How to Come Up With a Melody: Five Ways to Start
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Coming up with a melody is easier when you know where to start, and the best place to start depends on what you already have. You might have nothing yet, some lyrics, a short idea that won’t grow, a chord progression, or a single line that needs an answer. Each of these has its own way in.
This guide goes through five ways to come up with a melody, one for each starting point, and links to a deeper guide where there is one. It is also the quickest answer to how to write a melody when you are stuck. The example below shows a move that works with any of them: take one short idea and develop it.
One short idea, developed three ways (example written for this guide)
Five ways to come up with a melody
1. You have nothing yet: hum and record
Put on a simple beat or a drone, or just tap your foot, and hum or sing on “la” for a few minutes without stopping. Don’t judge anything while you do it. Record the whole thing, then listen back and mark the few seconds that made you sit up. Most melody ideas start as a fragment you didn’t plan. Three short rounds are easier to listen back to than one long one.
2. You have lyrics: start from their rhythm
Read the lyric out loud and listen for where your voice leans. The stressed syllables tell you where the strong beats go, and the natural rise and fall of your speaking voice is a first sketch of the tune. Our guide on how to write a melody for your lyrics walks through this step by step, and how to write lyrics shows how to put the stresses on the beat.
3. You have a short idea: develop it
An idea of three or four notes is called a motif, and most melodies are built from one or two of them. Before you hunt for new material, work the idea you have. Repeat it. Move it up or down a step, keeping its shape. Turn it upside down. Change its rhythm and keep the notes. Each of these gives you a new phrase that still sounds like it belongs, as in the example above.
4. You have chords: sing their notes
Play the progression on a loop and sing one note from each chord, the one that feels most natural, on the first beat of the bar. Then fill in the gaps with notes that walk from one chord note to the next. The chord notes give the melody its anchor points, and the notes in between give it movement. If every note sits on a chord note, the line can sound stiff, so let a few in-between notes fall on the beat too.
5. You have one line: answer it
A melody often works as a question and an answer. The first phrase ends somewhere open, on a note other than the home note. The second phrase starts the same way and ends somewhere settled, often on the home note. Sing your line, then sing it again and change only the ending until it sounds like a reply. Step 5 of how to write a melody for your lyrics shows the same move over four lines.
What to aim for
Whichever way you start, give each section its own shape: a lower, busier verse, a higher, more open chorus, and a short hook that people take away. Once you have a draft, run it through the checks in what makes a good melody.
Common problems and quick fixes
| Problem | Try this |
|---|---|
| Every idea sounds like a song you already know | Keep the rhythm and change the notes, or keep the notes and change the rhythm |
| You keep starting on the same note | Start the next phrase on a different note of the chord, or a beat later |
| The melody wanders and never lands | Pick one short idea and build every phrase from it |
| It sounds fine on the instrument but not sung | Sing it without the instrument and cut the notes you can’t reach comfortably |
Keep going
If you already have the words, go straight to how to write a melody for your lyrics. If your melody is in a recording, vocal to MIDI shows how to turn it into notes you can edit. To try these starting points yourself, start a free trial of Mouta Studio on a desktop browser.
Common questions
Where do melody ideas come from?
Mostly from fragments: something you hummed without thinking, the rhythm of a phrase someone said, a few notes over a chord you like. Keeping a voice memo habit catches more of them than waiting for a whole tune to arrive.
How long should a melody idea be?
Short. Three or four notes is enough to build on. A longer melody grows from repeating and changing that idea, as in the example at the top.
Should I write the chords or the melody first?
Either works. Chords first gives you anchor notes to sing over. Melody first leaves you freer, and you can fit chords to it afterward.