Songwriting - Using Chords, Scales and Modes to Write Melodies

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Use the Notes in Your Chords

If you're really stuck on coming up with a melody, an easy place to get started is to use the experiment with using the notes in your chords as a basis for your melody.

For example, let's say you have a verse that switches back and forth between a C chord and a G chord. Knowing that a C chord is composed of the notes C, E and G, you can use those three notes as a basis for your melody when you're playing the C chord. A G chord has the notes G, B and D, so when you switch to the G, you can use those three notes in your melody.

Maybe the notes of your melody become C-E-G, over the C chord and then G-B-G over the G chord. So your motif will be composed of the notes C-E-G-G-B-G, over the C and G chords. You can experiment with different rhythms for the notes to see what works best, but this can be a good place to start.

Scales & Modes

Whichever mode your song is in (i.e. Ionian, Dorian, etc), you can use that mode to create melodies. If your song uses C Ionian chords, you can use the notes from the C major scale over your chords to come up with a melody. If you're song is in G mixolydian, you can use the G mixolydian scale as a basis for writing your melody.

I'll show you an example of what I'm talking about in the key of D Aeolian. Let's say the chords in our song are Dm - Gm - Am. In this case we can use the D Aeolian scale to come up with a melody on top of these chords. The Aeolian mode relates back to the major scale, or Ionian mode by having a flatted third, sixth and seventh notes. So in relation to Ionian, it is:

1 2 3b 4 5 6b 7b 1

Since we're working in D Aeolian here, the notes will be:

D E F G A Bb C D

Since our chords are in D Aeolian, we can use the notes of the D Aeolian mode to come up with melodies over our chords. Try recording a chord progression of Dm - Gm - Am, then play around with some of the notes of the D Aeolian scale over it, and see if you can come up with a melodic motif you like. You're not soloing here. Instead you're looking for a short catchy piece of melody you can use and modify to become the basis for your melody. This concept applies to each mode.

To learn more, download my free EBook here:
http://www.SuccessForYourSongs.com/freeoffer/

Anthony Ceseri is the owner of http://www.successforyoursongs.com/, a website dedicated to the growth and development of songwriters of all skill levels. Anthony's writings appear as examples in the book "Songwriting Without Boundaries: Lyric Writing Exercises For Finding Your Voice" by Pat Pattison, an acclaimed lyric writing professor at Berklee College of Music.

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