Writing Catchy Melodies

A well written melody can make or break a song. A catchy melody will grabs the listener's attention and make them pay attention to the lyrics. If your melody is good, listeners will hum it or tap their feet to it.

Although you do not need a great deal of music training to write an effective melody, it helps to be somewhat familiar with music theory. You can analyze the melodies of other songs to find out what makes them popular.

While the melodies of other songs can provide you with inspiration for writing your own melodies, you can find inspiration from a variety of different sources, such as the sounds of nature or even traffic noises.

Don't worry if your melody reminds you of a melody that you think you have heard somewhere else (as long as you haven't actually copied the melody of another song). That just means that there is something about the melody that makes people naturally respond to it.

An effective way to write a melody is to write it a cappella - without the accompaniment of a musical instrument. Just think of the melody in your head.

If you don't play any instruments very well - perhaps you can only strum a few guitar chords - don't limit your melody to something that you can play yourself. You can sing or hum into an MP3 player or tape recorder as you develop your song.

Many people try to write melodies by playing chord changes and then fitting a melody onto them. They play an instrumental solo or a guitar riff and then try to write the melody from that.

This is usually the wrong way to go about things. The melody should come first, and then the chords should be designed to support the melody.

Remember that listeners will remember the melody, not the chords.

Keep your melody simple, so that it is easy for listeners to remember and sing. Your lines should be short, with a small number of notes and syllables. If you repeat the same short phrases in your song, it will be easy for listeners to remember the whole song. Your melody should haves some variety, however, so it doesn't become boring.

You can keep listeners interested in your song by varying the rhythm in different parts of the song. For example, your verses can have long notes while your choruses can have short notes. Of course, your lyrics will have to fit the notes in all parts of your song.

The mood of your melody should match the mood of your song's lyrics. A sad song should usually have minor chords, while a happy song should generally have major chords.

Make sure that your melody allows the singer to stress words the way that they would normally stress them if they were speaking.

The title of your song should have an obvious spot in the melody. The part of the melody that contains the title should stand out from the rest of the melody.

One way to make the title stand out is to make the notes to which the title will be sung higher or lower than the rest of the rest of the melody.

You can also make the rhythm of the title different from the rhythm of the rest of the song.

Adding a pause before the phrase that contains the title is another way to emphasize the title in the melody.

If you don't know who will be singing your song - for example, if you are submitting a demo to a music publisher - limit the range of notes in your melody to about ten notes. Most professional singers will be able to sing in that range without difficulty.

However, if you are writing for a specific singer with a larger vocal range, then your melody can encompass the highs and lows of their range.