How To Write Melodies When You Are Uninspired Or Stuck & How To Write Basic Chords ( 5 TIPS )
Make inspiring music with these tips !
Via this post i want to help you guys by giving you 5 tips on “How to write melodies when you are uninspired” but before i start, i want to make it clear that i am not in any way a professional producer or beat maker. I just make stuff because i like doing it, i have been doing it for a while using the DAW -FL Studio or Fruity Loops , so i have some tips that may or may not be of use to you.
Also the steps contain some basic ways to get started making chords which might be helpful for beginners. So let the snares roll !
Hello! I have been making music for about 4 years now in Fl studio and throughout these years i have noticed one thing that still happens to me very often.
Whenever i sit down and try to write a new song or melody, my brain sometimes just switches off ! Nothing works the way i want it to 😟
I can’t recall the number of times i have done the following —
Made a melody.
Picked a sweet instrument for it.
Added some heavy drums. ( why not? )
Enjoyed it for 5 mins.
Erased everything because it became generic after repeated listening for 5 mins.
This really affected my productivity. I spent a lot of time on a pattern or loop and then i used to just erase the whole thing because it sounded like cr*p 15 mins later.
It took me a while to realize that the problem wasn’t the melody being basic (because it wasn’t) or the whole loop being generic (because it wasn’t either).
The actual problem was that i sucked, not at making the thing but at looking at it from the perspective of a listener and not a producer/creator.
The longer you stare at a selfie the uglier it becomes, right? only me? ok..
Anyways, now i want to share a few ideas that helped me overcome this never ending cycle of making a melody and deleting it and so on. But before that, the best advice i can give you is :
Don’t over do it, don’t overthink about the music you are making,the piece of music you made is amazing and it isn’t generic. Its just the way you are seeing it that makes you find faults in it.
Okay enough talk ✋ & let’s start with “How To Write Melodies When You Are Uninspired & How To Write Basic Chords”.
TIP 1 — CHORDS ARE THE WAY TO GO
Sometimes when you are not getting any idea on how the melody should be like and how it will change throughout the song, writing some basic chords first could be the best way to fix things fast.
You don’t need to write the most complex chords, just a few basic chords would help get you started on adding the melodies for the song.
To make a basic Major Chord : Select any note , write it down, then select the 4th note above it, and the 7th and you have a Major Chord.
To make a basic Minor Chord : Select any note , write it down, then select the 3rd note above it, and the 7th and you have a Minor Chord.
TIP 2 — USE BASIC PROGRESSIONS THEN FLIP SOME NOTES
If you wrote some chords and still aren’t satisfied with the results then flipping or moving around some notes on the chords might help you get some interesting results.
In the image, i flipped some notes from the above shown chords on the 3rd and 4th Bar. Namely on the 3rd Bar i took C6, A6 one octave higher and on the 4th Bar i took B5 one octave higher.
This gives me a completely different sound without a lot of effort !
TIP 3 — WRITE MELODIES WITHOUT HEARING THEM
This might sound weird at first but trust me. This is one of the best ways to get unique melodies and even chord progressions.
All you have to do is write down the notes without listening to what you are making, write a full loop of like a 4 Bar Melody in whatever way you like but making sure you don’t go off! This works even better with drums 👍
This technique helps because you won’t be listening to the melody before its complete and hence you won’t be making unnecessary changes or even erasing the whole thing.
That is the point of this post, remember? I want to help you get rid of habits that will negatively impact your performance.
TIP 4 — USE FILTERS/EFFECTS TO MAKE BASIC PATTERNS SOUND UNIQUE
Applying only a “single” filter on a basic piano can make it sound like a completely different instrument. No one is capable of writing totally unheard and beautiful melodies all the time. This is a fact.
Even in a lot of popular songs, i have noticed that the melodies are very similar to a lot of other songs but somehow they still sound totally different. And the reason for that is “FILTERS” & “EFFECTS” , not only that but picking a different type of an instrument rather than going with basic ones also helps a lot in this case.
Filtering is necessary on every sound that you use, no matter if its the synths, pads or the bass. You have to use filters in combination with some good effects.
If you don’t know where to start or what effect to add on a sound, here are a few i recommend based on sound type:
- Piano/Plucks — ‘Distortion’, ‘Reverb’, ‘Delay’ (Makes it more Authentic)
- Pads — Basic ‘EQ’ is fine, ‘Reverb’ if you want more “EPIC-NESS”
- Drums — ‘Distortion’, ‘Compression’
“Gross Beat” and “Love Philter” are 2 of the most used plugins/effects in FL i think so make sure to use them as well, they are pretty 🔥🔥
TIP 5 — PLAY WITH THE BPM
I think most of us know the importance of BPM in any song. Changing BPM is the fastest way to change the whole song’s mood.
You should always try to change the BPM even if you have completed the song because by changing it you might get a better mood and the vibe that you were going for.
Obviously this is more helpful if you don’t have a singer with you i.e. you are working on just the beat and you aren’t sure what bpm would best fit the beat you made.
Sometimes the beat will sound perfect to you at a certain BPM, but once you get someone to sing on it then it might not be the best for them. There is a chance that they would prefer a slower tempo or faster!
And That’s all, These were some points that i think will help you in writing melodies when your brain stops working or when you feel uninspired or stuck!
Thank you for reading and i really hope i was able to help you in some way.
