« Finding new chord-melody interactions... | Main | The trouble with copy-and-paste in music sequencing... »

May 10, 2011

Be the singer...

Do you fall into this trap? You've made up a cool chord change. But when you try to write a melody, all you can sing is the roots of the chords, or some other line that moves in lock-step with the chords. It's a common problem, and it leads to melodies that are predictable and one-dimensional.

Luckily, the solution is simple: Instead of singing and playing at the same time, record yourself playing the chords, and then sing over the recording.

When you don't have to sing and play at the same time, you can "be the singer," which frees you up to focus on the vocal line without being distracted by the demands of playing your instrument at the same time. You can sing lines that have a different rhythm from the chords, that move in the opposite direction... In short, you're free to explore all the possibilities, not just those that are easy to sing while you play.

For many songwriters, this approach is very liberating, and leads to much more interesting melodies.

Posted by richard at May 10, 2011 09:53 PM