Do you wake up in the morning and feel... you know... Not so fresh? Well this is because you arn't. You have in fact woken up in front of your computer keyboard, with dozens of empty glasses of cappucino and/or jolt cola... Your mother is still calling you for dinner... The point is, you havn't showered for 3 days. How fresh could you possibly be?
Why havn't you showered in three days? Well, you've tracked for a few days and nothing sounds good. You're definately in need of a new trick. You've tried all your old tactics, and you need something new. Just about everything you write sounds like every song you and everyone else has made. You need some sort of new method to get something fresh out.
Well, you need to create a good melody. That's all there is to it. Some people put a lot of emphasis on a great drum track, some put a lot of emphasis on realistic sound, some like chords, some like basslines... These are all great, but most people try to listen to the lead/melody of a song. If you make a song without a good melody, or without a melody all together, its gonna be that much less interesting for the listener (and you). The trick to making a good melody, as I've brainwashed myself to believe, is to use a good scale for what you're trying to make. Here are some basic scales, which I don't necessarily recommend but I'll say them anyways for the sake of music theory (Key of C, naturally!):
[Named according to Trackers (#s only)]
CHROMATIC SCALE
C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B (loop)
This is your most basic scale, which can be played by pressing these keys in this order: "Q2W3E(4)R5T6Y7U(8)" This scale is purely based on semitones, or in other words the distance between each note on this scale is called a semitone... It's not very complicated if you noticed, but at least you can say that you know a scale :)
WHOLE TONE SCALE
C, D, E, F#, G#, A# (loop)
This is another kinda basic one, based on purely whole tones. Just like the chromatic scale, it has no varying "distance" in tones for the scale. The distance between each of the notes on this scale is called a whole tone. Not much to it, it does sound "dreamy" if you play runs with it. If you type "QWE567" in a tracker, you can listen to it over and over :)
MAJOR SCALE
C, D, E, F, G, A, B (loop)
This is another extremely basic level scale. If you use only notes on this scale, you make a happy (but cheesy) melody. Unlike the chromatic and whole tone scales, it has different "distances" between notes; it consists of both whole tones and semitones. Type "QWERTYU" and you've just played it.
MINOR SCALE (Harmonic)
C, D, D#, F, G, G#, B (loop)
Yet another basic scale. This one may sound "sad" (as opposed to happy)
when you play it, relative the the major scale. If you write a melody
with this, it'll be damn cheesy again... But at least it'll sound half
decent. Again, it consists of semitones and whole tones. Its the same with
most of the other scales I'll review in this article. Type "QW3RT6U" if you
want to hear it (in a tracker).
Now, these scales are all REALLY BASIC... Therefore REALLY CHEESY. (God, I'm using the word cheese a lot) At any rate, these scales are virtually NEVER used in more recent music... At least not often, but they do make decent runs if you ever have the urge to do one.
I reccomend you experiment with those a bit, then move onto the following
(Unless you have some sort of experience).
These next few scales are scales which I personally have used, and
reccomend. There's literally dozens of scales out there, but these are some
of my favorites (key of C again):
ORIENTAL PENTATONICS
C, D, E, G, A (loop)
This one is extremely catchy considering its simplicity. It's used a lot in various themes... Especially bagpipe songs :) You can play it by typing "QWETY"... But its even easier when you play all the Sharp keys; "567(8)90..." This is the scale transposed into F#. This one sounds really nice when you do runs. Its also great for harmony, because if you want to make a harmonic line you just play the same melody "two steps behind on the scale". More on this later in the article.
EGYPTIAN "PENTATONICS"
C, C#, E, F, G, G#, B (loop)
I really don't think this is a pentatonic scale, but thats what I've heard it called. Don't blame me :) This is used a lot in arabic music. I've seen some people toss in an A# (Bb) just for the sake of trills and such. If you want to create a tribal kinda song, this is a pretty good plan for writing a melody. Play it by typing "Q2ERT6U".
Am7 SCALE (AEOLIAN MODE, TRANSPOSED TO C)
C, D, D#, F, G, G#, A# (loop)
This one is used a heck of a lot in the more "popular" songs (top 40, ugh). :) At any rate, this one is good for catchy melodies, sometimes runs. But its good for making cheese chord progressions too: Just play chords with a base of any of the notes in the scale. (Cmin, Dmin, D#maj, etc..) You'll probably grow out of this one really fast because its really overused. Type "QW3RT67" and you've played it, or even easier play "NMQWERT" to play it in the key of A.
B "NATURAL" SCALE (HYPOPHRYGIAN/LOCRIAN MODE, TRANSPOSED TO C)
(Sorry, It's late right now)
C, C#, D#, F, F#, G#, A# (loop)
I personally happen to love this one, but it's been known to cause cancer in some small rodents. Meaning that it sounds "satanic". But I love it, not to say I worship satan... Our dark lord... =D Sorry.
Umm, at any rate this one is great for making that really cool sort of suspense/horror type music. I don't reccomend using this one at all, unless you're really really really good. I personally find it hard at the least. Play it by typing "Q23R567"; in the key of B try typing "MQWERTY".
E "NATURAL" SCALE (PHRYGIAN MODE, TRANSPOSED TO C)
(Geez it's late! Someone get me some coffee)
C, C#, D#, F, G, G#, A# (loop)
I like this one for the same reasons as the Locrian, except this is a little more pleasing. Again, great for that angry/freaky song you're trying, but complicated to use. If you type "Q23RT67" you hear it, or "ERTYUIO" in the key of E.
... PENTATONICS PENTATONICS :)
C, D, E, G, B (loop)
This one is another great one, probably one of the best actually. It's kinda simple though. It makes for nice runs, and I think it sounds cool if you take out the B. (But then you're left with only 4 notes to play) If you want to make it sound a bit more "sad" (as opposed to happy, again) you can change the E to a D#. Play the original with "QWETU", or for the flat E (enharmonically changed to D#) "QW3TU".
JAZZ/BLUES SCALE
C, D#, F, F#, G, A# (loop)
I've heard all sorts of variations on this one, but this is my personal version if anyone asks :) Some people take out the F#; sometimes people change the D# to an E. I've seen people add in C#s. The reason why this happens a lot is because part of jazz is improvisation, and therefore you have people throwing in various notes "just for fun" :)
Anyways, a lot of musical styles use this scale. Jazz, Blues, Funk, and even Rock+Dance sometimes incorporate this. It's great for soloing, then again it is overused for this kind of thing. Play it with "Q3R5T7" on your keyboard.
QUARTER TONE SCALE
hehehehehe, no.
Just for the record, this is a scale where the notes are based on a division of 24 tones (called quarter tones! Duh!) There's another version of egyptian pentatonics basedon various quarter tones, as well as a lot of other scales. If you're trying to track something in this scale, try to find 24 different tones between "Q" and "I" (C and C2) and you'll understand :)
I'm getting tired, but there's still more to a melody than scales. Just because you know a scale it doesn't mean that you can just pull a melody out of your ass. I'm not really sure how I can teach that... Its experience. However, I can tell you a cool trick which I mentioned a while back: With the oriental pentatonic scale, track a melody. I'm going to use a run just for the sake of an example.
00|C-5 01 .. ...| (Just a bad attempt at tracker emulation :) Oh well) 01|A-4 01 .. ...| 02|G-4 01 .. ...| 03|E-4 01 .. ...| 04|D-4 01 .. ...| 05|C-4 01 .. ...| 06|A-3 01 .. ...| 07|G-3 01 .. ...| 08|C-4 01 .. ...|
There you go, let's pretend thats your melody in the oriental pentatonic scale. Now what you can do if you want to add a nice harmony to it is play the same thing "two steps behind" on the scale. What that means is go two steps higher or lower on the scale, and play the same note at the same time.
(For example, the scale is CDEGAC, so for a G a nice harmony is a C or a D:)
^ ~ ^ <-- note the two step difference.
00|C-5 01 64 ...|E-5 01 54 ...| <-- note the volume of the melody is
01|A-4 01 64 ...|D-5 01 54 ...| louder than the harmony; enough
02|G-4 01 64 ...|C-5 01 54 ...| to "keep the spotlight" on the
03|E-4 01 64 ...|A-4 01 54 ...| melody.
04|D-4 01 64 ...|G-4 01 54 ...|
05|C-4 01 64 ...|E-4 01 54 ...|
06|A-3 01 64 ...|D-4 01 54 ...|
07|G-3 01 64 ...|C-4 01 54 ...|
08|C-4 01 64 ...|E-4 01 54 ...|
Try it, it sounds pretty.
Anyhow, there's more stuff you can do to make a cool melody besides just taking scales and throwing down the notes in various patterns. One cool tactic is taking the chord you're currently playing, and finding its root... Find the major/minor/natural scale starting on its root. What you do for the melody is make the melody based on the notes of the chord, with the little addition of notes from the scale. For example:
Lets say the proggy is |Gmaj7|Em7|Am7|D7|, key of G.
Here are the notes of the chords: The notes of Gmaj7 are: G , B , D, F# The notes of Em7 are: E , G , B, D The notes of Am7 are: A , C , E, G The notes of D7 are: D , F#, A, C
Here are the notes of the scales of the chords' tonics:
The scale of Gmaj7's is: G, A, B, C, D, E, F# The scale of Em7's is: E, F#, G, A, B, C, D The scale of Am7's is: A, B, C, D, E, F#, A The scale of D7's is: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C
Then you mix the two together, putting a lot of emphasis on the chords' notes by putting them on stronger beats. As well, most jumps should be to and from notes of the chords as opposed to notes of the scales. Here's a quick tune (excuse me, I can't write a good tune without being able to hear it). 01 represents a "magical chord instrument" which can change from a maj7 to a m7 to a 7 magically! 02 will be a melody thing.
00|G-4 01 .. ...|G-5 02 .. A06| (ST3 EFFECT, speed to 06) 01|... .. .. ...|... .. .. ...| 02|... .. .. ...|G-5 02 .. ...| 03|... .. .. ...|A-5 02 .. ...| 04|E-4 01 .. ...|B-5 02 .. ...| 05|... .. .. ...|G-5 02 .. ...| 06|... .. .. ...|E-5 02 .. ...| 07|... .. .. ...|D-5 02 .. ...| 08|A-4 01 .. ...|C-5 02 .. ...| 09|... .. .. ...|D-5 02 .. ...| 0A|... .. .. ...|E-5 02 .. ...| 0B|... .. .. ...|G-5 02 .. ...| 0C|D-4 01 .. ...|F#5 02 .. ...| 0D|... .. .. ...|F#5 02 .. SD3| (ST3 EFFECT, note delay for swing) 0E|... .. .. ...|E-5 02 .. ...| 0F|... .. .. ...|F#5 02 .. ...| 10|G-4 01 .. ...|G-5 02 .. ...|
Trust me, it's cool if done properly. :) [Do not see above] :)
Finally a wicked idea, which is hard to use properly, is to "play around a melody". Do this by starting a basically monorhythmic melody:
00|G-5 01 .. ...| <-- note the distance between notes is actually 4, look 04|G-5 01 .. ...| at the numbers on the far left. :) 08|A-5 01 .. ...| <-- also note that if you try to claim this tune as your 0C|B-5 01 .. ...| own you are pathetic. 10|G-5 01 .. ...| 14|B-5 01 .. ...| 18|A-5 01 .. ...| 1C|D-5 01 .. ...|
Let's say thats your basic melody. What you do is change the rhythms around from there... Give it more of a swing feel:
00|G-5 01 .. ...| <-- Continue to note the distance between lines is 2, 02|... .. .. ...| instead of the previous four. The rhythm is getting 04|... .. .. ...| a little more complex. 06|G-5 01 .. ...| 08|A-5 01 .. ...| 0A|B-5 01 .. ...| 0C|... .. .. ...| 0E|... .. .. ...| 10|G-5 01 .. ...| 12|G-5 01 .. ...| 14|B-5 01 .. ...| 16|... .. .. ...| 18|A-5 01 .. ...| 1A|... .. .. ...| 1C|D-5 01 .. ...| 1E|D-5 01 .. ...|
Then from there, you start adding notes in between, while adding some complex rhythms and stuff.
00|G-5 01 .. A06| <-- The effects are ST3 style, tempo changes and delays. 01|A-5 01 .. SD2| <-- Also note the cool rhythm stuff :) Its gone as far 02|G-5 01 ... SD4| as every line plus note delays. 03|... .. .. ...| 04|F#5 01 .. ...| 05|... .. .. ...| 06|G-5 01 .. ...| 07|... .. .. ...| 08|A-5 01 .. ...| 09|... .. .. ...| 0A|B-5 01 .. ...| 0B|... .. .. ...| 0C|... .. .. ...| 0D|... .. .. ...| 0E|... .. .. ...| 0F|... .. .. ...| 10|G-5 01 .. ...| 11|... .. .. ...| 12|B-5 01 .. ...| 13|... .. .. ...| 14|A#5 01 .. ...| 15|... .. .. ...| 16|B-5 01 .. ...| 17|... .. .. ...| 18|A-5 01 .. ...| 19|... .. .. ...| 1A|F#5 01 .. ...| 1B|... .. .. ...| 1C|E-5 01 .. ...| 1D|... .. .. ...| 1E|D-5 01 .. ...| 1F|... .. .. ...|
If you hear the original, then this last randition, you'll hear a lot of similarities... But then you'll be able to tell which one sounds generally more interesting.
Anyways, that should be enough to make you want to track something with your new found knowledge. At any rate, you would probably have stopped really reading by this point :) If by chance you read this little thing at the bottom of my article, I reccomend you go back and read everything. There's little things here and there :) And I apologize for any typos, or musical naming blunders.
It was my pleasure writing this, for this amazing mag :)