Today we will look at a short melody played over the high E-string.
Here is the melody:
C G Am C G Em C G Am C G Am
s s s
E —8—7-8—7—5— —8—-7-8—10—12 –8–7-8—-7—5– —8—12-15—17—–
Count: 1 2and 3 4 1 2and 3 4 1 2and 3 4 1 2 and 34
About Notation: S= Slide Up
About the Melody: ~ Notice how the melody goes back and forwards from the BC= half tone.
~ Notice the third bar is exactely same as first bar.
~ Notice that the rhythm of whole melody is the same apart from last bar: a change on beat 3 and 4.
Why Those Chords? : First Bar: C of melody (fret 8) relates to Root of C chord.
The B (fret 7) is the major third of the G chord.
The A (fret 5) is the Root of the A minor chord.
Second Bar: The D (fret 10) is the perfect fifth of the G chord.
The E (fret 10) is the Root of the Em chord.
Last Bar: The E (fret 12) is the major third of the C chord.
The G (fret 15) is the Root of the G chord.
The A (fret 17) is the Root of the A minor chord.
If you are still confused why I have chosen the chords I did, do not worry as I will explain harmony in great detail in future blogs. For now this short break-down about the harmony will do.
Creating Melodies:
When it comes to making melodies, keep them short, make them independent, so they can stand on their own to make sense. If you can sing- or hum it back you are probably doing a good job!
There are a lot of different approaches about how to create melodies, the example above is of a rising nature [the notes go up all the time] and it finishes on a climax. Experiment for yourself with different approaches, in future blogs I will spend more time on the different approaches how to create melodies. Listen to the melodies of your favourite songs, see how they move.
What I mentioned for melodies also goes for Solos, make sure your solos make sense [are melodic] sing along when you play, do not let your fingers dicatate too much [a specific guitarist “problem”] what you play. Let your solos go to a climax, let them make a contrast to what goes on in the rest of the song. In futureblogs I will give more tips and ideas about how to construct guitarsolos. Listen to what your favourite guitarplayers play, do you find they use a particular approach when it comes to playing solos, can you detect what makes player X sound so different from player Y?
Playing Ideas:
Play same melody but now over different strings, observe where the half tones are. Make sure you do know the notenames.
Experiment with different voicings [fingerings] for the given chords, play those chords in different places on the fredboard. Play just the chords and write out your own melody, change the given rhythm ect.
Have Fun!!
Eddie