Vocal songs, Melody?

[lindpop]

I've been thinking a while how I do the melody and come up to that I always sing my melody. My ability to sing restrict my ability to make the melody. The question is how do you do your melody on vocal songs?Sing it?Play it? piano, guitar?Backing track first?When I started making songs I grabbed my guitar, played chords and improvised the melody with nonces singing. Always with the same result. A singer songwriting song in the tradition of Neil Young. Nothing wrong with that but the last years I always have my hand recorder with me trying to catch the melody first. I've started to sing more because I believe thats the way for me to make a better melody.

[silvercord]

Lindpop I write the melody to songs just as you do, sing nonsense and find what sounds good...so often, the hard part for me is matching the right lyrics to the melody i have created...i always use piano to fine tune my melody..and yeah..itsalways good to lay down a backing track of some rough vocalsand sing over it to get a feel of where I can take the melody lineto the next level!keep fighting bro! i am not a born singer either...so i feel ya!wishing you well!geoff

[k o star]

I always come up with good chord progression first and then sing melody over it... always.K

[byllsong]

Quote:I always come up with good chord progression first and then sing melody over it... always.K I'm with KelI usually make a CD of the chord progression with basic bass and drum tracks and play it back in the car driving to and from work. As the lyric develops the melody changes as necessary. Soon it all starts to come together. Then comes the hard part, trying to tell a story that makes sense, that sounds current and that will make the listener go 'Wow!'.Billy

[hummingbird]

I pretty much always write the lyrics first (to ensure I have good structure/form and lyrical contrast between sections), then improvise the melody, and look for chords to support the melody.

[ncc1701]

My best songs have been the ones where I simultaneously wrote the melody as I wrote the lyrics - taking the melody wherever the words' and phrases' meter and structure dictated. But I can't do it without hearing the chords at the same time. I can't just write a melody in isolation. To me, everything's dependent on everything else.Kathleen

[toddt]

Great question.Sometimes I start with chord progression, then improv some melodies over the top - could be by singing garbage, could be by playing piano.Other times, when I'm out walking or running, melodies pop into my head - then I find the best chord structure to run underneath.Either way I usually end up knocking some instrumentation together in Logic and refining the melodies on the keyboard.tt

[suzdoyle]

I usually come up with a riff or partial melody, then the chords, and then the rest of the melody etc. builds from there. I tend to either sing it, play it on piano, record a rough track, or write out a quick lead sheet.For me its all about the chords, though. I'm always relating the melody (the horizontal movement of the music) to the chords (the vertical "stopping points"). I always carry a small digital recorder with me when inspiration strikes, and sometimes record the words/ melody, and other times make notes about the chord progression. ,Suz

[suzdoyle]

Also, Moleskine makes some nifty pocket size staff paper, which is great for writing out ideas on the run:http://www.moleskineus.com/musicbook.html

[lindpop]

Thanks for your answers and I hope there will be many more. I think this is really interesting because I believe it's related to songwriting skills for vocal songwriting. At least for me. This is an example but explains how I've started to look at it. Example: Taxi is searching for R&B songwriters. Lets say I would try to write songs in style of Rihannas Umbrella. I've never written a song in that style. I'm not a good singer and when I sing, I sing other kind of songs. Where do I start?I don't know but in some way I have to learn the language of R&B and thats where my vocal skills come in handy. My ability to sing is limiting me but I have to do my best. I don't think I have to be a great singer but at least I need to get my ideas out in some way. I have to show the real singer in some way what to sing. What to do?Practicing to sing to R&B songs to learn the language.Why? to get ideas and be able to write a song in that style.Conclusion: found on page 42 in this thread. Well, what do you think and how do you look at it?