Playing melodies is an important skill to cultivate and it’s never too soon to start. Even if you don’t ever want to play lead guitar, integrating melodic fragments into your strumming or picking patterns or using them as an interlude between verses will add depth and interest to your playing. As an added bonus, playing melodies will teach you a lot about your guitar!
If you’ve never played a melody, choose a simple song that’s very familiar to you and is in a major key. You should be able to hear the song in your head and sing it easily. In the early stages of melody playing, you might want to choose songs from childhood, such as Mary Had a Little Lamb, Jingle Bells, London Bridge or Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
You’ll find your melodies within the scale patterns. Choose a scale pattern that you know well and play it through several times until the sound is in your head. Then, sing the song you’ve chosen. Slowly play up and down the scale until you’re able to determine the starting pitch of the song. Play and sing that note, then sing (don’t play!) the second note of the song and compare it to the first note that you just played. Is it the same note (repeated), or is it higher or lower than the first note? If it’s higher or lower than the note that you just played, does it feel like a skip or a step? If it’s a skip, how large is the skip? When you’ve analyzed the relationship between the two notes in this way, try to find the second note on your guitar, choosing from the notes in the scale pattern. Continue finding the notes of the melody, one at a time, using this method.
Remember This
Remember that the most important thing you can do when you begin to play melodies by ear is to sing each note before attempting to find it on your guitar. Be sure to sustain the note with your voice until you’ve found it on your guitar and to follow this method with every note!
If playing melodies is new to you, stick to one scale pattern when you practice melodies. If, however, you’re more experienced, try playing the song you choose in different octaves and, if you know several scale patterns, in different positions.
Develop your awareness of the melodic line by consciously analyzing it when you listen to music or when you sing. If you’re able to correctly assess the direction and distance from one note to the next during those times, your ability to play the melodies on your guitar will rapidly increase. Take the time to practice ear training when you are away from your guitar and your abilities will skyrocket!
Keep Doing It
Like most musical skills, you’ll improve with practice, so practice a lot! Try to play at least one melody every time you pick up your guitar. Once you can find the notes in a melody, don’t stop there. Use a metronome to make sure that your timing is accurate. Monitor your technique, listen for a clean sound, and make it musical!