As a total beginner who has spent too much time getting lost with synth sounds , this makes so much sense and helps me not get distracted , thank you . 🙏🏻
@@zaknorris5727 I recently got the Cherry Audio Mercury-6... I have to say, in the lower price range it is a fascinating study object, and not a bad softsynth either in my noob book. It really opened my eyes to the basic signal modulation that is much of electronic music. Not working for these guys, just really psyched about it lol.
super underrated content man you destroy anyone's paid course by giving out the spiciest golden nuggets for free. if you haven't heard it enough, the community really appreciates you.
Second this. In using all these videos to bring myself up to speed on production (been DJing 25 years which helps) and then going to invest in one of these paid courses from edmtips 😎
Man this video is absolutely awesome! The only thing I'd want to see is a final summary of what we learned and how we applied it. Thank you so much for your tuition! ❤ :)
The tip to start with simple piano and get the rhythm right on the root note first is a massive help. I always go straight some insane spacey sounding synth because I love them but nailing a good progression is so much easier without all the extra noise. Thanks so much!
I'm not an EDM producer, but that tip to figure out the rhythm of your basic melody and counter melody before worrying too much about the pitch is actually a very nice method of writing catchy, nice, simple melodies, which I think every composer needs to do at some point in their music writing career.
@@EDMTips I've struggled with melody rhythms quite a lot. I never thought to do it this way. I feel like this will help in a massive way thanks so much for the tip.
@@FindtheShrooms I usually have some lyrics I want to write a melody for, so the words and syllables can dictate the basic rhythm. If you're working on something that's not a vocal melody, you can just grab the lyrics from a song you like and use them as a guide anyway. Other than that, place some drums/percussion or a bass line loop, and follow that if you struggle to find rhythm (like stretch a breakbeat loop and place your melody notes on the kicks and snares).
I don't comment much on TH-cam but had to in this case because this is top drawer stuff. As an Ableton user with no music theory knowledge, and someone who struggles to write catchy melodies this was pure gold. Really appreciate you posting it - thank you.
The light bulb went off in my head. This made so much more sense with you sharing the 7 step method. I’m new to music theory and production so trying to get around this curve. Thank you.
That bass note tip is so tru, i tend to get something cool going and keep going up octaves on my mpk mini and just playing around till i find something that sounds cool, along with a few counter melodies
It’s so hard for me to focus on parts of a song with so much different sounds in music softwares but you made music like a road map for me and guided me to my destination. Appreciate the help and please make more vids! 🔥 🎉
The video I've searched for on the internet for years and finally it's been served to me and I'm so happy. Everything I was looking for has been addressed in this one video and I'm grateful for it. Please make more of these. There's not much on the internet with regards to making good melodies.
@@EDMTips please make a tutorial on making a melody first and building music around that. Because most of the times, melodies come intuitively but not necessarily good ones. I would like to see how to approach building good and catchy melodies without relying on the underlying harmonic structure. Applying chords is still possible if you know enough theory but coming up with good melodies as a standalone entity is where I face a lot of problems. You would appreciate the fact that I'm approaching building melodies mostly to be sung by a person by writing lyrics.
As someone who occasionally makes music as a hobby, this video was super helpful! You've found yourself another subscriber, I hope to make plenty use of your tutorials.
Awesome, I am glad you found it helpful and thanks for subscribing, I really appreciate the support! Anything else in particular you’re struggling with and would like me to cover on the channel?
As a self taught bass player with no significant knowledge for music theory, I have always stayed within the key that is noted on chord charts. So nice to see a step by step breakdown and now it all makes much more sense! Thank you ☺️
I have to say, Will, you are really nailing it lately. I mean I've enjoyed every video of yours that I've seen, but you've been hitting it out of the park lately. I've been wanting a vid on counter melody as that's something I've never really understood. This was very helpful. Oh, and praise God for coffee!!!!! 😄
Thank you for showing what keys you’re pressing at the bottom it is helping me learn the shortcuts. Great video! This was very helpful as someone who’s new to producing
Wow... what simple and effective techniques not just for EDM but music in general. As a bass player, I use a similar technique for bass lines but never actually made a mental note of how I did it. Just develop the groove with roots then flesh out the line with notes. Can't believe I never thought to approach other instruments this same way... Love the tool to only select notes in your key. That's a money tip for sure! Definitely subscribing.
This was the most helpful tutorial ever about making good melodies!! I’m glad you took the time to explain the things in the way that „producers“ from all skill levels understand! Thank you very much dude🙏🏽🔥
I thought doing the rhythm first was just the drummer in me. Interesting to see you also mention that! Another thing I often do is record voice messages of random melodies that pop into my head. Then I can try to create those in software later. It's much harder for me to come up with an overall interesting theme when building up note by note than when just humming a melody.
This is the best video on TH-cam on how to write melodies. Seriously, I've watched a lot of videos, but this is the only one with very specific, practical, and clear steps. Thank you very much
This is my favourite channel ❤️ I will turn into a bedroom DJ because I absolutely love music !!!!!! I'm very busy raising the children at the moment,but this is one of my goals for my spare room. It's great to see the little tricks along the way. Keep going your amazing 👏
gotta say that what achieve this tutorial is unique, basically learning music getting ON THE SAME TIME a lot of fun along, because on top of that I can build with scaler 2, music theory, but starting with some music that make sense!
Thank you for watching! What questions do you have for me about writing melodies? Let me know! 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 👉🏼 WOULD YOU LIKE TO WORK DIRECTLY WITH ME FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR? Click here to submit your application to join the EDM Tips Accelerator Program and see if you’re a good fit👇 www.edmtips.com/accelerator
Did you incorporate the bass notes into the same layer/channel as the chords? I always have done them seperatley. Is having them seperately generally advised/or is it only for sound design, since you cant have different sounds assigned to the same track. I have always just seen it done in different layers, so thats what I am use to doing.
There are quite a few tutorials about this topic on the web, but it would be cool to see a video with you explaining Tension and Release in melodies, especially in electronic music genres.
Thanks for the great video. I use to write songs on the piano, now I find my creative flow is better for me using my guitar. I use cubase and it can do a “fair” job of analyzing my chords. Do usually have any suggestions or tips on how to use a similar technique using the guitar as the input instrument?
Finally someone who explained a great method for a fresh start. We can apply this methodology to any aspect of songwriting whether it be an instrumental or vocal melody. Appreciate all the effort you put into the video. Subscribed instantly! Thank you!
You are the absolute master! just finished your technonrumble as well and its just insane how spot on you are on how to get a specific desired effect or rhythm, all with a silky smooth steady paced workflow which is just an enjoyment to watch. Thanks for sharing you rock!
Just using piano is a great tip, along with start with the rhythm, then the pitch. The temptation to switch from melody to sound design is huge so i really like these tips.
I am really amazed at how much this will help me. I'm making a music for a friend of mine for fun and I didn't know how to make good melodies so this is such a godsend. Thank you for making the video!
When it comes to a topic within producing and I see you have a vid covering it you are my immediate go to. The amount of wisdom being shared is of the highest standard. I also LOVE you ensure your vids have chapters. Any way, hell yeah, amen and thank you for all this amazing content!
This is a great explanation ! I got my first mpc live 2 a couple weeks ago and this is exactly how I created my very first melodic piece and this is exactly what I did, exactly. I even noticed the difference between diminished changed 1 note now it's perfect. It's like the A.I knows and is now showing me what I did so I understand it !? it's crazy !
Love your videos. I write rock/metal music, so I'm a completely different audience than you're targeting, but a lot of the information you give is still very helpful and transferable. 😊
@@lucasroff6085 for me it's the drums, since I mostly work with 4/4, but rock can have funkier time signatures (and double-hits on a 1/96th of a bar lol)- I highly recommend MT Power Drum Kit if that's your downfall too, and just jam out with that for a bit with it recording (in ableton at least you have to: enable Midi Out in the settings in the plugin; have a 2nd midi channel [either blank just to record, or a drum rack]; set the "Midi From" to the MT-Powerdrumkit channel/VSTi; monitor set to "in"; arm the 2nd channel; hit the Play button in the VSTi; hit record; jam by spam clicking in MTPDK). or do it the tedious way of crafting grooves and fills by dragging and dropping, but that's less fun for my ADHD riddled brain lol. honestly might try Will's technique for the drums too on say 7/8 or 12/8, or at least make use of the rythym's method, except with starting with the "root note" i'll start with the cowbell...
I am would say I am fairly creative person, used to draw a lot when young, then building maps in Revolt (RC cars game), trackmania, warcraft III custom maps, building random vehicles/spaceships/fighters from lego or modelled them in a 3D software, then videos, trailer style videos, now boardgames but music has been something I tried about 12 years ago when I was in university and did not dive too much into it. But I always felt like music is an emotion and I am pretty good with translating a feeling to a certain medium. So I searched for making a song, your video poped up. I think I will need to get some software for that and start playing round with melodies. So, thank you for making this video. Cheers and have a nice day :)
Glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching and supporting the channel 🙂 🙌🏻 Anything else in particular you’re struggling with and would like me to cover?
I have a degree in music composition. My weakest ability is writing melodies. I never got any instruction or assistance in writing melodies. It was always, "that's good" or "that's bad". While that is mildly helpful, a bit of guidance would've gone a long way. This video is brilliant. It really breaks things down into very digestible steps. This video will help me move forward in my writing, more so than years of schooling. And, this is just a first step. Once you get used to doing it this way, you can get more and more instinctual about it.
Thank you many many times for giving me a professional and systematic method to use writing music. I have struggled but have now found my safe harbour and feel more certain that I can go forward with this on my hobby, but still quite serious, level. I write short texts about the life around me and phenomenia (sorry for bad spelling) around me. I also write very short small poems. I want to use music in this work together with photo composites that I make. Others put their texts in books, I want to put them together with music and photos instead. Thanks again for helping me out.
From a long-time experienced guitarist in audio production and writing the MIDI language, I congratulate you for how you put things together, simple and pleasant. I'd be curious to see (even if the EDM environment isn't suitable) how you would write guitar patterns (chords, phrases, licks, riffs and solos) as naturally as possible.
Hard to tell what was particularly useful! I loved every single tip you gave her, immediately subscribed! you make it super simple to understand and I can't wait to try it out myself!
This video came up on autoplay and I would never have watched it as I write neoclassical and folk music. I'm glad I did though! These techniques are applicable to just about any musical style and explained very clearly. Cute little catchy melody too! 🙏
I love the structured way in which you create a melody. I generally counter melodies with beats to get a rhythmic feel. But I like the approach you have in this video. I make electronic music (hense my name) and it's surprising how much stuff out there that doesn't have a melody. BTW I'll be signing up to one of your accelerator courses because I like the way you communicate and get into detail. Without making it too complicated. You have a new fan!
Hey there! Thanks for the shoutout! I'm stoked that you dig this video and found it helpful! 🙂 Can't wait to have you in the Accelerator when you're ready! 🙌🏻
@@EDMTips YEAH Boiiiiii, it'll be after I've been to see the Chemical Brothers in Manchester later this month. My work schedule is hefty and my play schedule is even heftier. Stay blessed 😊
Thanks Will. I do like to use a piano sound for composing. Sometimes a crazy synth patch can trigger the muse to create a riff that may not have been found with a piano although I think it's important to remember that such riffs are often bound tightly to the sound and don't stand alone as a great melody.
That's absolutely true! Sometimes finding a synth patch can be the trigger for creativity. I find when it comes to writing a melody on top of existing chords and bass, that doesn't happen so much, though - more for the initial inspiration
I think it really depends on the style of music you're trying to compose and the personal creativr workflow in the studio. For me the piano thing only works for less energy melodic things. If I try to compose a melody in a driving techno context it really kills the vibe for me. However, If you you want to look at your production from a music theory perspective the piano makes it a lot easier to "hear" what you are doing.
@@danieljowo3205 Agreed. For classical I write in Steinberg Dorico straight to the score from a midi keyboard with a piano sound and then arrange for the orchestra. For Synthwave, I pick the usual suspects as a sound.
The concept of replicating jumps was huge! So was the whole idea of grooves and counter melodies, starting a bit after the main melody so as not to take its spotlight. Question: how would you recommend sustaining interest in a melody for a long time, besides the variations at the end? i.e. bridges, occasional elaborations on the melody, even balancing the counter melody with some more occasional syncopation? I have a shtick where I like to make longer songs. Please do reference this video if you already have it, and if you have a more detailed one on melodies for different genres for this melody thirsty guy :) Great videos, big ups!
What type of music do you make/listen to? Sustaining interest comes from variation. Tracks within a genre have a similar structure. I often have a second (simpler) melody that plays before and after the main melody. Like in a traditional song, you'd have a verse before and after the chorus. It should also have something new the next time it comes around, just like in a traditional song, a second verse is different from the first. It's helpful to think of the track as an emotional journey; It steadily builds up and eventually climaxes, before fading away.
Solve 1 step at a time. A concept that seems so obvious, but until having you walk us through it I never would've thought to do. Great video! THANK YOU
You are a GOD sin. You make me exited about constructing beats when I get down and discourage. Your teaching ability is the best and you cut no corners in you explanations, Thank you!!!
Top tips there. I try to play as much in as I can so I get natural variation (albeit badly) then go and fiddle with the midi notes to buff it up. I really like the idea of tapping in the rhythm of the melody though. Never thought of that ...can't wait to try it out.
You're an absolute GOD, truly an amazing tutorial that is on point and straight up useful. Subscribed and liked! Will definitely be watching your content from now on
never have i commented and liked a video at the same time before its always its always one or the other but this man here deserves both very humble and explained it in a way which he intends you to know everything and make sure you understand. Thank you so much
I really love and enjoy your expertise in every step from song-writing to producing, as much as I enjoy watching you using so intuitively the tools that other people cooked so slowly for such a long time. I would not wonder if software architects, designers and developers were full of joy and watering eyes while watching you use their/your tools they way you do. Often developers compare developing software to making babies, like when they say 9 mothers don't bring a new-born into life in 1 month, as usually some people in charge think that by spending more money to build an army of developers would increase its time to market, but it is not that easy. Enjoy and re-joy yourself!
you deserve a million subs. this guide is one of the most simple straight forward guides i've seen. it's so easy to understand and was a great ez refresher for me. i wish you nothing but success.
Thank you for constantly playing the sound over. I found that many other tutorials would play it once, meaning I have to keep looping back. This has given me a bunch of confidence, thank you again
shame I watched this video late, you probably won't read this lol!!! THIS IS PROBABLY THE BEST TOPIC YOU HAVE EVER DONE!!! Honestly, this advice with simple instructions can take producers far. Fantastic episode mate. Please keep up the good work. You make the complicated simple. Thank you. 😉
I came across this technique before seeing your video, but was glad to see it. It began for me when asking my piano teacher about advice for putting chords to a melody. Once you know your key, think about the _rhythm_ of the chords first; once you have then rhythm, then you can look to the melody and key to decide what chords fit. This is a sort-of opposite: once you have your chords, decide on the rhythm of the melody, and based on the chords, see what fits. It massively reduces the space of possibilities to search if you do either the rhythm, or the melody, but not both. And you can go back and forth, generating variations. And indeed back and forth between chords and melody: first work out the rhythm of what you want to be different, then figure out the changes in pitch.
step one: learn music theory. Step two: learn chord progressions. Step three: hit the shit out of your keys and see what's coming around. Step four: always use tutorials as guideline not as something you want to achieve. Step five: create n bin, means create as much as possible and decide later to delete your stuff. Step six: use presets, experiment, with whatever pops in your mind :D
When I write I literally pick up my guitar, hit any chord, and start singing. It's how I wrote my first album haha. For me I can't even think about what I'm doing...it just has to "happen." If I wrote with rules and guidelines I don't think I could do it. I do, however, fully appreciate your knowledge, skills, and craftsmanship. Enjoyed this video.
@@mchamberlain7408 it's cool to play around and check out, what sounds the best and fits together, but this imho counts up to a certain degree. Sure, you can use whatever pops out of your head, but creating concepts with most of these blitzes, as I may call them, is something, that works just to certain point. I came across tons of billions of songs and thought sometimes, why they sound so similar to each other? A friend of me once showed me the 4 Chords of Awesomeness video and it blew my mind. Still can't get my head around it, that so many persons just did the very same thing without much variation behind it. Good most of them had a big ship of staff behind their songs and productions and there is an SSD with the complete amount of chords and progressions that were written within the last 300 years so, my point is, that whatever you create spontenously is like Rule 34 of the internet* (if it exists, there's already porn of it), someone probably did that same thing already. :) but no offense, let offspring your creative float and keep doing music. Cheers
@@mchamberlain7408 I agree, although the methodology for creating 'EDM' as shown by Will , should not be ignored. I agree with you, if I write a song, it largely comes from either putting a few chords on guitar together and singing, or maybe discovering a new melody on the piano.
I am a logic user and somewhat a beginner but this video is by far the best for learning how to make melodies. I struggle with the most. Thank you so much for this! It has truly helped me a lot and now I understand how to make melodies with chords
Just got back into music production after a year of not doing anything and I'm not giving up this time. This felt like a breath of fresh air, exactly what I needed. Thanks Will! 🙌
As someone who generally doesn't really follow a system to producing songs (I just play something random then organize it and fits things to it, generally the melody), this all definitely is applicable to my style, despite how scattered it is lol
Thank you so much! I've been struggling a lot to understand how to make melodies for trance and your video just explains perfectly how melodies are made for people like me which don't know a lot about music theory. Can't wait to apply this tips!
FINALY. An actuall GUIDE to melodies. Usually it just goes like "how to give your melodies more emotions" or "10 types of melodies every produser should know" or smt Thank you so much for this video! It boosted my songs' quality significanly!
Great video, didn't skip any of it. Was hoping you'd assign new synth/instrument sounds to the chords and melody as a final step to show how much the style could change
Cheers my man.really have to say again that all of these tutorials are helping remind me of my music theory&getting to know the rest too.anyway,I've got a couple of fat bitsa tunage I'm going to have to give you so much credit for,in terms of all of these tutorials.many thanks
I cannot let you know how enjoyable and interesting your content is, this video really taugth me a lot of concepts I was missing, I love it, keep the good work!
I just started my production journey and this tutorial is fantastic. I just put together a melody that I actually really like. Thank you so much for this.
Bruuuh Im with you on radio ready course, and I just got this pop out on my feed cause im preparing my writing sessions for the 2 tracks I wanna do. This was perfect! Finally someone explained so well the counter melody, and so easy. Thank you for making this kind of stuff. THe way also how you write the melody and all, true I should worry more on the complexity and rythm first, second my presets.
As a total beginner who has spent too much time getting lost with synth sounds , this makes so much sense and helps me not get distracted , thank you . 🙏🏻
You're welcome, glad you found it useful! 🙌🏻
Your comment helped me decide wether this video is worth it for me as a beginner or not. Thank you. And also big thanks to the uploader!!
Me too, great video. Synths are such a exciting distraction for a beginner, I've wasted hours playing around with them haha
@@zaknorris5727 I recently got the Cherry Audio Mercury-6... I have to say, in the lower price range it is a fascinating study object, and not a bad softsynth either in my noob book. It really opened my eyes to the basic signal modulation that is much of electronic music.
Not working for these guys, just really psyched about it lol.
This is incredible!!!!! 😻😻😻
The only man who can explain complicated subjects in a way a 4 year old would understand.
I am glad this was helpful!
Thank you for watching and supporting the channel, Dirk! 🙌🏻
@@EDMTips In 3 years old. Turning 4 years old in 6 months and I understood all of it lol. Amazing content 👌
@@tsomofc4795 I'm 2 and I understand this 🥶
Yup
I have the mental capacity of a -1 year old and I understood it
super underrated content man you destroy anyone's paid course by giving out the spiciest golden nuggets for free. if you haven't heard it enough, the community really appreciates you.
Thank you so much for your kind words of support, Nick, really appreciate it! 🙂🙌🏻
Second this. In using all these videos to bring myself up to speed on production (been DJing 25 years which helps) and then going to invest in one of these paid courses from edmtips 😎
Man this video is absolutely awesome! The only thing I'd want to see is a final summary of what we learned and how we applied it.
Thank you so much for your tuition! ❤ :)
Great idea, and thanks for the kind words!
The tip to start with simple piano and get the rhythm right on the root note first is a massive help. I always go straight some insane spacey sounding synth because I love them but nailing a good progression is so much easier without all the extra noise. Thanks so much!
You're welcome, really glad you found it helpful! 🙂🙌🏻
I'm not an EDM producer, but that tip to figure out the rhythm of your basic melody and counter melody before worrying too much about the pitch is actually a very nice method of writing catchy, nice, simple melodies, which I think every composer needs to do at some point in their music writing career.
Indeed, Risuka! Glad it was helpful! 🙌🏻
@@EDMTips I've struggled with melody rhythms quite a lot. I never thought to do it this way. I feel like this will help in a massive way thanks so much for the tip.
@@FindtheShrooms I usually have some lyrics I want to write a melody for, so the words and syllables can dictate the basic rhythm. If you're working on something that's not a vocal melody, you can just grab the lyrics from a song you like and use them as a guide anyway. Other than that, place some drums/percussion or a bass line loop, and follow that if you struggle to find rhythm (like stretch a breakbeat loop and place your melody notes on the kicks and snares).
Absolutely 💯
I don't comment much on TH-cam but had to in this case because this is top drawer stuff. As an Ableton user with no music theory knowledge, and someone who struggles to write catchy melodies this was pure gold. Really appreciate you posting it - thank you.
Thanks Mark! I’m really glad it helped :)
He is the BEST!!!
I rarely reply.
Get yourself a copy of 'Rudiments and Theory of Music' - it will make things much clearer.
Agreed, this really is as good as gold.
The light bulb went off in my head. This made so much more sense with you sharing the 7 step method. I’m new to music theory and production so trying to get around this curve. Thank you.
You're welcome, glad it was helpful! 🙂🙌🏻
That bass note tip is so tru, i tend to get something cool going and keep going up octaves on my mpk mini and just playing around till i find something that sounds cool, along with a few counter melodies
Thank you, glad you found it helpful 🙌🏻
It’s so hard for me to focus on parts of a song with so much different sounds in music softwares but you made music like a road map for me and guided me to my destination. Appreciate the help and please make more vids! 🔥 🎉
this is a master piece for EDM production. Simple and effective. thanks!!
You're very welcome, glad you liked it! 🙌🏻
The video I've searched for on the internet for years and finally it's been served to me and I'm so happy. Everything I was looking for has been addressed in this one video and I'm grateful for it.
Please make more of these. There's not much on the internet with regards to making good melodies.
Stoked to hear that, glad it was helpful! Anything else in particular you’re struggling with and would like me to cover in my future videos?
@@EDMTips please make a tutorial on making a melody first and building music around that. Because most of the times, melodies come intuitively but not necessarily good ones. I would like to see how to approach building good and catchy melodies without relying on the underlying harmonic structure. Applying chords is still possible if you know enough theory but coming up with good melodies as a standalone entity is where I face a lot of problems. You would appreciate the fact that I'm approaching building melodies mostly to be sung by a person by writing lyrics.
As someone who occasionally makes music as a hobby, this video was super helpful! You've found yourself another subscriber, I hope to make plenty use of your tutorials.
Awesome, I am glad you found it helpful and thanks for subscribing, I really appreciate the support!
Anything else in particular you’re struggling with and would like me to cover on the channel?
Masterclass. Best I've seen on youtube. Holding nothing back, and not a second wasted. Respect !!
I appreciate that, glad you found it helpful!🙌🏻
„If you want your melodies to be unique, then ALWAYS do this!“ 😅
Knowledge can never be part of sarcasm
@@juniorji6029what does that even mean?
@@Winter-CIG I think he quoted in way of sarcasm
@@Winter-CIG you are the key
@@jibberism9910 🤣🤣🤣
As a self taught bass player with no significant knowledge for music theory, I have always stayed within the key that is noted on chord charts. So nice to see a step by step breakdown and now it all makes much more sense! Thank you ☺️
You're welcome, Angela, I am glad you found this video helpful! 🙂
Thanks for watching and supporting the channel :)
I have to say, Will, you are really nailing it lately. I mean I've enjoyed every video of yours that I've seen, but you've been hitting it out of the park lately. I've been wanting a vid on counter melody as that's something I've never really understood. This was very helpful. Oh, and praise God for coffee!!!!! 😄
Totally agree. I trust this channel more than any other for EDM and general production.
Thanks guys! I really appreciate the support and kind words :)
Thank you for showing what keys you’re pressing at the bottom it is helping me learn the shortcuts. Great video! This was very helpful as someone who’s new to producing
You're welcome! Glad you found it helpful!
Anything else you're struggling with and would like me to cover on the channel? :)
I cannot stress how good this tutorial is. Thank you so much.
Hugeee help for writers block. Will definitely aid my creative flow! Thanks 🙏🏽
You're welcome, glad it was helpful! 🙂
Really loved the way you worked out the rhythm using just the root notes and then going for the tones....Beautiful!!
Thank you so much! Glad you liked it 🙂
Agree!!
Wow... what simple and effective techniques not just for EDM but music in general. As a bass player, I use a similar technique for bass lines but never actually made a mental note of how I did it. Just develop the groove with roots then flesh out the line with notes. Can't believe I never thought to approach other instruments this same way... Love the tool to only select notes in your key. That's a money tip for sure! Definitely subscribing.
Appreciate it! Thanks for the sub and I hope you enjoy my other videos :)
This is the exact tutorial I was needing for my song writing!
This was the most helpful tutorial ever about making good melodies!! I’m glad you took the time to explain the things in the way that „producers“ from all skill levels understand!
Thank you very much dude🙏🏽🔥
You're welcome! Glad you found it helpful! 🙂🙌🏻
I thought doing the rhythm first was just the drummer in me. Interesting to see you also mention that! Another thing I often do is record voice messages of random melodies that pop into my head. Then I can try to create those in software later. It's much harder for me to come up with an overall interesting theme when building up note by note than when just humming a melody.
This is the best video on TH-cam on how to write melodies. Seriously, I've watched a lot of videos, but this is the only one with very specific, practical, and clear steps. Thank you very much
This is my favourite channel ❤️
I will turn into a bedroom DJ because I absolutely love music !!!!!!
I'm very busy raising the children at the moment,but this is one of my goals for my spare room.
It's great to see the little tricks along the way.
Keep going your amazing 👏
Awesome! Thanks for watching and for the kind words of support 🙂
gotta say that what achieve this tutorial is unique, basically learning music getting ON THE SAME TIME a lot of fun along, because on top of that I can build with scaler 2, music theory, but starting with some music that make sense!
Thank you so much, I really appreciate the support! 🙂🙏
Thank you for watching! What questions do you have for me about writing melodies? Let me know! 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
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Did you incorporate the bass notes into the same layer/channel as the chords?
I always have done them seperatley. Is having them seperately generally advised/or is it only for sound design, since you cant have different sounds assigned to the same track.
I have always just seen it done in different layers, so thats what I am use to doing.
@@adammason1587 Always separately after they've been written. This was just for speed
There are quite a few tutorials about this topic on the web, but it would be cool to see a video with you explaining Tension and Release in melodies, especially in electronic music genres.
@Wez Tuppeny I need to find / watch that!
Thanks for the great video. I use to write songs on the piano, now I find my creative flow is better for me using my guitar. I use cubase and it can do a “fair” job of analyzing my chords. Do usually have any suggestions or tips on how to use a similar technique using the guitar as the input instrument?
Finally someone who explained a great method for a fresh start. We can apply this methodology to any aspect of songwriting whether it be an instrumental or vocal melody. Appreciate all the effort you put into the video. Subscribed instantly! Thank you!
You're welcome, glad it was helpful! 🙂
This information just took my music creation to a whole new level. Thank you.
Glad it helped! You're welcome! 🙂
Dude, your channel is insane ... I've been following these channels for a long time ... yours is simply spectacular. Thank you!
You're very welcome, glad it was helpful! 🙂
Omg this is one of the best tutorials i found, keep up the great work!
Thank you! I’m glad it helped :)
Simple, brillaint and immediately applicable. Thank you!
You're welcome, glad it was helpful! 🙂🙌🏻
Focusing on the melody rthym with just the root note is such a simple but very nice tip!! Thx again for a great channel 😊
You're welcome! 🙂 Glad it helped
You are the absolute master! just finished your technonrumble as well and its just insane how spot on you are on how to get a specific desired effect or rhythm, all with a silky smooth steady paced workflow which is just an enjoyment to watch. Thanks for sharing you rock!
Just using piano is a great tip, along with start with the rhythm, then the pitch. The temptation to switch from melody to sound design is huge so i really like these tips.
Glad you found it helpful, Gerry! 🙌🏻
It’s crazy how much I learn from each video. I literally take notes sometimes like I’m in a lecture
Awesome, I am super stoked to hear that! 🙌🏻
Marvelous. One of the best vids I've seen on this. Thanks so much!
Thank you, Tim, really appreciate the kind words of support! 🙂
I am really amazed at how much this will help me. I'm making a music for a friend of mine for fun and I didn't know how to make good melodies so this is such a godsend. Thank you for making the video!
Awesome, glad you found this helpful! 🙌🏻
When it comes to a topic within producing and I see you have a vid covering it you are my immediate go to. The amount of wisdom being shared is of the highest standard. I also LOVE you ensure your vids have chapters. Any way, hell yeah, amen and thank you for all this amazing content!
😭 Been looking for a video like this for so long. As soon as you finished the counter melody, I started feeling the groove, that was awesome.
Awesome, glad I could help! 🙂🙌🏻
@MinusMedley You have very good music on your channel, it's a shame that you have comments disabled.
@@Sulfurico appreciate the response, couldn't figure out how to enable them, managed to get most working. 👍
This is a great explanation ! I got my first mpc live 2 a couple weeks ago and this is exactly how I created my very first melodic piece and this is exactly what I did, exactly. I even noticed the difference between diminished changed 1 note now it's perfect. It's like the A.I knows and is now showing me what I did so I understand it !? it's crazy !
Awesome, I am glad you found this useful! 🙂🙌🏻
Love your videos. I write rock/metal music, so I'm a completely different audience than you're targeting, but a lot of the information you give is still very helpful and transferable. 😊
I’m trying to write rock but idky it’s so hard to me, everytime I come up with something i blank on making something past a verse
@@lucasroff6085 for me it's the drums, since I mostly work with 4/4, but rock can have funkier time signatures (and double-hits on a 1/96th of a bar lol)- I highly recommend MT Power Drum Kit if that's your downfall too, and just jam out with that for a bit with it recording (in ableton at least you have to: enable Midi Out in the settings in the plugin; have a 2nd midi channel [either blank just to record, or a drum rack]; set the "Midi From" to the MT-Powerdrumkit channel/VSTi; monitor set to "in"; arm the 2nd channel; hit the Play button in the VSTi; hit record; jam by spam clicking in MTPDK). or do it the tedious way of crafting grooves and fills by dragging and dropping, but that's less fun for my ADHD riddled brain lol.
honestly might try Will's technique for the drums too on say 7/8 or 12/8, or at least make use of the rythym's method, except with starting with the "root note" i'll start with the cowbell...
I am would say I am fairly creative person, used to draw a lot when young, then building maps in Revolt (RC cars game), trackmania, warcraft III custom maps, building random vehicles/spaceships/fighters from lego or modelled them in a 3D software, then videos, trailer style videos, now boardgames but music has been something I tried about 12 years ago when I was in university and did not dive too much into it. But I always felt like music is an emotion and I am pretty good with translating a feeling to a certain medium. So I searched for making a song, your video poped up. I think I will need to get some software for that and start playing round with melodies. So, thank you for making this video. Cheers and have a nice day :)
Stoked for you, Fujtajbus, welcome to the most fun hobby in the world :)
This is probably one of the most helpful melodies I've seen. Thank you! I'll definitely check out more of your videos. :)
Glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching and supporting the channel 🙂 🙌🏻
Anything else in particular you’re struggling with and would like me to cover?
I have a degree in music composition. My weakest ability is writing melodies. I never got any instruction or assistance in writing melodies. It was always, "that's good" or "that's bad". While that is mildly helpful, a bit of guidance would've gone a long way.
This video is brilliant. It really breaks things down into very digestible steps. This video will help me move forward in my writing, more so than years of schooling. And, this is just a first step. Once you get used to doing it this way, you can get more and more instinctual about it.
Thank you so much, Marlon, I am glad you found it helpful! 🙂
Never thought to compose a melody from the perspective of its rhythm. 🤯 Thanks!
You're welcome, glad you found it helpful! 🙌🏻
Anything else you'd like me to cover?
Your tutorial inspires me again.
Happy to hear that! 🙂
Thank you many many times for giving me a professional and systematic method to use writing music. I have struggled but have now found my safe harbour and feel more certain that I can go forward with this on my hobby, but still quite serious, level. I write short texts about the life around me and phenomenia (sorry for bad spelling) around me. I also write very short small poems. I want to use music in this work together with photo composites that I make. Others put their texts in books, I want to put them together with music and photos instead. Thanks again for helping me out.
You're welcome, glad you fund this video helpful! 🙌🏻
That is the best explanation of how to write a song I have ever heard. Bravo! Thanks!
You're very welcome, glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
From a long-time experienced guitarist in audio production and writing the MIDI language, I congratulate you for how you put things together, simple and pleasant. I'd be curious to see (even if the EDM environment isn't suitable) how you would write guitar patterns (chords, phrases, licks, riffs and solos) as naturally as possible.
Thank you, and great idea!
Hard to tell what was particularly useful! I loved every single tip you gave her, immediately subscribed! you make it super simple to understand and I can't wait to try it out myself!
Really glad you found it useful! Welcome aboard :)
wow, a LOT of knowledge transfer here, really really appreciate it. The way you describe and make it "visual" is really good work
This video came up on autoplay and I would never have watched it as I write neoclassical and folk music.
I'm glad I did though! These techniques are applicable to just about any musical style and explained very clearly.
Cute little catchy melody too! 🙏
I love the structured way in which you create a melody. I generally counter melodies with beats to get a rhythmic feel. But I like the approach you have in this video.
I make electronic music (hense my name) and it's surprising how much stuff out there that doesn't have a melody.
BTW I'll be signing up to one of your accelerator courses because I like the way you communicate and get into detail. Without making it too complicated.
You have a new fan!
Hey there! Thanks for the shoutout! I'm stoked that you dig this video and found it helpful! 🙂
Can't wait to have you in the Accelerator when you're ready! 🙌🏻
@@EDMTips YEAH Boiiiiii, it'll be after I've been to see the Chemical Brothers in Manchester later this month.
My work schedule is hefty and my play schedule is even heftier.
Stay blessed 😊
Wow... pure gold this!! Thank you maestro!
You're welcome, glad you found this helpful! Anything else you're struggling with?
Thanks Will. I do like to use a piano sound for composing. Sometimes a crazy synth patch can trigger the muse to create a riff that may not have been found with a piano although I think it's important to remember that such riffs are often bound tightly to the sound and don't stand alone as a great melody.
That's absolutely true! Sometimes finding a synth patch can be the trigger for creativity. I find when it comes to writing a melody on top of existing chords and bass, that doesn't happen so much, though - more for the initial inspiration
I think it really depends on the style of music you're trying to compose and the personal creativr workflow in the studio. For me the piano thing only works for less energy melodic things. If I try to compose a melody in a driving techno context it really kills the vibe for me. However, If you you want to look at your production from a music theory perspective the piano makes it a lot easier to "hear" what you are doing.
@@danieljowo3205 Agreed. For classical I write in Steinberg Dorico straight to the score from a midi keyboard with a piano sound and then arrange for the orchestra. For Synthwave, I pick the usual suspects as a sound.
@@danieljowo3205 Yep, I can agree with that!
This is brilliant. One like does not express how much I appreciate this tutorial. I'm sharing it with my music buds.
Thank you very much!
The concept of replicating jumps was huge! So was the whole idea of grooves and counter melodies, starting a bit after the main melody so as not to take its spotlight. Question: how would you recommend sustaining interest in a melody for a long time, besides the variations at the end? i.e. bridges, occasional elaborations on the melody, even balancing the counter melody with some more occasional syncopation? I have a shtick where I like to make longer songs. Please do reference this video if you already have it, and if you have a more detailed one on melodies for different genres for this melody thirsty guy :) Great videos, big ups!
What type of music do you make/listen to? Sustaining interest comes from variation. Tracks within a genre have a similar structure. I often have a second (simpler) melody that plays before and after the main melody. Like in a traditional song, you'd have a verse before and after the chorus. It should also have something new the next time it comes around, just like in a traditional song, a second verse is different from the first. It's helpful to think of the track as an emotional journey; It steadily builds up and eventually climaxes, before fading away.
Solve 1 step at a time. A concept that seems so obvious, but until having you walk us through it I never would've thought to do. Great video! THANK YOU
You're welcome, glad you found it helpful! 🙂
You are a GOD sin. You make me exited about constructing beats when I get down and discourage. Your teaching ability is the best and you cut no corners in you explanations, Thank you!!!
My bad...excited*
Ooof, no-one called me a GOD sin before! Thank you! Glad you're enjoying my videos :)
I’m not used to commenting but i must confess that you are a good teacher, and you’ve just helped escape a hook. Thanks man
You're welcome, Patrick, thanks for watching and kind words of support! Really appreciate it! 🙌🏻
Top tips there. I try to play as much in as I can so I get natural variation (albeit badly) then go and fiddle with the midi notes to buff it up. I really like the idea of tapping in the rhythm of the melody though. Never thought of that ...can't wait to try it out.
Go for it, Ian! Let me know how you get on :)
You're an absolute GOD, truly an amazing tutorial that is on point and straight up useful. Subscribed and liked! Will definitely be watching your content from now on
Thanks for watching and supporting the channel, really appreciate it!
Glad you found this hepful :)
Fantastic video from start to finish, and easy to follow along .... thanks for sharing the knowledge
sounds like LInkin Park
never have i commented and liked a video at the same time before its always its always one or the other but this man here deserves both very humble and explained it in a way which he intends you to know everything and make sure you understand. Thank you so much
Unbelievably helpful 🙏🏼
Stoked to hear that! 🙏🏻
I really love and enjoy your expertise in every step from song-writing to producing, as much as I enjoy watching you using so intuitively the tools that other people cooked so slowly for such a long time. I would not wonder if software architects, designers and developers were full of joy and watering eyes while watching you use their/your tools they way you do. Often developers compare developing software to making babies, like when they say 9 mothers don't bring a new-born into life in 1 month, as usually some people in charge think that by spending more money to build an army of developers would increase its time to market, but it is not that easy. Enjoy and re-joy yourself!
Legendary thank you, love that method of using the root notes for the rhythm
Try it out in your next track 😉
you deserve a million subs. this guide is one of the most simple straight forward guides i've seen. it's so easy to understand and was a great ez refresher for me. i wish you nothing but success.
Thank you so much!
7yrs of trying to play piano now over thank you !!! So HQ content, love it!
Thank you, Simon, I am glad you found it useful! 🙌🏻
Thank you for constantly playing the sound over. I found that many other tutorials would play it once, meaning I have to keep looping back. This has given me a bunch of confidence, thank you again
You're welcome, glad it was helpful! 🙌🏻
shame I watched this video late, you probably won't read this lol!!! THIS IS PROBABLY THE BEST TOPIC YOU HAVE EVER DONE!!! Honestly, this advice with simple instructions can take producers far. Fantastic episode mate. Please keep up the good work. You make the complicated simple. Thank you. 😉
You’re welcome! And I did read this :)
I came across this technique before seeing your video, but was glad to see it. It began for me when asking my piano teacher about advice for putting chords to a melody. Once you know your key, think about the _rhythm_ of the chords first; once you have then rhythm, then you can look to the melody and key to decide what chords fit. This is a sort-of opposite: once you have your chords, decide on the rhythm of the melody, and based on the chords, see what fits. It massively reduces the space of possibilities to search if you do either the rhythm, or the melody, but not both. And you can go back and forth, generating variations. And indeed back and forth between chords and melody: first work out the rhythm of what you want to be different, then figure out the changes in pitch.
step one: learn music theory. Step two: learn chord progressions. Step three: hit the shit out of your keys and see what's coming around. Step four: always use tutorials as guideline not as something you want to achieve. Step five: create n bin, means create as much as possible and decide later to delete your stuff. Step six: use presets, experiment, with whatever pops in your mind :D
Love it! Great tip 🤙
Pretty much agree
When I write I literally pick up my guitar, hit any chord, and start singing. It's how I wrote my first album haha. For me I can't even think about what I'm doing...it just has to "happen." If I wrote with rules and guidelines I don't think I could do it. I do, however, fully appreciate your knowledge, skills, and craftsmanship. Enjoyed this video.
@@mchamberlain7408 it's cool to play around and check out, what sounds the best and fits together, but this imho counts up to a certain degree. Sure, you can use whatever pops out of your head, but creating concepts with most of these blitzes, as I may call them, is something, that works just to certain point. I came across tons of billions of songs and thought sometimes, why they sound so similar to each other? A friend of me once showed me the 4 Chords of Awesomeness video and it blew my mind. Still can't get my head around it, that so many persons just did the very same thing without much variation behind it. Good most of them had a big ship of staff behind their songs and productions and there is an SSD with the complete amount of chords and progressions that were written within the last 300 years so, my point is, that whatever you create spontenously is like Rule 34 of the internet* (if it exists, there's already porn of it), someone probably did that same thing already. :) but no offense, let offspring your creative float and keep doing music. Cheers
@@mchamberlain7408 I agree, although the methodology for creating 'EDM' as shown by Will , should not be ignored. I agree with you, if I write a song, it largely comes from either putting a few chords on guitar together and singing, or maybe discovering a new melody on the piano.
I am a logic user and somewhat a beginner but this video is by far the best for learning how to make melodies. I struggle with the most. Thank you so much for this! It has truly helped me a lot and now I understand how to make melodies with chords
I am really glad it helped, and you are very welcome!
Just got back into music production after a year of not doing anything and I'm not giving up this time. This felt like a breath of fresh air, exactly what I needed. Thanks Will! 🙌
You’re very welcome!
Amazing lesson! Thanks it help me a lot!
Glad it was useful, Zack! Thanks for watching and supporting the channel 🙂🙌🏻
Reminder that a melody often becomes actually interesting when you use notes outside of the scale.
100%!
You dropped a lot of gold in this one, man.
Glad you thought so :) Anything else you'd like to see me cover?
You're doing God's work here 🙌🙌🙌
Appreciate it! 🙌🙏
Your tutorial was much more useful than all the ones I've seen so far! Thanks for the great video.
Man, this is next level..oh my goodness
Really glad you found it helpful 🙂 Thanks for watching and supporting 🙌🏻
Thank you, made a lot of sense to an old man struggling! Much respect.
You're welcome, Barry, glad it helped! 🙂
my music still sounds awful but atleast they have good melodies
😂
It always gives me great pleasure to look at your posts, thx
You're welcome, I am glad you found them helpful! 🙂🙌🏻
As someone who generally doesn't really follow a system to producing songs (I just play something random then organize it and fits things to it, generally the melody), this all definitely is applicable to my style, despite how scattered it is lol
Thank you for your feedback, Vortex's, really appreciate it! 🙌🏻
Have to produce a song for school! I was so lost but now I feel like I know where to start! Thank you a lot, saving my music grade fr
Thank you so much! I've been struggling a lot to understand how to make melodies for trance and your video just explains perfectly how melodies are made for people like me which don't know a lot about music theory. Can't wait to apply this tips!
Glad it was helpful! Anything else you're struggling with?
FINALY. An actuall GUIDE to melodies.
Usually it just goes like "how to give your melodies more emotions" or "10 types of melodies every produser should know" or smt
Thank you so much for this video! It boosted my songs' quality significanly!
You're welcome, glad it helped! 🙂
Great video, didn't skip any of it. Was hoping you'd assign new synth/instrument sounds to the chords and melody as a final step to show how much the style could change
Great suggestion for next time!
Cheers my man.really have to say again that all of these tutorials are helping remind me of my music theory&getting to know the rest too.anyway,I've got a couple of fat bitsa tunage I'm going to have to give you so much credit for,in terms of all of these tutorials.many thanks
Great !!!
Thank you, I am glad you found it helpful 🙂🙌🏻
I cannot let you know how enjoyable and interesting your content is, this video really taugth me a lot of concepts I was missing, I love it, keep the good work!
Thank you so much, Dario, glad you enjoyed it! 🙌🏻
I’m in a song writing class with zero musical/DAW experience and this video literally saved me 🙏
Glad to help :)
I just started my production journey and this tutorial is fantastic. I just put together a melody that I actually really like. Thank you so much for this.
Stoked to hear that! Thank you for watching and supporting the channel 🙂🙌🏻
Bruuuh Im with you on radio ready course, and I just got this pop out on my feed cause im preparing my writing sessions for the 2 tracks I wanna do. This was perfect! Finally someone explained so well the counter melody, and so easy. Thank you for making this kind of stuff. THe way also how you write the melody and all, true I should worry more on the complexity and rythm first, second my presets.
😎👌
Melody --> Chords ---> Bassline.
I watch your videos and the topics I have spent years learning just fall into place. Powerful stuff!
BOOM! 🙌🙌 😎 .Thanks for watching and supporting the channel!