In this lesson, we're taking the rules from the previous lesson and applying them to multiple chords, paying close attention to the transfer points between chords.
Check out the PDF below to follow along and study the phrases we cover in this lesson.
The homework is in three sections, and I've attached a separate jam track for each section. Feel free to write more than 12 phrases if you want more practice!
Also, you can use this jam track from my SPJ Jam tracks channelfor homework 1 if you want to.
Post your homework (or just record your favorite phrases) to the community forum.
In this lesson, we're tackling my three rules for melody making over chords:
1. Always start a phrase on a chord
2. If moving in skips, only skip from a chord tone to another chord tone.
3. If moving in steps, continue moving in steps until you reach another chord tone.
As usual, these are guidelines that are often broken in the "real world" but please, for the duration of this course, treat them like rules until I say otherwise!
In the next lesson, we'll be applying these concepts to multiple chords, which will REALLY open the curtain into the world of melody making.
Follow along with the PDF attached below.
HOMEWORK
Practice writing phrases over a single chord, using the "homework" section of the PDF. I've provided some jam tracks for you to practice hearing your phrases over the chord. Post your written OR recorded phrases to the community forum.
Jam Tracks are also attached!
Now that you've been listening more closely to phrases, it's time to practice writing your own! This lesson talks about skips, steps, and repeats and gives you a nice starting point for writing your own phrases. Check out the PDF, and post your homework to the community forum via post Melody Making 02 | Basic Phrases
HOMEWORK - Writing basic phrases
• Practice making phrases using the diagrams on the PDF (attached at bottom of post)
Your phrases must all follow these rules:
1. Use no more than 7 notes
2. Stay within an octave
3. Experiment with a mix of skips and steps
4. Experiment with repeating notes
5. Experiment with long and short notes
6. Share your favorite 3 phrases with the community
Welcome to Melody Making! In my opinion, this is one of the most overlooked, under-explained aspects of music education. Melody making involves all the most important ethereal stuff in music: repetition, arrangement, holistic attention - but it also requires specific and clear music theory understanding when it comes to keys, scales, and chord progressions.
By the end of this course, you'll have a better sense of how to make melodies AND how to apply these concepts to other areas of musicianship.
Recommended prerequisites:
- Music Theory for Guitar
- Music Theory Monday lessons 1, 3, 4, 5
Listening for this lesson:
"Hey, Good Lookin'" by Hank Williams •SPOTIFY• •YOUTUBE•
"Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers •SPOTIFY• •YOUTUBE•
"Two of Us" by The Beatles •SPOTIFY• •YOUTUBE•
The homework for this lesson:
Pick 5 songs
• Analyze either the verse or chorus melody
• Label the melodic phrases with A, B, C etc
• Phrases that seem the same to you should be labeled with the same letter (eg A and A or B and B)
• Make note of phrases that are NOT the same, but sound similar.
Remember, the goal of this lesson is to practice listening and writing down what you hear. You don't have to be right or wrong, just try to come up with reasons WHY you labeled phrases the way you did. This is one of those situations where you have to learn to swim by jumping in the pool.
Post your marked-up lyrics to the community forum on Melody Making 01.
More Courses Coming Soon!
