3 Incredibly Easy Tricks For Writing Melodies 🎶

Howdy! Today we're going to be exploring three simple and effective ways to start writing a melody, and using a great sounding free piano library to do it!
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▼▼▼TIMESTAMPZ:▼▼▼
0:00 Howdy
0:39 Vienna Symphonic Library
1:29 Starting In Chord Tones
4:36 Run The Scale
8:22 The Sing-A-Long Test
10:08 Putting It To The Test
12:34 A Quick Bonus Tip
14:12 Closing Thoughts
Stay classy!
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#musicproduction #musician #tutorial

[@VenusTheory]

What are your favorite tips for writing a melody? All FREE VSL Instruments ► bit.ly/3OW0hkD ▼Gear In This Video▼ Edison Lamps: amzn.to/31prLMm Desk: amzn.to/3Dl4J64 Chair: amzn.to/3001Xpk Computer Monitor Stand: amzn.to/3In7O9u Camera: amzn.to/3xYZ7gB Speaker Stands: amzn.to/3InkBZt MIDI Keyboard: bit.ly/3G7OkDU Audio Interface: bit.ly/31mZExn

[@EarleMonroe]

Since I don’t have much (i.e. hardly any) training, for me it’s the hum it/sing it technique because that’s what I’ve kind of always done

[@laxplanet6046]

I like a feeling of question and answer at times, I think something as simple as following a syncopated rhythm with two halves like a basic son clave can achieve this

[@husssamo]

Gosh what a Platinum NPR voice you have. I can listen to you talk all day!

[@benbawden3348]

It's crazy to me that by the time you reach 8:18 you've already created something far more musically beautiful and emotional than I've ever achieved my entire life, I don't know if I'm impressed (I am) or heartily depressed and ashamed with my poor efforts 🤣 Great video as always so thanks. I think 🤣😕😭😉😂

[@fastkash2x131]

dont bring yourself down like that just put time and effort into learning and everything will be fine

[@kabedford]

Dude, *practice!* Put in the time. Cameron didn't just wake up knowing how to play like that. You can do the same. It's a learnable skill.

[@VenusTheory]

Haha well hey I wouldn't think too much about it. It's always good to have some degree of aspiration but letting it turn into a discouraging thing (for lack of a better phrase: producer envy) is where that mindset can start to get pretty toxic. There's all sorts of theory and tricks and ideas to decode what makes 'emotional' music sound emotional, but there's only one truth to what makes your music sound like what you're feeling and that's the dragon that's best chased. That said, if you're looking to up your 'sappy piano stuff' game, I'd highly recommend checking out a channel like Pianote for some really easy exercises and ideas to build up a foundation of 'how to sound convincing when you aren't that great at piano'. Personally I'm entirely self taught and pretty much still rely on the fake it till you make it approach with piano. I'm certainly no pianist, but eventually it becomes harder to sound like total ass and that's the key I think haha. As mentioned in another comment here - best to learn to sound like a better you than learning to sound like another whoever.

[@benbawden3348]

Noted 👍😁👍 thanks people

[@TheForgedReality]

Impostor syndrome is fun, isn't it? :)

[@stal1963]

Thanks for the techniques. It is exciting that you do not focus on products but offer help for the creative process. I really appreciate your channel.

[@evanjensen792]

I love leaving a like and commenting to help fight the algorithm

[@VenusTheory]

Well I appreciate it haha. Shame the algorithm is so weird anymore but really glad to have such a supportive audience!

[@Mr.TeETH78]

It’s because you are authentic, grounded, have a good sense of humor and silky smooth voice!

[@alex_montoya]

That was AMAZING! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and making it available so clearly.

[@paulroyle-grimes8279]

Thanks for taking time to share the skills and resources - helpful even to a old pro!!! Please keep this great content coming.

[@oscillatorstorm]

I like how you compacted all this useful info and made it so simple!

[@RathCampbell]

Great video man! I enjoy the song creation/ theory videos a lot. I would love to see a video on the basics of film scoring.

[@mattrix2007]

I want to say how much i enjoy your videos. i discovered you a few weeks back so i have plenty of material to get through, but thouroughly enjoying all of it. I've been producing on and off for just over 20yrs hoping to get somewhere. In 2015 i got into acting and in turn ended up writing and composing the soundtrack to a bunch of lower budget movies. Been away from it for a few years to start my honey company (pasionate beekeeper too) and have recently writen and composed the score to a few teaser trailers. Your soundscape tutorials are an absolute gem, thank you.

[@afi6061]

Great vid! Exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. 👍

[@toddwmac]

Always great stuff...thank you.

[@dokma_eu]

love VSL!

[@NashvilleDave]

Hey. I really enjoy your channel! I have a degree in music, but I've been doing much more live sound here in Nashville over the past several years... so when I get a chance to sit and write music, it's always fun to pull up one of your videos and consider a concept and put it to a new or existing track I'm working on.

[@MuzixMaker]

Tip: always record while improvising because you’ll forget, especially if you finish later.

[@Spit1re]

good one

[@Teeb2023]

*_cough_* Cubase Retrospective Record *_cough_* Absolute godsend.

[@beMOTIONdESIGN]

Agreed!

[@chochstetler7030]

absolutely 100%.

[@dtabor85]

Honestly. I have forgotten so so many good licks I swore I'd remember and forgot in an hour..

[@xXUsualxSuspectXx]

That was beautiful!

[@jrvin736]

one thing really love about venus theory videos is that it's serious and a knowldge gold mine but still managed to be hilarious as hell

[@S.R.S_junglist]

I love your melodies so inspiring 🎶🔥💨🎹🎶🔊

[@chochstetler7030]

new to the channel. love the content. subscribed

[@ChristopherJGould]

Wonderful!

[@johnmcvicker6728]

Another good video and it made me look into the free stuff available from VSL, which I hadn't accounted for in my collecting of good-free-instruments out there.

[@becauseisaidso4890]

You have a really well put together channel

[@Zeisslermusic]

Like always a great video. Thanks.. 🇩🇰

[@mageprometheus]

Thanks VT.

[@Jimbo386000]

This is a cool way to think about it. I usually tend to hear a melody in my head and then come up with chords to fit it.

[@nomore6167]

It is simultaneously amazing, frustrating, and painful that you appear to be bored when creating such beautiful, emotionally-moving music.

[@Theeselecta]

Phenomenal 🎉

[@user-qc5rr2il2k]

It's my first comment here. I'm really not at music at all, i'm just curious of it. I've been watching your videos mostly for free vst plugins and some music tips. And what i want to say, that your playing on piano sounds just way to beautiful for me. Maybe i exaggerated a bit but i'm really love it. It reminds me shiny autumn day with clear sky at morning, with some red and yellow leaves on trees and ground. P.S. English is not my native language, and i haven't much practice so i'm sorry for my English.

[@RonaldFigura]

What software are you using to display the piano keyboard/notes in your video?

[@OgamiItto70]

Good stuff. One of my favorite tips for writing a melody, probably because I'm a guitar player and all that music theory rocket surgery makes my little brain hurt, is rhythmic. Come up with a little verbal phrase and then use the timing of it to inform your playing of your musical phrase (melody). Take the rhythm of that phrase and put notes in the scale you're in into it. It doesn't have to be a lyric (although it _could_ be) or even have much to do with the sentiment of the song. You're just looking for rhythmic inspiration here. For example, just off the top of my head, say, "Don't be a sunovabitch, your mother wouldn't like it." Now you have a rhythm implied. "Don't be a" might be a triplet of quarter-notes. "Sunovabitch" could be a quick flurry of sixteenth-notes. The (verbal) phrase also gives you clues as to how to proceed dynamically, as well. "DON'T-be-a SUN-uv-a-bitch your-MOTH-er-WOULD-n't-LIKE-it." Combine this with the tips you gave in this video and you're cooking with gas. Another tip I've used to good effect is kind of an addition to or extension of your tip about chord tones. It applies mostly to situations where you're going to write a melody that goes through more than one cycle of the chord progression. The tip is to save the strongest chord tones for the last cycle. Before that, "land" on tones that are in the scale, but not the "big" chord tones. Land on the second, the fourth, the sixth. Save the fifth to land on for the second to last phrase and then wind it all up by landing on the third (especially when the chord is a major chord) or the root at the end of the very last phrase.

[@ludamillion]

One of the advantages of taking an approach like this is it usually results in hummable melodies. Having a melody that sounds like something you could sing but don't have to remember the words can be very satisfying for a listener.

[@OgamiItto70]

@@ludamillion Yeah, it can make even a low-talent ignoramus hack like me sound like he almost knows what he's doing... ...Occasionally.

[@tods1698]

So helpful thank you!

[@adri.progression]

thank you! Super helpful and the emphasis of phrasing is a game changer.

[@joe2711]

Everytime I watch your videos, and I have watched a bunch, I always want to know what brand/model/kind of glasses you have.

[@wideyxyz2271]

From a 2 fingered, 3 at best keyboard player that was very cool. Praise the lord for midi and piano rolls and good folk like yourself.

[@SeleckPlays]

My personal "Music Production" playlist is slowly just becoming "the next "Morning Coffee with Cameron" video"

[@k8923]

The riff at 7:10 which you thought was "boring" sure built a nice career for Philip Glass. 😁

[@VenusTheory]

Ha well I suppose it's all relative. I feel like I hear that same pattern all over the place in piano solo music!

[@k8923]

@@VenusTheory Yeah, guess right now I'm feeling like I need the familiarity of a repeating note more than usual. Something I know isn't going to change radically mid stream. Actually, I think most all of my music is related to that theme. Hmmm.....

[@STEVEWallace2]

Thanks!

[@STEVEWallace2]

What is the Piano visualizer tool you are using in this great video?

[@VenusTheory]

Ayyyyy thank you! Piano visualizer is Synthesia - free to download and use!

[@erikbartmann]

In my eyes, the best results are achieved by staying as little as possible to predefined conventions. This then becomes very individual and has a personal touch that stands out from the crowd. In my eyes, music should not be composed according to what others would like to hear, but what you personally like, even if it may sometimes sound weird. But this is of course only my humble opinion and is not universally valid. Best Erik

[@BrofUJu]

True! Except for when you write for media, and then you're literally trying to write something that someone else wants to hear or use, lol

[@erikbartmann]

@@BrofUJu That's exactly what I was trying to say :-)

[@ArmanBaig]

100% agree.

[@muiscman807]

Since we are talking about sound here, I should think you should say...to my ears… Not... in my eyes. And secondly if you're trying to earn a living writing for media or pop music genre etc or for just good music in general you will make very little money going off on your own wild tangent and ignoring practises that people have used for just about ever… but if you want to write atonal music, which I do at times, there are still rules that apply to that or you will just have what is called pencil music. It may look fine on paper but it won't sound good…

[@erikbartmann]

@@muiscman807 👍

[@DixonBeats]

When you said the first melody you made wasn't nesseraly a good one 😰 Your throw away melodies are literally better than any I have ever made 😆

[@VenusTheory]

Haha well hey, it's all relative. Better or worse can only ever be subjective when it comes to music - best to learn to sound like a better you than try to worry about sounding like another so and so.

[@musiceclipse]

I was thinking that the first “throwaway” melody could become an accompaniment or counter melody to the more dramatic melody that followed.

[@beMOTIONdESIGN]

Thanks so much for the video! Great tips!! Along some of the same lines as your tips…I try to employ the rule of K.I.S.S…Keep It Simple Stupid. Obviously it depends on the piece that you’re writing, but over complicating the melody can actually turn most people off.

[@Robster881]

My boi be vibin

[@tasenova2717]

I started playing guitar recently, my friend already played for me for certain samples in my music, but the the thing that kind of made my melodies easier is that, a guitar only has so many ways of finger picking, and when I convert that over to melodies or chords on the piano or vice versa, there is not a lot actually going on. So in short: Choose less but choose wisely.

[@NEOROADER]

Wonderful, this is the sort of help I need! Really basic question: how did you record your voice for this video without any monitor bleed? You're clearly not wearing headphones and there isn't a mic in close proximity. When I try this I get massive bleed from my monitors, so I resort to closed-back headphones anytime I have to listen and record voice at the same time. Love the composition tips, keep them coming!

[@craigpalaca3507]

this video a hit

[@theperry00]

Thanks ! found it - yeah Synthisia

[@jonhollandjazz]

What are you using to display the piano notes whilst you play?

[@prajwal_bagewadi]

hiiie sir awsm to see you again ❤❤❤❤

[@theperry00]

Simple Question please, What is the "plugin?" overlaid in the video with piano keys/ notes and rolling midi notes played streaming by in real time? I would find that very useful but have not seen it in my plugins - ProTools Studio 2022/AAX by the way. Thanks Love the CH !

[@fmclueless788]

It looks like synthesia.

[@evrlstMUSIC]

It's synthisia

[@theperry00]

@@evrlstMUSIC Thanks ! found it - yeah Synthisia

[@VenusTheory]

Synthesia! Free to use and download - I just use the 'free play' mode when shooting videos.

[@evrlstMUSIC]

@@VenusTheory That's really smart.

[@sevenfifteen]

Music Theory simplified. I love it!

[@SchmauSy.Official]

hello! can you make a honest review of Akai MPC Key 61.?

[@nieuweabnormaal5869]

I heard about call and response to get a good melody.

[@veritechc]

What is the piano visulation software you are using. Great video!

[@Learn_EMP]

also would like to know this

[@suop1234]

@@Learn_EMP synthesia i believe

[@OilRacki]

This is even easier than writing a grammatically correct video title!!! 😛 Seriously though, very helpful tips, as always.

[@sliduyzamnoyu]

Chill bro lol

[@olliveraira6122]

How can he hear what he is playing without the mic picking up on it? Or is the sound we are hearing through his speakers & mic?

[@livi9137]

some parts reminds me of Desireless - Voyage Voyage

[@samthesomniator]

To arpeggiate the scale of harmonic minor is always full level orientalism. 😆😁 This is how you release a Jinn from it's bottle.

[@FoxtrotHillRock]

yay...

[@anthonystrauch2737]

I could listen to this alone

[@vladv5126]

Michael Giacchino being like "Wait, you guys don't just play music from Star Wars with a couple of notes left out?"

[@Mtaalas]

You forget a big point that separates you from many, MANY bedroom producers... you play an instrument. That fact of playing an instrument gives you deeper understanding and feel for music, and ability to iterate on an idea very quickly. After it becomes extension of one's body, you can translate ideas directly to keyboard and get them out and recorded... But so... SO many don't play instruments and are missing this key ingredient and it's holding them back. I would never go back to those days when I didn't know how to play.

[@masajbeyrifat6895]

En güzel melodiler yolda yürürken akla gelir. Hemen bir kağıda not almak lazım. Bunlar tam melodi olmayıp tema da olabilir. Böylece temalar biriktirilerek şarkılar, bölümler, sonatlar, senfoniler hatta operalar bile yazılabilir. Ben müziğin enstrüman başında değil günlük hayatta başlayacağını düşünüyorum. Enstrüman başında son hale getirilebilir. Ama gene de çok farklı bir müzik yaratmak en büyük arzumdur. Beethoven ve Stravinsky'nin 3 lüsü benim için en hayranlık uyandıran örnekler. (Turkish) . . . . . . . (English) The most beautiful melodies come to mind while walking on the road. You need to take notes on a piece of paper immediately. These may not be full melodies but may also be themes. Thus, songs, movements, sonatas, symphonies and even operas can be written by accumulating themes. I think music starts in daily life, not at the instrument. It can be finalized at the beginning of the instrument. But still, my greatest desire is to create very different music. Beethoven and Stravinsky's trios are the most admirable examples for me.

[@ac1dfl3sh]

How did you practice when you were a beginner? There’s a muscle memory you have that just isn’t natural for most people (imo). So where should someone start to build that muscle memory? Thanks!

[@suop1234]

play music! there's so much free sheet music on the internet, find stuff you like and then just learn it :^)

[@ahmtTyln]

How come 28k views to a good tutorial like this?? plus you play freakishly awesome..

[@EarleMonroe]

When you would follow up the word Vienna with the ‘S’ sound, even before the word “Symphonic” exited your lips, my mind would fill in “Vienna sausages.” Clearly I need to eat (but not Vienna sausages)

[@shannonia81]

Chants to self: I don't need another piano library.I don't need another piano library.I don't need another piano library.I don't need another piano library.I don't need another piano library.

[@Jason75913]

very cool, but sounds like ambient music except when you brought in the orchestral library and simplified your rhythms it's something, I guess

[@robbiedownmusic]

favorite thing about venus theory, here are the rules.. break them!!

[@MarcAnthony_]

Well, if I cannot get into any melody at all, I simply jump into the bed and sleep it over ... perhaps I've spent too much time with Charlie Harper in that house in Malibu, but most of his approaches actually work, so I simply do the same things he does ...

[@esahm373]

Trust me dude, no one with at least intermediate music theory knowledge will be able to follow your advice!

[@teddybear_lost]

2nd

[@_DRMR_]

Oh VSL, why doesn't your software run on all 3 major operating systems? #disappoint Nice tips, but will need to up my music theory make use of them though. (wait, is that what the Theory in VT refers to? #conspiracy)

[@antonioruiz1286]

2:35 Whoa whoa, slow down, you are asking for too much already.

[@razornaut]

... But you can't beat a single note bassline... I'm ashamed of myself.

[@Nuke_Skywalker]

"easy"

[@JeffyG]

I’m sure this excellent video will be helpful to many, but I’m so confused why we have creators/producers that struggle to create melodies. If you can’t hear and create melodies, what are doing in the music biz? Seems like being a lifeguard who can’t swim. Wrong career choice. I’ve never had trouble writing a melody. They come naturally since I was a kid, from listening, analyzing and vocalizing ideas. Today, there are dozens of apps and plugins that will create a melody for you - so it must be a problem for many creators. They all have ‘Random’ functions, which makes me laugh. A random melody, so your not using the same melody as the next guy with the same app! WTF 😳 If you can’t create a melody, play it, or sing it, and you need an app - you clearly have no artistic talent. Try a career as a Systems Integration Analyst and leave music to musicians.

[@VenusTheory]

Notwithstanding the subtle gatekeeping attitude here, I think it's simply because music has become so much more accessible for everyone to make. It's almost immediate to be able to immerse yourself into a DAW and massive set of tools and samples and plugins, but then as a beginner you're stuck with a massive wall of 'so now what' that is pretty difficult to overcome. Production and songwriting are become a lot more commonplace as a sort of hobby or side thing, and it's hard to get from A to B if perhaps you're a vocalist wanting to make your first track featuring instruments or perhaps someone coming from a loop based or sampling based background doing mashups and whatnot to begin writing your own melodies and ideas. I'd really encourage you to rethink the attitude of 'if you can't, then don't'. Music and songwriting much like anything else is a skill that can come naturally and also be taught.

[@JeffyG]

@@VenusTheory fair enough. I was in a destructive Monday mood. Yes - there are hobbyists and beginners, which is why I think your video is excellent and should be popular. And I’m not saying melodic aptitude can’t be learned. I have Scaler 2.5 and the suggest mode is awesome. But, I noticed a lot of plugins have a random feature, like Playbeat, Riffler and Melody Sauce - which got me thinking… can I create a song without and personal expression? Start with a random beat, add a random chord progression, generate a random lead riff…. zero personal involvement. Yes. I studied piano for 12 years as a child. Yes. I’ve played guitar for almost 40 years. Yes. I studied music theory. I realize there’s a large audience of non-musician creators and producers very different than me.

[@engeomusic]

I'm not a buckaroony dude. Ffs

[@Andrew-kc6om]

Never thought I'd hear a more ridiculous intro then dollar shadow vpn mc mustache. But you aren't wrong reverb does make things wet.

[@ahmaa5037]

I don't understand shit