Songwriting Craft: 6 Tools to Make Your Melodies Stand Out
What you'll learn
- How to use tension & release in order to make your melody sound like "an interesting conversation". (And how the Beatles have done it)
- How *simplicity* is actually one of the biggest ingredients in order for a melody to become memorable.
- How rhythm can make or break a melody, and how to add interest to a bland melody just by tweaking the rhythm.
- Why "repetition" is a must in order for your melody to become catchy - and how to use it.
- How to balance between small intervals (half steps and whole steps) and larger intervals in your melodies in order to "hook" the listener.
- How you can use different chord progressions to "do the work" for you and help you come up with your best melody ideas.
- 🎁 Extra: A PDF cheat-sheet that will help you remember all the tools.
- 🎁 Extra PDF Mini-Book: 101 Songwriting Quotes to Get Your Inspiration Going
Requirements
- A love of music and a desire to learn.
Description
The melody of your songs is called "the topline" for a reason... (We are talking about the melody that you are singing the lyrics with)
It's the "vehicle" that you put your lyrics on top of, so it is literally what would make or break your songs.
So, in this mini-course, we will have a look over the techniques that created some of the most unforgettable melodies we all know - so that you can use them yourself.
Everything will be very practical - for each tool, I will also show you exactly how you can go to your guitar/keyboard right now and put it into use in the next song that you are writing.
Also, everything is backed up with fancy graphical animations of the melodies that will help you understand it all not just audibly, but also with your eyes.
The tools are:
Tool #1 - Catchy Melodies Are Often Simple & Singable
Tool #2 – Using Tension & Release / Call & Response
Tool #3 – The Chords Are Already Doing Half of the Work for You
Tool #4 – It’s All About the Rhythm
Tool #5 – Repetition Is Your Best Friend
Tool #6 – Keeping a Pleasant Balance Between Steps & Skips
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Your whole music listening experience would also become a lot more enjoyable, since you are going to have a deeper understanding of why you like the melodies that you like.
(Yes, I know it is a big promise, but wait until you'll feel it yourself - it's real)
Who am I?
My name is Alon Cooper, I am an artist and a music instructor based in Austin Texas and in Amsterdam. Since 2016, over 100,000 students have learned from my online courses.
As an artist, I release new songs to Spotify every month and play shows with my band.
The tools in the course are tools that I've learned by distilling the best information from 100's of lessons, resources, and books about songwriting and melody writing - and bringing you nothing but the most practical, useful information.
I'll see you inside.
Who this course is for:
- If you enjoy writing songs - you would get a lot out of this course, whether you are a hobbyist or a professional.
Instructor
![Alon Cooper](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 64 64"%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=avatar}
- 4.4 Instructor Rating
- 1,600 Reviews
- 107,912 Students
- 14 Courses
Hi! I am a music artist based in Austin and Amsterdam, touring the world while running my online teaching business, playing venues with a band / solo, and learning with the most inspiring musicians wherever I go.
I hope I can be your helpful friend on your musical journey.
I have a huge passion for passing on my knowledge and seeing others succeed. In 2014 I founded the blog GuitarSongsMasters-com, and shortly after also created the accompanying video courses academy - that have gained over 100K students so far.
These days I am working on many new courses and also on my own music, which people often say resembles a mix between Jack Johnson and John Mayer (with lots of Brazilian, jazz, and other exotic influences), if you're curious - check it out! (Spotify - Cooper, IG - cooper.guitar) Cheers, and hope to hear from you soon.