Melodic Development Quotes

I'm more of a songwriter. I love writing songs. I love writing my songs. It's always been writing for me, and it makes it different when you're writing for yourself.

First and foremost, I consider myself a songwriter.

Nothing pleases me more than to go into a room and come out with a piece of music.

Great melody over great riffs is, to me, the secret of it all.

I am really heavy into songwriting.

The New Kids took some hits for, you know, not writing their own music. But on a songwriting standpoint, I mean, I'd never written music before when I was in the group, ... Now the music is my music, so it's kind of like my baby, and that was a whole different experience.

Melody is the first thing that comes to me when I'm songwriting. I learned piano classically first, and then I went into soul, and so melody has always been the first. It's so important.

Music really does just boil down to basically, essentially songwriting chords and melodies.

Everyone to me has to pick a subject to talk about in music if you're going to be a writer.

To write a symphony is, for me, to construct a world.

If you're going to write a song, try to get together with a collaborator because it's better to write with collaborators.

I think I'm a songwriter. I grab an instrument to make my body a song, but I'm not a player as such, maybe a little more on guitar, but certainly not piano.

From a technical viewpoint, I have certain things I'd like to present in my solos. To do this, I have to get the right material. It has to swing, and it has to be varied.

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.

If anyone asks me about songwriting, I guess I'd say that you just gotta do it.

Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to a fine racer, and counterpoints to hack post-horses.

Writing a simple melody can take weeks to get it right where I want it, but I do quite enjoy it.

When I've produced a song, I try to record a vocal over it, and sometimes it becomes really hard. Sometimes I've already said a lot that I want to say within the production. The vocal is just adding to it, rather than it being a song.

I've always been a songwriter.

I write music every day.

You have to know composition to be a good improviser.

A good idea for lyrics and a melody to expand on.

I sit down and create atmospheres, start playing guitar or piano and just sing whatever comes out of my mouth.

I'm quite glad I never learned to play the guitar, because I think I'd write songs that were more classically structured. As it is, I've had to create my own way of writing, which isn't typical. Everything's a big crescendo.

I'm a good collaborative writer. I can usually come in and add a couple lines to something, and add a riff or a B-section, or a bridge that will tie things together. I can do stuff like that. But to write a whole song, I don't have the patience for that, I guess.