When you’re writing your own melodies or playing your own improvisations you can get great ideas from looking at what the masters have done. If you start with the melodies you like, the songs that have stood the test of time, then you can’t go far wrong. In the example below I’ve started to have a look at what is going on in the first measures of the classic Vernn Duke and Ira Gershwin song I Can’t Get Started. On first listening it sounds as if it could be a bit of a vocal challenge with an octave leap in the melody in the pickup / measure 1 and also measures 2/3. In the example above there’s a certain tension created by these two octave leaps. However the tension is very cleverly tempered by the use steps which miss out every second note. To my ear this gives a symmetry to the melody which tempers the tension of the leap. This is the kind of idea that we can take and play around with when we are creating our own music. In my guitar course I also cover the area of ear training. A good way of remembering intervals, chord tones etc is to identify them in songs that you know. You’ll notice that the first 4 notes of I can’t get started form a Bbmaj7 chord….try singing the notes through. If you’re not familiar with the melody go to my I Can’t Get Started Guitar Song Lesson where you’ll find my recommended listening for the song.
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