We’ve collected the best Melodies Quotes from the greatest minds of the world: Kane Brown, David Longstreth, Leon Russell, Babyface, Joe Bonamassa. Use them as an inspiration.
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The one area where I’ll say that Hendrix is underrated was his ability to use chord melodies. He used different inversions of chords and was able to make a three-piece band sound absolutely huge. From the moment Hendrix and the Experience came on the scene, power trios had their work cut out for them.
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What I can feel the most and what I can remember the most are the melodies I want to write to.
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I know I can’t do everything myself. So I know I specialize in my melodies and I do some of my demo work. I pass it on to my producers who are much better at the production level.
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I try to focus on the melodies and try to make everything else minimal. The melody and the lyrics are most important to me.
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I usually like listening to music that only have melodies and no lyrics.
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In country music the lyric is important and the melodies get a little more complex all the time, and you hear marvelous new singers who are interested in writing and interpreting a lyric and in all form of popular music.
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In western classical music with an orchestra, you focus the orchestra on melodies and harmony. In African music, the biggest focus is on rhythms and counter-rhythms – the complexity of rhythms.
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I used to help Viv with the chords and melodies sometimes.
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In English, the sounds and melodies I created were an inspiration to me, and words came to me as I explored the sounds, and from there I was able expand on the meaning.
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People always talk about the lyrics of Leonard Cohen, but I like his melodies. They are very defined and original.
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Listening to all these different musical genres from all over the world and listening to my father‘s record collection, the Irish folk influences from home. Of course they’re all in there somewhere hiding within the lyrics and melodies. But rap music was the biggest influence on my way of writing and my performing.
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I come from a jazzy, acoustic, folky background. Everything has to work with melodies; the words have to have meaning.
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I think if you go to ‘Strength of the World,’ a song like that, the chorus isn’t that great, but you go into the bridge and other things and the catchier parts and the better melodies we were really focused on.
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At times I have a beat first and then I write. Sometimes I have a melody in my head and I pick up the guitar to develop the song. Other times I just write without any melodies, and I end up using those lyrics when I think I have the appropriate instrumental that would bring out and depict the emotions of what I have written.
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When I listen to my favorite songwriters, they have such simple melodies and chords. I occasionally manage to stop at the right time, but all too often I keep on going until I have way too many notes and words. But that’s just what I do.
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The type of music I make, it’s not just straight-up rapping. There’s emotion in it. That’s why people feel each song differently. I get all my vibes from rock music, you know? All my melodies and all that.
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I did psychology at university, but I wouldn’t say that my music is too influenced by it. The way I make music is a little more to do with an emotional connection. When I compose the melodies for my tracks, it always comes from the heart.
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What always draws me back to the Caribbean vibes are the upbeat vibrations of welcoming melodies and positive energy exchange through the rhythms that make you feel like dancing with someone.
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The ’60s was a magical time in the music business. So much creativity and talent. I think a lot of it came from the fact that we had grown up before rock n’ roll. We listened to all the great songwriters and big bands, songs with great lyrics and melodies. I think that really influenced everybody.
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A song that sounds simple is just not that easy to write. One of the objectives of this record was to try and write melodies that continue to resonate.
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I’m not big on rap, to be honest. I just don’t get it. It’s angry people shouting. I like a song, melodies, people singing.
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I like inventive melodies and chord changes, a little bit of creativity.
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When I hear someone, instantaneously, I’m like, ‘Who’s singing?’ You’re giving people so much of yourself, and my voice is the most natural, distinctive tool I have. It’s up to me to express myself on a wider scale than just writing vocal melodies and lyrics.
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Chemistry is the melodies you can play on vibrating strings.
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Where prominent writers are expected to have a socially, politically responsible voice, musicians sometimes find meaning only in the voice which produces melodies with vocal chords.
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I think with me and the type of music that I’m trying to make, it’s always going be soulful because I grew up listening to different types and variations of soulful melodies and jazz, but experimenting with different types of stylistic souls.
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Brazilian music has many of the ingredients that I strive for in my own music: Strong melodies and a disciplined but intense rhythmic concept, and interesting harmonies.
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What do I call my music? Beats with melodies.
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I try to use a lot of rap elements but my main thing is melodies.
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Pop is a little bit theatrical. That’s the whole vibe. That’s the point – is that it’s great music, great melodies, great hooks. But, on top of it, it’s a presentation. There’s a showmanship about it. And that’s why I wanted to be a pop star.
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When people hear sing-songy melodies, they think the lyrics will be nice, too. I guess there’s a depressing or psychotic side to my personality that pops out in the lyrics.
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There are only so many notes so there must be only so many melodies.
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It’s really hard for me to sing and play bass. Unless you’re singing something that’s kind of in rhythm with the bass, the melodies, it’s just difficult.
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I was three or four, and my mother would have a Bing Crosby record playing through the house. It was my introduction to jazz, harmonies, melodies, musicianship, and emotion.
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I want to show my versatility and how diverse I am, how I approach the track, my rhythm, my melodies. It’s something different. Sometimes, the things I do haven‘t ever been done.
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When I wrote the lyrics, melodies, and the first themes of ‘Serendipity,’ I tried to come up with some rare things you find in life, something very special, like the calico, three-striped cat; things that have extraordinary meanings in people’s lives.
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To me, dance music is a lot of space – to listen to other things than melodies. I think club music and dance music really require a different way of listening.
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We love great melodies and great songs that have great hooks and melodies, so we start a little bit more on that side as opposed to other people that start more lyric-based. Sometimes we’ll do it the other way.
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Great music is just very clear. Sonically and lyrically, you understand the point of view, you understand the melodies, you understand the vibe, and you understand the lyric pretty damn quickly. To me, that doesn’t make it ‘less than’ – it makes it ‘more than.’
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We really like having songs where we think the arrangement is just as important as the melodies, even though they’re typically not.
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Every new experience will trigger melodies in my head.
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My first instrument was my voice. I was always singing and writing melodies when I was a little kid. I just sort of taught myself whatever was around. If there were instruments around, I’d play them. I always liked the idea of not being shown but coming up with my own energetic connection to the instrument.
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I grew up watching Gregory Hines banging out rhythms like drum beats, and Jimmy Slyde dancing these melodies, you know, bop-bah-be-do-bap, not just tap-tap-tap. Everyone else was dancing in monotone, but I could hear the hoofers in stereo, and they influenced me to have this musical approach towards tap.
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Drake is damn near the best with melodies.
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If you see a credit with just my name on it, that means I write absolutely everything: rhythm guitar parts, guitar melodies, vocal melodies… absolutely everything, really.
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Overall, Korean pop serves as the foundation of my musical upbringing. As a result, the melodies that I create just exude that type of vibe.
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I write lyrics. putting words and melodies to my songs. That’s a real challenge, I take it on vigorously.
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Often, when I work with a vocalist, I like to focus on the melodies first.
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I’m usually pretty good at remembering the melodies that I wrote.
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Often, with our music, there’s quite a lot going on, so people hear melodies that sound up and catchy, and production, and maybe don’t really listen to what the songs are about, so it’s nice to sing a song like ‘The Currents‘ and really mean it.
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I try to find very simplistic melodies, which are the hardest ones to create.
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So I concentrated on the rhythmic side of things, and therefore left a lot of holes. I didn’t want to use big pad chords everywhere. All of the songs are built up of small melodies and counter melodies all played very rhythmically.
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If you can say the lyrics almost like a poem and they stand up, that’s a great thing. Some songs have great lyrics and I don’t like the melodies, and vice versa.
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Words have been the most difficult thing for me. Melodies have been the easiest for me; I have more than enough melodies to go around.
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For me, pop melodies are their own thing that have their own emotion, but they don’t necessarily belong exclusively in a pop song.
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I get to play around with different ideas and beautiful melodies. I don’t have to yell in a rock voice. I think you can get an emotional depth in the types of rooms we’re playing that you can’t find in larger rooms.
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There is no roles. No one is keeping any roles. The drummer is also answering everybody and everything. So it is a constant conversation and communication between musicians on an extremely high level with extremely valuable material, motifs, and melodies.
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Along with its enchanting and exquisite melodies, West Side Story has attitude and a tremendous amount of frenetic energy. It’s emotional, theatrical and technical. It’s everything.
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I think I have a sound or a certain feel in certain harmonies in the way I construct melodies.
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I listen to what people say in the songs, not just the melodies. With rappers you gotta listen to what they say.
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I use my phone to record notes or hum melodies. That’s how I remember them.
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I really like melodies.
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I want people to hear my lyrics and my melodies and say, ‘That dude‘s in pain.’
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One of the first albums I can remember hearing was a Supertramp best of, with mostly ‘Breakfast in America’ songs on it. It’s kind of the same thing as the Flaming Lips, where there are these really melancholy lyrics and melodies, yet it’s extremely uplifting. They’re like a nonfuturistic version of the Flaming Lips.
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I think more influential than Emily Dickinson or Coleridge or Wordsworth on my imagination were Warner Brothers, Merrie Melodies, and Loony Tunes cartoons.
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Beyonce did an incredible job of differentiating the sound of Destiny‘s Child in her songs. When you hear Destiny’s Child, you know it based on the harmonies and the melodies.
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I first write melodies that will make people shiver, and then, I add the lyrics.
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The albums ‘Heaven On Earth’ and ‘Runaway Horses‘ and ‘Live Your Life Be Free‘ were harking back to when I was a young girl and listening to Californian radio – lush productions, complicated melodies, harmonies like the Beach Boys and the Mamas and Papas. That’s what those albums remind me of.
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Composing gives me a chance to work in multiple dimensions and helps me pare down my melodies into what is essential. Learning new skills has always energized me and scoring has opened up a world of sonic possibilities.
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My lyrics are more country – what I love is the storytelling and the structure, how tight the rhymes can be. But pop melodies have always been intrinsically linked to my writing style.
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I think I’m much more of a guitar-songwriter than a singer. I start with chords and then test out melodies rather than improvising over it.
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It’s hard – some people get inspired by a feeling, but I’m mostly inspired by melodies.
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I would write poems and think up melodies to them later.
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Usually, I’ll just be walking from my house to somewhere else, and melodies and words will start coming up, and I’ll have to run home to write it all down.
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Singing in Spanish is much more honest, much closer to my roots. For me, Spanish is essential. I still think in Spanish, dream in Spanish. It’s the melodies and arrangements that transmit meaning.
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I always start with writing vocal melodies before writing lyrics.
