Melody I

The word melody technically refers to both pitch and rhythm. These chapters were, therefore, called “pitch” at first. But that seemed like a weird title—one that many people wouldn’t find when searching for it. Hence the name melody.

You’ll see that most of the principles from Rhythm apply here just as well. But first, let’s focus on what makes pitch different.

Keys

First, a quick refresher on some basic terminology.

In Western music, at least, we divide the musical notes into octaves. These octaves repeat from low to high in exactly the same way. You can see it most easily on a piano.

Within the octave, we have 12 notes. The 7 white notes on a piano are your letters (C,D,E,F,G,A,B), the 5 black notes are your sharps (C#,D#,…).

People often say that a song is in “the key of X”. What does that mean? A key means that you simply …

• Pick one of those available notes
• And build a scale around it.

When it comes to pitches, you’ll be worrying about the balance between following that (structured) scale and breaking free from it.

Scales

We saw that rhythms usually follow a structure. You start with a certain beat, and any other note is a multiple or subdivision of that timing.

Scales do the same thing for pitches. They tell you which pitches are consonant (they sound well together) or dissonant (they usually sound bad). Given a key and an octave, they tell you which of the notes you should play, and which to avoid.

When writing a melody, start by sticking to a scale.

Yes, it’s not required. You can change scales. You can borrow notes from another scale. There are no hard rules in music—only what “sounds good” to you.

But almost all music you know follows one scale. And it’s a great structure to start with. It’s easier to start with a scale and add some surprise notes later, than the other way around.

What scales exist? Many. That’s Music Theory again, which this guide isn’t really about.

These days, you can easily search for images or videos on how to play any scale. I suggest you start with the “Major” and “Minor” scale. They are the easiest and most common.

In general, though, all scales follow a simple “rule” or “pattern” on how they use the notes in an octave.

Example: major scale

Below is the major scale. First in words, then as an audiovisual example.

• Start at any note. (This is the tonic. The most important note in the scale.)
• Take 2 steps
• Take 2 steps
• Take 1 step
• Take 2 steps
• Take 2 steps
• Take 2 steps
• Take 1 step: we’re back at the tonic

That’s the pattern: 2,2,1,2,2,2,1.

If you remember this, you can construct the major scale for any tonic!

Simultaneous vs Sequence

Let’s take that C major scale. Now let’s play some of the notes simultaneously.

Ouch. Some of those are really nasty! What’s happening here? Is our scale failing? Music theory is a lie?

No, in general …

• Notes in the same scale sound good when played in sequence
• When played simultaneously, they might need distance (at least an octave) between them

Take that “E3 + F3” combo. Close together, it’s terrible. But we can play them in sequence or move them apart and it’s fine.

This is a general truth. If you play notes one after another, you have more freedom to do as you like. You can throw some notes in there that don’t belong to the scale. It’s fine, because you hear those notes on their own.

But when notes are played together, more harmony is often required. You’re more restricted in what you can choose … unless you spread out those notes over a larger distance.

Listen to the example below. It’s in D minor. The melody has some weird notes (C# and B) and it still sounds fine. Because the weird notes don’t sound at the same time as those following the scale.

But always remember: there are no rules in music. Anything goes. With pitches, I feel you have more “freedom” than with rhythm. Because rhythm is felt inside of us, and pitch merely heard.

Different styles

In pop/rock music, the pitches are generally all medium height and in the same range. They focus on one or two “big notes”. (And because of that contrast, the singers sound like they’re amazing and can do really high notes.)

Musical theatre, for example, actually uses many high and low notes. Their songs have a wide range of pitches and rhythms, and you must be able to sing all of them without effort. The whole of “Bring Him Home” is higher than many pop singers can sing, for example.

Rap is mostly focused on rhythm, although there is always a pitch being sung. Personally, I like rap that slightly changes pitch in an interesting way, instead of those that are one pitch entirely. Eminem has some songs where the chorus turns more into a pop chorus. But rhythm is definitely the most important here.

Jazz can do whatever it likes. It jumps between scales, plays more “odd” notes than expected ones. It’s a form of music more focused on improvisation and expression, rather than playing a pre-written song.

Folk/Country music often has simple melodies that are easy to sing. They go more for a quality that makes the song sound like it “has always been there” or “comes straight from the heart”. They do, therefore, focus on long notes full of passion in the melody (even if they aren’t that high).

Punk music often uses melodies with lots of variation (in pitch and rhythm) with almost no time to breathe. They are often a rapid fire of musical ideas smashed together.

Of course, there are many more styles. But these seemed the most important to mention. Other styles are related to these.

Next chapter, I’ll give you my top principles again. It’s a bit longer, because I also want to explain the deeper truth that underpins all of them: all pitch is relative.