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Sea Belt said
@Beatlebug – Should I move my other post into this thread?

  

I think that a mod (like beatlebug) could do that for you if necessary. I’d leave it alone for the time being. 

Neely said

Sea Belt said

 (example: avoid singing the note A when playing A major or minor, D when playing D major or minor, etc.).  

Am I supposed to sing 5ths, 3rds, or what? Everytime I try this it sounds bad. 

  

it depends. There aren’t any hard rules but typically a melody should go from one place to another. Singing just one note might sound boring regardless if its a root or a 3rd or a 5th or a 9th. With interesting chords it might sound exciting. Try targeting chord tones, for example the 3rd of the V is a half step below the root of the 1. the 9th or second of the 1 is the 5th of the V. If that doesn’t make sense I can elaborate, but to make interesting melodies try connecting chord tones together using passing phrases, chromatics, intervals, and other melodic techniques that result in you landing on chord tones.

Check out Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love to hear how chord tones are target through different descending intervals that get smaller and smaller and the line progresses until eventual it becomes unison on the root. Avoid the root in jazz but in Pop it can be very impactful if built up to well. 

Above all trust your gut. What makes Paul so amazing is his melodies sound as of they were mined from an ancient tune ore and have existed since the beginning of time, he was just the one to dig it up and put it into a hit track with soaring high range. Following all of the “rules” or just using “correct” theory to craft a tune can often end up soulless. When you feel the call of a great melody do not let it pass you by. Work on putting it over some chords, with lyrics, at the very least record it so you don’t forget. Its extremely difficult to brute force a great melody, writing a song around one that got stuck in your head out of nowhere is easy. 

Some years back, on the “Beatles Trivia – Even Easier!” game thread…

(which is not a serious regular trivia quiz thread, @Neely and @Sea Belt, but a funny silly thread where we give joke answers to Beatles questions, which can themselves be straight or silly, it’s a classic fun thread, check it out! 🙂 )

….anyways, I’d posted on the thread my lyrics to George’s imaginary song “Slower”. And ever since then, I’ve imagined how it’d sound with music, as a “real” fake imitation parody Harrisong. I can hear the bulk of the song in my head (much of the music is stolen/adapted from “Awaiting On You All ” and “I’d Have You Anytime “) but I don’t know if I have the guitar skills to work out the chords to match the vocal melody I’m hearing, let alone play them – I can’t manage a great deal more than the seven major chords, plus a few minors and fewer 7ths, all in open position.

Sea Belt said
@Von Bontee 

What’s the story about George’s “imaginary song”?  I never heard of it!

I spoke of the “all jokes, all the time!”  format of “beatles trivia: even easier!” thread up above, there?

– a question is posed, then whoever answers first also poses their own question, and the next person answers, etc. Anyways, SgtPeppersBulldog asked the question “What are the lyrics to George Harrison ‘s” song “Slower?” (a song which doesn’t exist, and a title spoof on one he did record called “Faster”), implicitly inviting whoever answered first to make up some lyrics to this imaginary Harrisong. Which I did.

(It’s a fun frivolous thread, going on about 7-8 years now, and it started out as a serious ‘answer-this-super-easy trivia question, and ask another’ thread; but was TOO easy, and so almost immediately transformed itself utterly and eternally into a sarcastic-reply format! Results since then, questions and answers both, are almost always funny, or chuckle-worthy. They often relies upon little references to Beatles history, and the full thread almost functions as a bizarre alternate universe story of the Beatles career (and childhoods, and of the characters in their songs), or anything Beatley really.

But as a thread, it frequently stops completely, often for months; and I just wanted to invite you and Neely, as the two most hardcore new posters of the last 3-4 months, to check it out and add your own hilarious contributions! (I’ve wondered if the title of that thread might be altered, to make clear that it’s not a game-thread about knowing Beatles history, as much as about making up our own amusing version of the story, with a toe in ‘reality’)