HOME LESSONS

When you hear a song, there are usually several instruments playing several notes at once. How do you understand this mess? We can break it down into three elements:

• Melody. The notes the singer is singing.
• Chords. Chords are a "shorthand" for all the notes all the instruments are playing.
• Lyrics. The words the singer is singing.

If you create a melody, a chord progression (a series of chords), and lyrics that all go together, you have a song! In ChordSong it looks like this:

An experienced composer can start with any one of these elements first, and then add the others. But to begin, I suggest you start this way:

Chords first. Why? Because chords are the most "technical" or "mysterious" of the three elements. So it's easier to play with chords all by themselves, find a chord progression you like, and then add a melody to it.

Once you have some chords, here are a couple of ways to add a melody:

• Let ChordSong play the chords over and over, and try humming (or singing) something along with them.
• Create the melody with your mouse on the ChordSong melody staff. ChordSong even shows you notes which work with your chords!

Note: A pop song can easily be 100-200 measures long. You probably don't want to make up just the chords for a whole song first, without any melody. Try making up a few measures of chords, then add a melody to those measures, then add a few more measures of chords, then some more melody, and so on.

- CONTACT US (info@drawmusic.com) - ABOUT US - RESOURCES