WRITING A GOOD VOCAL MELODY (melodic shapes: Arch)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ค. 2024
- Writing a good vocal melody is hard. How do you write a vocal melody and what makes a good vocal melody? Melodic shapes can be a great place to start creating melodies for a song. They don't require you to know much music theory and can be a big part of making melodies express the emotion of the song and its lyrics. In this video, we look at how to make a good vocal melody using the arch shape melodic contour.
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0:00 what makes a good vocal melody
0:15 melodic shapes
0:39 melodic contour examples (arch shape)
4:08 creating emotional melodies with melodic shapes
7:04 hook theory's hookpad
7:27 0utro
These videos are meant to break down the songwriting process into easy to use tips, techniques, and tools that spark creativity and help you apply them like the pros. I do my best to make videos that share the 'secrets' of writing great songs without holding anything back.
My main focus with this channel is to pass on the tools of the trade that I have learned and found to make a big difference to my creative flow and songwriting. There is an old saying that goes "everybody has one great song in them", I hope to show you that once you know what makes a song great, you can apply it to all the songs you write. Start from the heart, follow your gut, and revise with your mind.
#songwriting #melody #WritingVocalMelodies
This video is about writing a good vocal melody
• WRITING A GOOD VOCAL M...
• WRITING A GOOD VOCAL M...
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Let me know some of your favorite melodies??
Changes by blacksabbath is one of my go to sad tunes. Now I know its using this technique. Thanks tony 😊
@@cazaw Nice!
Heart-shaped Box, In Bloom, Lithium by Nirvana...and so many other ones from them.
Until The End by Avenged Sevenfold...
The Show Must Go On, Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody To Love by Queen...and so many other ones from them too...
Zombie by The Cranberries...
Sososo many amazing melodies!🤩😱🥵🤯
What are some of yours?🤗
@@Liio.Chantel nice one Celine, they are all great melodies. Kurt and Freddie really came out with some interesting stuff. Some of mine are Damien Rice - cannonball, Lisa Hannigan - Lillie, Radiohead - high and dry, Leonard Cohen - Suzanne, Tom petty - crawling back to you..., the list goes on and on. I'm a sucker for a catchy hook!
I love the melody that goes 8 7 3. Can't actually think of specific songs but I hear it everywhere and always love it.
Finding this channel is like finding a Gem under the ocean
Cheers Antero, glad you got some value for it👍
Totally agree. I found it yesterday by a random search and then I lost it!!! And I couldn't find it...until I figured it out and here I am. Haha.
100% facts. My God. I’ve improved so much. If I make it by God’s Grace I’ll come looking for you!
So accurate
Yep. It's true.
2:30 Knowing this stuff is awesome, suddenly everything makes sense.
The whole world comes alive. I understand music in a way I never did before.
My life suddenly has meaning.
I no longer need to eat or sleep...
I can....
I feel lucky that I found this video, so many interesting ideas conveyed in such an easy to understand way. It's too bad this channel isn't more popular.
That's great to hear Chip. I appreciate the kind words and am glad you are getting some value from the content.👍
Man you’re onto something! I wrote a song with an arch melody about reaching into the past without even realizing what I was doing…😂 Now I can use this tip intentionally and make even better melodies. Thank you!
Nice!
Finally a TH-camrteaching songwriting who actually understands songwriting! You’re sharing all the best tricks. I was considering starting a songwriting channel because none of the teachers seemed to be aware of these techniques. Well done - I just subscribed!
Cheers Gareth, really appreciate that. Let me know when you start your channel 👍
@@SongWritersChopShop The songs on my current channel all use those 3 tools (scooby doo flipping placements, melody that pushes against the chord and following melodic arcs) Great techniques for the earballs ; )
By far, the best instructional video on the insightful side of writing a melody.
This is awesome. I subscribed AND watched your ad :)
Seriously though I have reams of lyrics that I'm trying to write music for and this is the kind of information I need. Thank you.
Came back to this video to say literally see this everywhere now thank you so much
Your channel is real gift. just pure music and education. Thank you for being true
Thank you sooo much 4 this!! I have never heard of this. I always learn something new when watching ur videos!
cheers allplebloom21, glad you got some value from it.
Man, this is so interesting. Great work man! Loved the video! And thanks!
cheers Santiago, great to hear you got some value from it.
You opening different view to everything i learn so much Thank You Tony
cheers Kaka, glad it's helping.
Thanks a lot really helped me. I was trying to make a melody for my first song. After watching this video I just made a very beautiful motif
Great to hear music fantasy, glad it helped👍
Thankyou for your content!! Its helping!!
No worries Troy, that's great to hear.
This is gold!
Cheers Simon, glad you found it useful.👍
great vid man!
Thank you this is so good
broo god bless you , jesus christ i didnt know needed to know this
Cheers jigsaw. Really glad you're getting something out of it. hope it gives you plenty of ideas for getting creative with melody.
YOUR A GODSEND!!!!!! I don’t know you….but I love you bro
Cheers Mz, glad you got some value from it 👍
Very interesting insights!
the melody’s a belody ❤
I love this kind of stuff and Hook Theory. Besides melody shapes I like paying attention to scale degrees and how they function in the melody.
nice one displayname, I'll be getting into scale degrees,intevals, motifs...the whole shabang as the series goes on. Let me know of any vocal melodies you find particularly good or interesting and I'll use them for examples. cheers
@@SongWritersChopShop ok I’ll think about it and let you know!
@@displayname8848 cool.
@@SongWritersChopShop sent you an email with some cool melody stuff.
This is great!!
Cheers INADRM, glad you got some value from it.
Great video. She’s leaving home by the Beatles. Love it.
Nice one Lee. yeah, crackin melody. cheers buddy.
I wonder what shape Faouzia's songs' melodies are... Hmm.. Lots of runs, but aside from that, I need to ponder.
I've noticed people using chords or tempo to match their lyrics. Sad words aren't always on minor chords, but there can be an element of sorrow or pain to the overall chord progression. I've always been fascinated by these kinds of things. I never heard about melody shapes until this video.
Thank you so much for this!
Amazing
cheers Chelli, glad you found it useful👍
Yeeey!!
Hey Celine!
Oh wow. Good thing i already learned modes for 🎸 cuz its basically the same lol. Now i have unlimited power
Use it wisely👍
hey thank u so much
no worries OHALL, glad you found it useful.
I can’t seem to write a melody that doesn’t just follow the chords I’m playing on guitar. There’s no diversity, just the same note sung that’s being played on guitar. And it’s not even melody, it’s really like singing a bass line or something. I really wanna get out of that habit and figure out how the hell to write a real melody over my playing. Do you have any extra tips not in this video? Thank you!
There's a bunch of melody videos on the channel. Sounds like you need to get used to singing more non chord tones.a bit of practice should sort it out. Write melodies over chord progressions with your guitar and practice singing along.
Wow
so helpful, would love a video on marc bolan's songwriting if you'd have any interest in that :) cheers
cheers joey, glad you found it helpful. I love me a bit of T-Rex, I'll add it to the list. great suggestion.
词曲咬合果然很重要 感谢分享
❤️ ❤️
You got your ass a subscriber buddy
I really enjoyed this, I kind of wish that some of the examples didn't suffer from over embellishment, but that's a minor niggle as the point is made pretty well. Bravo!
cheers Anthony, glad you enjoyed it. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by over embellishment, could you explain more? I appreciate the feedback.
@@SongWritersChopShop ok, you know older versions of over the rainbow compared to newer ones (ie post Eva Cassidy) notice how there's slides and runs not present in older ones? That's over embellishment. As much as I appreciate putting ones stamp on something, to add, and in some cases completely change parts of the melody is a disservice to the writer, and at worst, pub singing.
@@granthambeard Ok, I get what you are saying now. I guess it's either a choice, taste or a matter of vocal ability. (I have to use covers for the examples to avoid copyright claims and strikes).
@@SongWritersChopShop oh it's totally a choice, the way I see it is, remember the guitar Olympics of the 1980's, like overplaying ALL the time? That's what's happening with vocals at the moment. But yes taste is of course subjective, and god I COMPLETELY get that you have to get round copyright issues it would cost you a fortune otherwise. Anyways! I look forward to seeing what you do next 😊
@@granthambeard Yeah, great point. Singers tend to oversing, players tend to overplay, writers tend to overwrite. Singing, playing, writing For the song is always more effective than showing off. imo. Anyway, pt 2 of this will be up on mon or tues. would love your feedback on it. Have a good one.
Will this hook pad book help with vocal melodies as well? Or is it more about chords and instruments?
the theory books will teach you music theory(in a non boring classroom type of way), the tabs are a free resource and are great to see how melodies and chords are put together in well-known songs. The hook pad is great for creating your own. I find it great for experimenting with melodies from other songs and creating my own out of them. If you look at my vid on 'how not to copy a melody', you can get an idea of what I mean. th-cam.com/video/OdG-8VzXdas/w-d-xo.html. It will help you with melody, chords, everything really. but have a look at that video and check out some of their free resources before you decide.
Checking out the Hook Theory website now - sounds very cool!
nice. I'm on it every day tbh. great resource.
Chorus of Kiss from a rose
Would “Penny Lane” chorus be an example of this pattern? Probably my favorite melody ever written.
yes! reminds me of how Kurt Cobain sang on Come As You Are, just the pattern of Penny Lane’s verses & Come As You Are’s chorus
Could you talk about the Smiths' major thirds?
Do you do anything on chord structure that is a bit different I wonder, I find one thing that helps you write an original melody is chords that lead you away from the basic stuff.
Totally agree, an interesting chord progression can make a huge difference. I will be getting more into how melodic notes and chords work together as this series of videos goes on. so any thoughts or questions you have, just drop them in the comments. Cheers.
Hey, you're speaking my language. Across The Universe, you have found what I've been seeking.
I feel like I'm in class with Pythagoras as the Prof. 2:58 ok, I thought I might have missed something. By "degrees" I assume you are talking about "pitch" or "interval" Degrees= same thing= notes. The designated frequency a tone will be found at. Four degress is four notes. Unless corrected I'll gather that is correct.
cheers R Matrix. Your understanding it perfectly. Scale degrees are the notes of the scale. if you look at the vertical line on the examples, C = 1 (scale degree), D =2, and so on. And it's the same for any key, eg in the key of G, G = 1, A = 2, and so on. Intervals are the space between the scale degrees. So the space between scale degree 1 to 2 = a step, from 1 to 3 = a jump (that goes for the space between any two notes). It sounds complicated at first but it's not. it's just a way of talking about notes on a scale regardless of the key. a bit like using roman numerals for chords. But yeah, you understood it correctly.
@@SongWritersChopShop okay, great thx.
Who was singing the Lenny Kravitz song?? Real good, want to hear more.
What kind of melody graph is that in the video? Excellent tool.
It's hooktheorys hookpad, there's a link in the description.
Any discounts on hook theory when using your affiliate link?
No discount but it's only about 5 dollars a month and and you can cancel anytime. You get the theory books and the hook pad for that, it's a good deal.
Good video but what about the other shapes, what emotions do them evoke?
cheers Diego. I'm doing a video on each shape. The next one is going up today.
i wanna know how people make vocal melodies that are different than the beat melody… idk how to explain
That's what is called writing a 'topline'. it's when you write a vocal melody over a music track. Have a look at this video and see if it answers your question th-cam.com/video/or1aeAnadX8/w-d-xo.html ,and let me know if you have any more questions about it. thanks for the comment👍
@@SongWritersChopShop thank you!
what program is being used to plot out the notes??? :)
Hookpad, there's a link in the description
I have this beat/music and I really want to sing to it and make lyrics for it but I don’t know what melody the words should be sung to it , like what shape or whatever to fit the melody of the song 😭
Just sing it
just go with it. when it comes to writing songs, specially in the beggining, its often preferrable to just go with the flow.
I agree with the victor and alberto, just sing to it until you find something that feels good to you. worry about the details later, after you have captured the emotion. have a look at this vid, it might help. th-cam.com/video/oVtfjoa_d1E/w-d-xo.html cheers Camryn, go for it, you got this.
@@SongWritersChopShop I guess I’m just scared to try, I’ve watched that video and heaps of others of yours and they are super helpful btw 🖤 I just need to do it ahhh it’s my dream to make music and I’ve already written so many lyrics and made so many melodies on my guitar and everyone tells me I can sing and that my voice is unique I’m just afraid of being cringe 😭 if you have spare time can you maybe email me and I’ll send you the song Im wanting to sing to and some of my lyric ideas for it and you could give me some patterns/shapes from that website of the tune to sing to it in that you think would fit the melody? Pleaseeeee 🥺 my email: camrynjclusker@gmail.com
Hi Camryn. That's no problem. just email me what you got to tony@songwriterschopshop.com (thats not a link, just email there). cheers
Everything I sing or make (vocal melodies) I end up absolutely hating
can i use melodic shapes for instrumentals too?
You sure can. every melody has some kind of shape and that shape tells some kind of story.
@@SongWritersChopShop Thanks!
I think there was some nice analysis on the different melodies and to some degree the similarities seemed relevant. Maybe using the concept of the arches was still a little far-fetched since it was used to describe quite a large variety of situations. I understand that it's useful to group and label these concepts in order to be clear and get views but I think I would've enjoyed the video even without the 'arch' concept being there. (:
cheers ville, thanks for your feedback.
i use dyanamics to call arch
that's more overthinking of a melody building, than a real " arch model" of a melody creation, and from what you've shown the only conclusion that melody shouldn't be a straight one note, it should go up and down)) The only real thing you said is that you should place accents on words with high notes, and a wavy melody gives melancholic mood to the melody🤷🏼♂️
Good stuff
@@SongWritersChopShop Good stuff is the thing one could smoke and get high
1:47 those vocals are a perfect example of oversinging. Absolutely butchered the song, in my personal opinion
I can kinda hear how an arch shape upward would be considered questionable, excited or angry
agree!