Melody is the part of the song that we hum or whistle, and when it’s catchy, we can’t seem to get it out of our heads. When singing or playing a song on the guitar, we must, first and foremost, be aware of the melody. Melody rules!
Analyzing the melody on a lot of songs is an easy way to hone your listening skills and improve your ability to interpret or create music. Charting the melodic line will help you do this. Start with a piece of written music and draw a line connecting the melody notes. (Connect the dots!) Make note of such things as the length of ascending or descending lines, the direction and severity of arcs or the frequency of direction changes. Finally, listen to the pieces and notice your emotional response to the qualities you have noted in the line.
In addition to creating a graph or map of a melody, you can increase your understanding of how to play melodies on the fretboard by reading (translating into sound) the type of map that you created in the previous exercise. In the following example, the O’s form a jagged line that (reading from left to right) goes down, then up, stays on the same plane, then goes down, down again, etc. Your task is to play the line on your guitar.
| O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O |
For your first experiment in playing this melody, find all of notes on the first string only. Try using the 5th fret for the first note and then move up and down the fretboard as indicated by the direction of the symbols. For every circle, you will play one note. If two circles appear side by side, you will simply play the same note twice in a row.
There is no perfect answer, but there is a correct direction and you may find that it requires attention to move a larger number of frets when you see a larger space between the symbols and to return to the exact place that you have landed before. In other words, strive to be on the same fret for the 5th note that you were on the 2nd and to play that same note again for the 9th note. Don’t get bogged down by the details, though – just play with it until you become comfortable moving up and down the fretboard in the same direction that the symbols appear.
Now try playing the following indicated melody, using two frets between all of the notes except between the third from the last and the next-to last. Because those two notes are farther apart than the previous ones, use three frets between them.
This is the first part of a familiar melody, so if you recognize it, you will know you’re on target with the exercise. Make up your own similar exercises and when you feel confident with them, try moving from string to string in your interpretations of direction. Playing a melodic line that incorporates more than one string may seem challenging, but you will learn a lot about your guitar in the process!
Once you spend a little time playing with these ideas, you will probably see the value (and fun!) of using visual directions in music.