Creating Memorable Melodies By Selective Repeating

Tommaso Zillio

melodic pedals

Everybody can come up with a chord progression (just pick a few chords and put them one after another). And everybody can come up with a rhythmic idea (just tap your fingers on the table). But only a few people can come up with interesting melodies. How is that?

Melodies are arguably the most important element in music. It's what everybody hears first, and what everybody remembers after listening to a song. Even from a legal/copyright point of view, melody is what makes the song - just thinks how many songs have the same chord progression... but with different melodies.

So it is quite a paradox that most teachers and books on music theory simply do not spend any time studying how to make melodies. Not only is it unfortunate for the poor students that are left to trial and error, but some malicious commenter may also advance the idea that maybe all these teachers do not know how to create a melody themselves (of course, that's not what I am saying...)

Turns out, the master composers and writers have found a number of patterns and tricks to create great melodies, and that these tricks are passed down as "secrets" from generation to generation. I'm not saying that there is a "secret musician society" per se, I'm more suggesting that some of these "secrets" are hidden in plain sight.

A comprehensive review of all these tricks and patterns will take a book or two... but I can give you ONE "secret" in 10 minutes. In this video I will show you how you can use a little intelligent repetition and create memorable melodies and licks easily.

As you can see, the idea is not new - you've definitely heard it. And yet how many songwriters and composers think of using it? How many times have YOU used this idea to write a melody? What are you waiting for?


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