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At 8/18/06 11:43 PM, MaestroSorrow wrote: I don't want to rain on anybodies parade, but sometimes, you need to look at facts, and decide what is better for you.

Amen. I get people all of the time asking me how to construct melodies and giving me the same seemingly half assed attempts... but it just ends up being that they are just not capable of producing music. They keep thinking "Oh maybe it's my software that doesn't allow me to make kick-ass music." Well, people, it's not. Maybe you're better off being an astronaut or a painter. If you just don't have any natural born musical talent, I don't think that it would be wise to pursue a career in it.

if you have a piano hit random keys till you think it will sound good , if you have a beat in your head try and play it on piano

*sucks in breath*

...

*lets out breath*

whoooo

ok lets begin - I shall say what helps me make music - and since im so mind bogglingly awesome you will all take what I say to heart

no not really i just fuck up a lot :p

being a creative entity helps - I have played instruments in the past - and I have been drawing since before I could walk. That said it helps to be in a creative stae of mind - for me it doesnt matter if im happy or sad etc - altho I will make a song geared towards that - like if im depressed I'll make a song like "dark omen" if i feel very emotional I'll make a song like "star stealing girl" and if im happy I'll make a song like "to far away times"

etc etc etc.

also for the whole seeing a pic and then not being able to draw it right away - ive been able to perfectly replicate any picture since i was about in gr. 5 - so sucks to be the rest of ya! :P

(and i was doing a pretty good job in grade 2 too - teachers used to ask my mom if i traced it - and shed say "nope."

neways song wise I'm usually influenced by things in the media - I'll hear like a short pattern on the radio - or in a commercial - and then I'll just mutate from that - layering over and over.. changing things etc. until it sounds sorta decent.

also I make everything with headphones - trust headphones over anything else - different speaker configurations can lie to you - but headphones never will. If your song sounds like it lives in a 2d plane and its not lets say.. techno.. it will be BAD and I will not want to listen to it lol..

all good people treat theid mind like a giant stage and place instruments accordingly so they dont interfere and so that everyting is heard and appreciated. Making music is a lot like cooking - you want a lot of subtle flavours blending together but you don't want one thing overpowering the other - and it all has to be presented perfectly :p

only until recently can I say that I've started to make music that I am satisfied with - the rest is bad - it makes me cringe - altho there were spurts of genius here and there.

also awkward positions are great for making music - also procrastination is even better - ive made some great songs when I should have been studying for an exam ect. - its the best motivator.

also if a song isnt going your way - just give up on it - thats what I do - a year or 2 later you'll chance upon it again and maybe make something out of it :p

At 8/18/06 10:13 PM, johnfn wrote: Do you have any tips about how you come up with melodies? Do they just come randomly to you in your head? Do you fool around with notes for hours looking for perfection? Does environment do anything to help?

This is not to be rude or anything, but the Idiot's Guide to Music Theory is extremely enlightening. It teaches you all that good music stuff, including how to make melodies. I developed a musical knowledge in which I can hear whether something sounds right or not, but people like that are exeptions to the rule. I learn the rules anyways, because it helps to expand to new grounds.

XD, new grounds, newgrounds, hehehe....

I'll just shutup...

It depends... sometime by listenings to songs, I get ideas... and from thoses... I go to a completly different product...

Well I had a video I recorded of myself making a melody and I uploaded it to megaupload... but it expired. Im too lazy to reupload, but it basically dealt with scales. I have no idea why im telling you guys this lol

g-R

I dunnow.. sometimes i just allready hear the melodies playing in my head. (And the general feeling (happy, dark, etc...) of the melody, depends on what im seeing.

And sometimes I just fuk around with my cheap ass casio keyboard.
I usually start with the bassline. The bassline is always very important because it is the
mother of the melody, that's how I think about it.
I usually try to keep the melodies simple, and easy to remember.

At 8/20/06 04:12 AM, ParagonX9 wrote: I dunnow.. sometimes i just allready hear the melodies playing in my head. (And the general feeling (happy, dark, etc...) of the melody, depends on what im seeing.

And sometimes I just fuk around with my cheap ass casio keyboard.
I usually start with the bassline. The bassline is always very important because it is the
mother of the melody, that's how I think about it.
I usually try to keep the melodies simple, and easy to remember.

i'm going to try and not sound like a poser here, but's that pretty much what i do, i create a beat, then make a bass part, and the last thing i do is make a melody. the beat and bass are a constant that the melody can move around and transform however it will. sometimes it's easy and sometimes it takes a lot of work.

Well, makin' a good melody. There are so many good ways like the one of CityScape.

I've had the same problem and I'll tell u my way how to get the inspiration. You should listen songs with alot of melodies in it (of course the music that you like). Then try to play them on a keyboard. There you learn the "skills" of harmonies etc. With the time you get inspiration. Then try to make a own melody. For the first attempts you can use some harmonies from another songs, but don't try do do all as like as the original!!! From every song a piece, but you must look that it sounds good! Try and try, then you get inspiration to make own melodies without using harmonies from other artists/songs!!! It really works!!! Trust me! ; )

At 8/19/06 11:38 AM, pitbulljones wrote: don a blind fold and randomly hit the keys. throw your keyboard against a wall, get your friends over to fiddle with it. use you penis, or a nipple, lick it with your tongue, or your dogs tongue, even better a cats tongue, theyre rough like old carpet.

WTF???? Anyways... Melodies are easy for me. First I get 3 root chords... go to my piano and do an improv using all the notes in all 3 chords. Once you think you have something good, write it down and play around with the melody until you find something better. THis is what I came up with the other day doing Improv:

It reminds me of flying.
Flying

At 8/20/06 04:12 AM, ParagonX9 wrote: I dunnow.. sometimes i just allready hear the melodies playing in my head. (And the general feeling (happy, dark, etc...) of the melody, depends on what im seeing.

And sometimes I just fuk around with my cheap ass casio keyboard.
I usually start with the bassline. The bassline is always very important because it is the
mother of the melody, that's how I think about it.
I usually try to keep the melodies simple, and easy to remember.

OMG OMG, EVERYONE LOOK! OMG OMG!!!! GOD IS HERE! GOD JUST POSTED SOMETHING, OMG! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!

Hahaha, sorry I had to do that. Acting like a dick comes natural to me, just like thinking of melodies comes naturally to people posting in this thread...

O yes... As to Idiot Guide to Music Theory... I don't beleive Music Composition can be "taught" although it would help to read the book to know the basics. Most of the time, to get a melody, I think of a movie scene, or for something sad, thinking of someone close to me that dies, or for happy tunes, the zelda and super mario series, lol. Basically what I'm trying to say is, music comes from the heart (and to some extent, your brain). My piano teacher always says: notes are notes... until you play them. Unless you put your "Touch" to it, it's nothing but a jumble of notes. Every song you make needs an imprint of you in it. Once you put you, your feelings, and your melody into it, you have a kick ass song, and a peice of art, a story, and altogether one hell of an experience for the person that listens. Yes, it helps to know theory, but if you know theory but have nothing to write about, well just do what I do... think.

not everyone does this the same, and people can't describe how they really come up with their melodies
just wait for it to come and you'll think of something good

At 8/21/06 02:33 AM, kilder wrote: not everyone does this the same, and people can't describe how they really come up with their melodies
just wait for it to come and you'll think of something good

agreed