How to shape a melody into a song

[Mahumadi]

Hey guys, im not sure what my question is, so id say im looking for some guidance. For my theory classes end of the semested project, I am writing parts for all instruments (lead guitar, rythm, bass, drums, and keys. I wrote the melody which is played by the lead guitar. It consists of this progression: I,IV, V, IV, III, II, I and repeats. The tempo is 60 bpm and its a steady arpeggio of power chords (R,5,octave, 5, root, 5 octave, 5). The bass is all root and hits on the 1,3, (3)and, and the 4(and), 1 etc. I need to write a part for the keys, which will be interesting, but my main concern is where I go from here to make this melody/progression into a song. Im wondering what changes you would make to this melody to build-up, breakdown etc. all the parts needed for a song. Im clueless at this, so if anyone has any recommendations/ideas id greatly appreciate it! Hope this made sense lol, thanks guys!

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by Mahumadi

...... I wrote the melody which is played by the lead guitar. It consists of this progression: I,IV, V, IV, III, II, I and repeats. The tempo is 60 bpm and its a steady arpeggio of power chords (R,5,octave, 5, root, 5 octave, 5). The bass is all root and hits on the 1,3, (3)and, and the 4(and), 1 etc. I need to write a part for the keys

First I'd point out you have not written the melody yet - you've established the chord progression.

OK you have your chords so we start with that. The melody line (your keyboard part aka the tune) and the chords used under that melody line should share some of the same notes. They harmonize if this happens, which is your ultimate goal. Thus your melody will/can come from the chord's tones.

I find using the chord's pentatonic scale will give you three chord tones plus two safe passing notes. Take those 5 notes and make melodic phrases from them. I find this task is easier if you hook the melody note to a lyric word. Most melody will follow the lyric story one melody note per lyric word, of course some words like Ma-ry, Lit-tle etc will take two melody notes.

Verse structure, 4 line verse or 5, rhyme or not needs to be decided. Lyric flow and chord flow is also something that must work together. I'm sure you have already hit upon a compatible key that each instrument can function with.

Once you get all this working for one verse no reason to re-invent the wheel for the other verses or even the chorus. Three verses and a chorus.

First two verses and a chorus, then a lead break followed with the third verse a repeat of the chorus, and then tag the last line to end the song.

My step by step approach is:
Story first which leads to the lyrics.
Lyrics lead to the verse structure.
Verse structure leads to the chord flow, i.e. rest, tension, climax, resolution and return to rest. Each verse starts a thought discusses it reaches a conclusion, ends the thought and the next verse takes up a new thought. The chorus is the hook what you want them to remember and walk home humming.
Melody is last for me and is taken from the chord's notes used under it - I know that's a little hard to see - I go to the keyboard, recite the lyrics and pick chord notes that move the story along. Let assume the chord used at this part of the song is a C and the lyric phrase used with that chord is, " Ma-ry did you know." OK my melody notes should revolve around C, E, G (the notes of the C chord). I like E, G for "Ma-ry" and C, D, E for "did you know". Keep hooking melody notes, chords and lyric words together till a song appears.

Then put it into the song structure AABAB or whatever you think best. It really does not matter which step comes first, however, in the end they all have to augment each other. You started with the chord progression - fine - just build from there.

Have fun.

[Mahumadi]

I appologize for the sloppiness of my initial post, I was at work and didnt have much time to think about what i was writing. Here is a better explanation of my situation:

I wrote the melody first, which will be played on electric guitar. The melody is power chord arpeggios, in this case, I have written it using the R-5-8ve-5-R-5-8ve-5. The arpeggio progression is I-IV-V-IV-III-II-I. The only change to the melody is on the V .. play R-5-8tv-5-7-8tv (of the root)-5-R. When I come back around to the I after the II I play R-5-8tv-5-7-8tv (of root)-5-7 then come back around to the normal arpeggio of R-5-8tv-5-R-5-8tv-5.

The rhythm guitars chord progression will be the same progression used for the arpeggio melody, with a distinctive psychedelic'ish strumming pattern. I have recorded the melody and rhythm together and it sounds groovy. The only change is when it comes around to the I after the II, half way through the measure the rythm plays a Gmaj7 to accomodate the melody change adding the 7. On the same note (pun intended), the melody change adding the 7 on the V, no change is made to the rythm guitar.. a D major is played over with no Dmaj7.

The bass is written to play the root on the 1, 3, (3(and), (4(and). Hopefully that was clear, im not sure how to write that out properly.

As far as the keys, I am planning on having the keys outline the melody and take over the melody for the chorus.

During the chorus I am thinking (havent tried anything yet) the melody guitar will play a Em power chord progression, while the keys take over the arpeggio melody. the rhythm continues the same progression in G major, not changing keys. Im not sure how tough this will be, I havent looked into it yet, but considering its the relative minor, it should share the same notes so I dont foresee it being a problem... *crosses fingers*

Once again, im not sure what my question is, but any guidance would be awesome. Thanks, Malcolm, definitely helped explain some things I have been wondering.

[MarkTAW]

It doesn't sound like you have much of a melody there - just lots of arpeggios, and lacking even thirds or sixths or something to make it more melodious.

In other words, all of your intervals are 4ths and 5ths. You should add some 3rds and 2nds. Melodies tend to progress by thirds or seconds and by leaps of 4ths or 5ths. Think "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or "When The Saints Go Marching In." (If you think these examples are simplistic, you should hear Mozart's variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.)

Switching to the relative minor is a good formula for a bridge, but not a chorus. The chorus should feel like a real "coming home" (e.g. getting back to the root) and changing keys to the relative minor is a surefire way to make it feel like you're wandering away from home. The verses should tend to have more chords, or stay away from the root a bit (but hit it enough to establish what home is), and then the chorus should just rock the root, maybe root, fifth, root fourth, something like that.

The E minor "melody" over a G major isn't quite what you want, it's an interesting idea, but I think you'd have more success writing a B minor "melody" over a G major chord. The B minor melody will be supported by the G major chord (or a G major 7 chord), where an E is sort of out on a limb & not supported by the chord. Again, I wouldn't do this for the chorus. The chorus is the singalong part, not the "out on a limb experimental part." Literally, chorus means a bunch of people singing along.

So, keep that verse chord progression, but elaborate on the melody a bit - now that you have some chords recorded, just jam out over it & see what you come up with.

Then on the chorus, rock the big 3 chords - I, IV, V. Hit the relative minor for the bridge, then rock the chorus again.

Stewie Griffin (note: mature lyrics alert) has a great songwriting lesson here. You'd think I'm joking, but I'm not.

[Mahumadi]

Ok, so Marktaw, im assuming that I can keep the arpeggio progression to go with the rhythm progression and form a melody on the keys? This seems like the only viable option seeing as how I love the arpeggio/rhythm progression and would hate to throw it away after all the work ive done on it .

My plan at this point is to outline the song like malcolm suggested. Verse, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Lead Break, Verse, Chorus.

I wrote a nice bridge that really builds things up and plan on having that lead straight into the lead break. Would the bridge be better used elsewhere?

As im writing this I just realized that throwing the bridge in after the 2nd verse, before the 1st chorus would be killer. That would lead the 1st chorus straight into the lead break. With a bridge after the lead break, into verse 3 would really pull the song together. Maybe im wrong? Your thoughts?

I plan on recording the arpeggio/rhythm/bass tonight or tomorrow, and ill post that bad boy when I get the opportunity.

[MarkTAW]

You can keep the arpeggios... really, just do what you feel is right, all I can do is offer advice.

You know that song Street Spirit Fade Out by Radiohead? That's got a great arpeggiated riff that forms the core of the song, though the melody is something quite different. I just thought of that for some reason...

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by Mahumadi

As im writing this I just realized that throwing the bridge in after the 2nd verse, before the 1st chorus would be killer. That would lead the 1st chorus straight into the lead break. With a bridge after the lead break, into verse 3 would really pull the song together. Maybe im wrong? Your thoughts?

What we play is dirt simple and we do not have a lot of intro or bridges, so I'm no expert on bridges, however, that structure I gave we use all the time. Depending on the song we do sometime revisit the lead break for a second time.

Anything that helps the transaction from one segment to another has got to help.

Go for it.