I've made a couple decent melodies before but lately I've just had nothing. I've been buying some records to try and get samples, and everything I try just ends up sounding like shit. Trying to make my own melodies without sampling is even harder. Bass lines are somewhat easy to make, I don't have a problem there, same with a drum beat. Any advice? I'm using Ableton btw.
Posted Jun 30, 2015, 4:44 AM UTC · edited
When you chop, think of it as its own instrument. The way you chop and what you sample determines what kind of melody you can make.
Also, you can use an arpeggiator to create melodies. Just set up intervals and then program in different notes.
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I can help you with this. When I was 12 years old I taught myself how to play guitar. I never ended up learning any real musical theory, and I've been fine. Here's what you do: Listen to AS MUCH MUSIC AS POSSIBLE, then sit at a keyboard and try to recreate the melody lines that you hear. What this will do is give you the physical feel of good melody lines, but also will end up teaching you "licks", which are basically the tropes of music. BUY A MIDI KEYBOARD. It will make the creative process much more fluid and you'll end up coming up with something in no time. And to be completely honest, the most important aspect of a great track, in my mind, is a solid groove. Whatever is over top of it is just icing on the cake. Explore different types of genres and just start playing what appears in your head. Something will. Trust me.
I can't make lasting human relationships, but I can make a melody. I went out and bought a silver flute, learned the basics and carried it everywhere. No theory, no practicing other people's work, just learning how to make melodies on that flute. After about 8 months I started getting the hang of it. Years later, my head is full of melodies.
Learn some theory? Just set aside like an hour every few days to sit down and learn a new scale man and fuckin play it to death until you can just improvise in that scale/key :)
Keep doing that shit until you got lots of scales up your sleeve, then when you are making a track and have a key you can kinda fuck about and jam until a melody that fits comes out naturally :)
I've been playing guitar for about 6 years so I know some music theory. The only problem is I don't have a midi keyboard so the only way to program a melody is on my computer keyboard, so that makes jamming hard.
Then you should most definitely get a MIDI keyboard. Also, using higher quality sounds will inspire you more than cheap stock sounds will.
Stupid question, but what makes making melodies using a midi keyboard rather than computer keyboard so much better?
It is very hard to visualize scales on a computer keyboard.
Depending on the midi-keyboard
more keys - 25 to 88 keys
velocity sensitive
after touch
faders & control knobs
pitch bend & mod wheel
arpeggiator
drum pads
tempo/metronome
plug and sync into other modules
play with two hands
which can leads to more productive workflow, ease, and convenience
In the end, computer keyboards can be limiting.
Well, it's an actual keyboard. It's more natural to play and easier to see chords and scales on it. Also, note velocity makes all the difference sometimes and you don't get that on a qwerty keyboard.
On point ^^^^^^
aha! Thats the problem then my bro if you got theory down you would be able to jam crazily on a midi keyboard! Cop a keyboard asap man it will open you up to just jamming til something sticks using the mouse is far too fuckin frustrating for that!
I'll definitely be buying a keyboard soon. Thanks for the advice. Btw, you have a lot of cool shit on your Soundcolud.
Thanks man, I am novice as fuck tho! What you got bro where ya SC at
Have you seen this? http://jamorigin.com/products/midi-guitar/
Why not record your guitar? Lots of cool beats are made with guitar.
You can play around on guitar and figure out a melody, and then just write it down in your daw with as midi.
Any good online sources for music theory you'd recommend?
musictheory.net