How and Why to Play Melody on Guitar

Playing melodies is a great asset to your musicianship, regardless of the style of music you play. In the long run, melody playing helps you know your guitar better. In the short run, it helps you know the song better. As you gain a specific awareness of each melody note and the relationship it has to the notes around it, your singing of the song will improve radically. If you want to figure out a bass line, hearing and playing melodies will help you do that. And, if you play with other people, playing the melody will be a way that you can get the most from the collaboration and round out the performance.

How to do it

Before you start looking for the melody on your guitar, you’ll need to determine which key the song is in. If you feel you can’t already do that by ear, you can quickly learn how here. Once you know the key, you’ll know which scale to use. That’s important because you’ll find the melody notes within the scale pattern.

If you don’t play scales yet, it’s okay. You only need one major scale pattern to get going. You can learn the moveable pattern I call Scale Pattern #1 in either of my guitar books Moving On or Learning to Play Lead Guitar, or you can find it in the Virtual Studio. It’s fine to use a different major scale pattern if you like, just be sure you know which note in the pattern is tonic.

The advantage of using a moveable scale pattern is that since it doesn’t incorporate open strings, you can use the same pattern for any major key. If you prefer playing in the first position, though, feel free to do that. (Learn the first position C scale here.)

If you only know one scale pattern or you’re using the first position scale, you may not be able to play the song in the octave you hear. That’s not a problem, though. Just listen for and find the highest note in the song. If it’s too far out of the range of the scale pattern where you’re playing it, you can play the melody an octave lower.

The first step is to play the scale pattern 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. If you take your time and relax, you’ll find it. If you’re not sure you found the right note, just start over: play the scale, sing, hold the starting pitch with your voice, and find the match within the scale.

Next, play and sing that note, then sing (don’t play!) the second note of the melody 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.

Tips for getting a good start

It’s important to begin where you are. If you’ve never played a melody, pick short songs that have simple chord progressions, are very familiar to you, and are in a major key. It’s fine if the song has minor chords in it but be sure it ends on a major chord.

Choose a song that you can easily hear in your head and be able to sing it accurately. Be sure you know the chord changes, as most of the melody notes will be found in the chord shapes.

Songs from childhood, such as Mary Had a Little Lamb, Jingle Bells, London Bridge or Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star are the best choice for your first try. When you find it easy to play one or two of those short tunes, move up to playing songs that are slightly more challenging. If you feel overwhelmed when you begin the new song, choose one that’s shorter or simpler. Taking your time with the process will yield a much better experience!

As you become more experienced and confident, try playing the songs you choose in different octaves and, if you know several scale patterns, in different positions.

How to succeed

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. Do this with every single note! Be sure to sustain the note with your voice until you’ve found it on your guitar. It’s easy to become impatient and skip this step but it’s really critical to your success. No matter how much you believe you can get by with going fast, you will surely end up frustrated until you surrender to the slow-motion method. Take your time, sing the note, observe the direction and distance from the previous note, and then—and only then—attempt to locate the note.

A good way to improve your awareness of the melodic line is to consciously analyze it in the songs you listen to or sing. Regularly assessing the direction and distance from one note to the next will quickly improve your ability to play melodies on your guitar. Give a giant boost to your abilities by practicing ear training when you’re away from your guitar.

Like most musical skills, melody playing improves with practice—so practice it a lot! Try to play at least one melody every time you pick up your guitar. It’s really fun when you get a few under your belt, so you probably won’t have to remind yourself to do it.

Play it well—and be creative!

Once you can find the notes in a melody, don’t stop there. It’s always a good idea to use a metronome to make sure that your timing is accurate. Monitor your technique and listen for a clean sound. Play with expression. Play well!

When you need help

If you get stuck and need help, my Single Song Support is a great solution for less money than you’d spend on private lessons. For example, if you’re having trouble finding the starting pitch, you can send me the song title or YouTube video and I will let you know what that note is, where to find it, and what key the song is in. I can also tell you if there are any melody notes that leave that key by a half step, so they don’t trip you up. I’m able to provide that information on three songs in one $25 session, which will probably give you enough help to see improvement and go forward on your own.

If you’d like even more support (for example, if you need help with the whole melody), I’m available to you for guitar lessons and coaching. In addition to playing a simple melody, I can help you understand and learn a guitar chord melody of your choice, arrange a song you want to learn, create a bass line, choose chord voicings, and more.

Future fun

When you start to feel confident about playing simple melodies, you’re ready to create your own. As a guitarist, you have plenty of opportunities to be melodic in both your rhythm playing and your lead playing. Look for different ways to spice up some of your older favorite songs, make up new melodies, or even create your own arrangements or instrumental songs.

And now, a question from me

I love playing chord melodies and every student I’ve taught to do it has loved it, too. It’s so much fun to be able to play two or more parts on a single instrument. You can be your own band!

I’ve long toyed with the idea of creating a chord melody course that I could put in the Virtual Studio along with my other guitar courses. The course would be for those of you who are drawn toward playing instrumental songs. I’ve even arranged and recorded a couple of songs and started creating tutorials for it. But I don’t have the motivation to finish it without feeling that someone would use it. It would help me decide my next project if you would let me know if you’re interested. I won’t finish the course without hearing something positive from you. (Since it will be in the Studio, it would basically be free.)

You can find a few samples of me playing this type of solo guitar at the bottom of this page. “Fishin’ Blues” is something I arranged to teach at an open tuning workshop. It’s fun to play and it’s not hard! The other two are jazz standards that are more complicated arrangements (still mine, of course) and include improvisation, which is beyond the scope of the course I’m thinking of creating. But if you listen to them, you can get an idea of what is possible. I also arranged a couple of solo guitar songs for Moving On, so if you have that, you can hear them on the included audio.

I’ve chosen a couple of traditional songs to teach in the course. I arranged them for anyone that fits into what I categorize as a level II player or above. (Think intermediate level, more or less.) Please let me know if you’re interested!