Let's Get Melodic

A Little Sumpn For the Musicians

Fabulous melodies. They stick in your ear. They make you bob your head and toe-tap. They are a bit of vibrational/tonal magic that we just get used to having around, but they seem to be diminishing in the lightly-educated, impatience of modern day.

They are not as hard to come by as you might think. Do you need to be an experienced, well-studied musician to make them? No. Paul McCartney sang ‘ham n eggs’ to hold space for a little melody he had rolling around in his head until he put it on ‘Yesterday’ and the rest is history.

But if you are in the presence of live musicians and want a catchy melody at band practice, it goes a little like this: You got the chords, you got the beat, but as soon as you start thinking about the heart of the song, the melody, most folks just start finding some scale in the key and framming out the first thing that comes to their fingers. This is shallow-rolling and wastes a lot of time, especially if you are the drummer…lol. (Nods to J. Hunnicutt) Having taught guitar since the 70s, I can show you an easier way! Lez go.

It’s already in your head. Go within. Take a quiet moment. Think of your song. What is your intention? Dire sadness? Whimsy? The heavenly funk? Wrap your head around your mood. See the place. The color. The feel of it all.

Play the chords you want the melody to run over a couple of times, just thinking and zeroing in on intention.

Now, hum (or whatever sound you make- doo doo, ba ba, queedily kwarol quan quan) a melody over the chords. Be bold. Use any shape your mouth wants to make. Have your inner child onboard for this. Be dramatic if need be. Settle on one melody you kinda like, and find the notes on the strings/keys/whatevs that correspond. Use your bends, slides, hammers/pulls to bring it to life. I guarantee you have a stockpile of these melodies hidden away for yourself. As you do this, you will undoubtedly find extra little bits of melody that match other areas of the song, enhancing the entire tune by just digging in your head for fun bits to add. If you want this to go extra smoothly and functionally, do not check your phone during it. This pretty much goes for any musical/artistic endeavor. Distraction never brings cohesion.

Now, I know there are plenty of ‘I got an AI melody generator for that’ people out there. Enjoy yourselves, but Dr Roboto can’t bend the note when the bass player winks at ya, decide when a harmonic would add more with a bit of delay and phase shift, or many things that actual live humans can do that make music fabulous. Also, when you need to remember things, will you recall what came from you more than things synthesized from AI? Yes you will.

Stairway To Heaven. Maybe you can’t play it in a guitar store without some flack now, but, there are more sweet structured little melodies hidden in it than the entire 2026 top 40 so far. Memorable. Deep.

Purple Haze. Sweet Home Alabama. 25 Or 6 Til 4. Summer Breeze. Smoke on the Water. Hotel California. I know you hear it. Go toward it.

Dive deep, melodiccans!!! We need the tunes. Your own private mind-stock is worth more than a thousand day-glo Apps. I can’t wait to hear what ya got! And you know I’m rootin’ for ya. Vroom.