Notice how the melody ends with D. Think of the last note of a melody as a type of punctuation. Ending this musical sentence with a Pre-Dominant give it some unfinished movement.

The next melody is almost the samse, but with a new end note. This time the note D gives way to C. Using C not only gives a sense of rest with a Tonic fucntion, but it also uses C as the Tonal Center of the scale brings this melody to a complete resolution.

This melody can be reshaped by adding in dominance with the notes G and/or B and could even be altered with rhythmic changes. The point is that starting with chord tones, adding in some non-chord tones, and using the final note as a punctuation mark can help draw out a melody that sounds good and functions for you.

Recap

Let’s go over the general idea of how this melody writing technique works.

• Start with two neighboring tetrachords so you can hear the scale. Using the 1st degree chord is great for beginners.

• Play these two chords back and forth to get a sense of the scale. Rhythm is not important here.

• Use the notes of either chord as a framework. These four notes are chord tones. The other three notes of the scale that don’t fit the chord are non-chord tones.

• Treat the first degree note as the Tonal Center. Then treat each note of the scale as having a function: 1, 3 & 6 are Tonic/At Rest, 2 & 4 are Pre-Dominant/Moving, and 5 & 7 are Dominant/Tense and needing resolve back to the Tonal Center.

• Play a few chord tones with various rhythms. This helps to set the tone of a melody. Try upbeat rhythms and laid back rhythms to experiment.

• Mix in nonchord tones as you see fit. These help connect ideas to and from chord tones.

• Always, always, always pay attention to the function of the last note in a melody. This helps you to keep the focus on ONLY one note of the melody. This is particularly helpful for beginners. It also helps you to get a feeling of how the other notes “approach” the “punctuation mark note” at the end.

This can all be summarized in one sentence that depends on your musical aptitude to understand, so I’ll highlight the three main points.

• Start with CHORD TONES as a framework, use NON-CHORD TONES to connect chord tones, and use the FUNCTIONAL HARMONY of a scale to define the function of the last note in a melody.

Let me know if you find articles like these helpful or a bit confusing. I really want to make these lessons useful even if the subject matter is a bit advanced. Thanks for reading and thanks for your help.