Make Melodies so Beautiful People will Cry!
When it comes to beautiful highly emotional melody, there are several tips that can be applied to help you perform melodic phrases that sound better, come across as more flowing and create melody that can be applied with far more impact.
The problem is, the wrong approach to melody composing can get a guitarist focusing on something that you don�t have much control over like "shapes" or fret-board geometry.
The wrong approach can set you down the path of compromising your melodic construction. In other words, your focus gets placed elsewhere (in an unrelated direction).
When a musicians focus gets in the way of the songs harmony and the melody does not interact the resulting effect is that we end up with an incoherent melody.
In this lesson I'll show you the best ways for getting out of the hole of creating weak unconnected melody and I'll explain why these tips can work so well if applied in the correct way.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
EMOTIONAL MELODY:
Today I�m going to run through a few of the basic elements that musicians need to keep in mind if you�ll want to compose highly emotional sounding melodies.
For most of us, we�ve (probably at some point) heard a melody that really connected with us. For example, when I first heard Joe Satriani�s album �Flying in a Blue Dream.�
His song on that album called, �The Forgotten (Part 2),� had such a strong highly emotional melody to it, I felt like it instantly drew me in, and as a practicing guitarist I immediately felt that I wanted to learn how to play it.
The Forgotten Part 2:
If you have an interest in being able to create strong emotions through melody, I have a series of tips I�d like to share with you that can go a long way in getting you to the point of creating a beautiful melody with a songwriting approach.
Throughout this lesson I�ll be using the melody that you heard me perform at the start of the video. We�ll use it to explore a number of the important ideas that you should pay attention to. These ideas are common to emotional melodies, and they are in use across this melody.
Our end-goal will be to understand what kinds of ideas will work the best to help you with being able to create melodies like these of your own.
GETTING STARTED:
Before we get into discussing our tips, let's cover that melody line I composed for our lesson plan. The video breaks down each section in detail. The TAB is given for you below...
Step 1). PAY ATTENTION:
Before we begin, one of the biggest benefits that I need to state up front, has to do with the importance of keeping an ear out and listening for melody lines that pull you in and grab your attention - especially, with respect to coming across to you and others as being highly emotional.
If you hear a melody like that, learn it, analyze it and work toward duplicating those ideas in a melody of your own. That type of focus will go a long way to helping you master the art of writing emotional melody that puts across rich feelings.
Step 2). CONSIDER TONALITY:
The next idea I want to cover when creating strong emotional melodies is tonality. If you�re unaware of what tonality is, it simply has to do with whether a musical idea is �Major� or if it is �Minor.�
What�s interesting is that the tonality of a melody could be either one, yet it could still create strong emotion. My example piece for this lesson happens to be �Major.� But, the Joe Satriani melody that I mentioned earlier is in the minor tonality.
Each tonality will tend to color the melody line in different ways. Some people say that Major melody lines offer a more triumphant sound effect. And, others would say that a Minor ideas produce more of a sad effect.
My suggestion would be to test both tonalities and determine which direction that you would like to have your melody lean toward.
If you want a more triumphant sound, perhaps try using Major. And, if you want a more somber effect, try ideas from Minor tonality.
It's important to remember that these emotional effects are only generalizations. What or how a melody causes someone to feel, will obviously vary from person to person. But, it still doesn�t hurt to have a guideline to follow, even if it is a generalization.
Step 3). INCLUDE MORE SPACE
The next emotional songwriting element that I want to cover has to do with applying more space to engage an emotional advantage.
When more emotion is the goal, a composer will often apply a greater length of time (duration) between the melodies notes. The length of a sustained phrase can usually offer the listener more impact across the line.
To achieve this in my example melody, I applied a 3-beat sustain on the initial note for more impact right from the beginning. Then, over the second and the third beats of each measure, I�ve secured a 2-beat sustain.
Adding this space allows for the listener to have a little more time available to be able to soak up each note.
Step 4). PAY ATTENTION TO SWEET TONES
When notes of a melody line strongly relate to the specific chord tones of an underlying harmony we have a link established between them that can create the sweetest sounding (and most melodic), tones possible.
In my example, the first note (in measure one), is linked to the underlying chords major 3rd. In the second, (as well as, in the third measure), the root note of each chord is applied across the �sustain period.�
Finally in the fourth measure, the 5th chord tone sustains. When you sit back and listen to the melody, you can tell, the use of chord tone targeting combined with sustain can be a very powerful ally when it comes down to creating a more emotional melody.
Step 5). TAP INSPIRATION:
The final area that I want to mention actually has nothing to do with music theory. However, it is probably one of the most important elements related to creating a beautiful - highly emotional melody line.
That idea is going to be your inspiration. It is so important because without a trigger to set us into the direction of getting inspired to create something beautiful, it can be almost impossible to actually do it.
As you go forward, pay close attention in your daily life for what inspires you. Maybe it�s nature, or maybe it�s people. Be on the look-out and pay attention.
It might even be a story that was told to you, or something that you might read about in a book, or in the news. Inspiration can really be anything that strikes a nerve in you, something that perhaps pulls at your heart-strings.
The feeling you get from the experience and its impact upon you are your trigger to composing some really beautiful music.
Whatever the experience is, as long as it sends you into a state of mind where you�re emotionally charged, it matters.
Sometimes people will refer to it as a feeling like they�re, �high on life.� Whatever charges you up like that, pay attention to it, because that is what inspires you.
And, when you can tap into that feeling, you�ll be in the best mindset for being able to start creating beautiful music. Music that will most certainly inspire not only you, but music that will inspire others as well.
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