i normally don't have any trouble coming up with chords when writing songs, but i find creating melodies to link chords and song sections and just get a good hook going to be really difficult. y'all have any sage advice?
They just randomly appear to me and I hum them into my phone until I can use my computer. For vocal melodies it's best to just kinda freestyle nonsense until you run out of "flows" then listen back and pick the best ones, rearrange them, and add some actual words to it.
Just sort of pick a note to sing on. I usually try to keep my melodies really boring so that any variation in the chorus hits harder.
Pentatonic scales help make a sketch of the melody that I try to refine later on and I generally try to keep most of the movement by thirds or less. I also like using dotted notes and tied notes because I think they're more fun to make and listen to.
How do you generally come up with the rhythm of the melody? Like which notes are 8th notes or triplets etc?
I usually trial and error it by playing over the recorded harmony if I started with the harmony first and I think I frequently give passing tones the shorter duration. Sometimes I try to imagine there were lyrics for the melody too. The ultimate rule I follow though is if it sounds good then it's good which probably isn't too helpful.
I play the chords on a guitar through a loop pedal, and then noodle over it until I find something that sounds nice
i just copy other people's melodies and change the pitches and note durations as i like
Well there bud, I've been know to do a couple thingamaroos! I get a squatting and singing about how I’m feeling until those words tumble on out!
:brak: Check out this beat!
I dunno, just wing it and go hard. Seriously, saying "fuck it" and just going wild works wonders. Basically, let your subconscious write the melody. Hesitation and a false sense of embarrassment are your worst enemy. You can start to worry about when and how to pause and put in breaks once you're in the flow.
Start with your gut or your heart, just hum or belt out some random notes that fit the chords, and then refine and adjust from there with your head. Sometimes it helps to throw in some intentional tricks (e.g. melody changes and jumps up a bit as we get ready for the chorus) but the starting point is usually something that just bubbles up or you happen upon randomly.
