In this lesson, we'll learn how to learn the melody of any song and play it on your guitar!

This is awesome if you've got a jam buddy - one guitarist can play the chords to a song while the other plays the melody. :)

🎤 This Melody & Harmony Split Trick that we're about to learn is great if you don't have a singer. The guitar playing the melody will sound just like the voice of the song - it's very cool!

If you don't like singing or think you can't sing a song, this is a great approach to jamming and can open up a whole new world.

🚨 This lesson is part of my brand-new Beginner Grade 3! If you're learning to play with me, you should have all skills you need to learn how to duet like this. :) If you're new around here, I'd expect you to be hip playing open chords and basic rhythm. :)

You'll rarely find melodies written out in tabs. Still, you’ll often find them in traditional notation in “lyric and chord” songbooks. So, if the melody isn’t necessarily in beginner songbooks, how will you learn it? The answer is in this lesson, and it really improves your musicianship! :)

😅 No! You won't need to learn how to read traditional notation. It's far from that. This lesson is very practical!

Ready? Let's get stuck in!

How to Learn Melodies on Guitar

Learning to play melodies on your acoustic guitar is actually nowhere near as hard as you might expect! Follow the following 5 easy steps, and you'll know how to play any melody on guitar.

Step #1 - Listen Up!

You first need to listen to the song's melody and really pay attention to it - focus on where it goes up and down. You've got to listen carefully to the song's melody, not just like have the music on in the background!

Ideally, you want to really try and get the song's melody into your musical imagination, in your musical mind. You should be able to hear it without the music on. ;)

Try to get the song's melody in your musical imagination before starting. It can help if you pick a song you know well and sing to yourself in your musical mind.

Step #2 - Know the Chords First!

Before you start working out the melody to a particular song, I'd strongly recommend checking out the chords first of all! That's because you'll find most melody notes within the chords!

💡 This is a practical lesson! If you want to learn more about the theory behind all that, please - join my Theory course now! Understanding how music work is key to developing your musicianship - and I want to get you there. :)

Knowing the chords help because usually, the melody note will be a chord tone. And the notes joining the chord tones are likely to be scale tones in the song's key. Not always, but most commonly. :) It'd also be super helpful if you know the chords in the key - also covered in my Understanding Music course.

💡 If you've followed my free Beginner Guitar course, you learned about Chords in Keys in Grade 2. Need a refresher? Check this out!

When you know the chords in the key, it becomes easy to figure out what key you're in and the Major Scale, where you're likely to find the rest of the melody notes.

Step #3 - Open Or Closed

A common problem is not knowing if you should start in the open position (using open strings and up to fret 5) or a close position further up the neck.

I'd recommend that you start in the open position! It's just a bit easier, and it doesn't involve memorizing scale patterns. As you advance, you get more familiar with Major Scale Patterns, which allows you to find the melodies easier. This might be helpful later, but I'd recommend that you start in an open position at these early stages.

As you progress, you are likely to use both open and close positions, sometimes in the same arrangement! But starting in an Open Position is probably a good starting point if you’re new to this. :)

Step #4 - Starting Note

The first note of the melody is super important! Finding that note should make the rest a lot easier, but beginnings will need some guesswork here. :)

The starting note is probably going to be a chord tone. So, if you know that first chord, things will get easier!

💡 Don't worry- you'll find a list of easy songs to practice below! And I'll give you the starting note to help you get going.

Step #5 - Write it out

This last step is particularly useful for beginners! It’s always better to learn things by memory, but when you start out with this, you’ll probably find that it really helps to write the melody down as you figure it out.

💡 Don’t worry about notation or rhythm! Just TAB your melody out to help you work things out.

As you get more advanced, you might write things down to help you remember embellishments like slides or vibrato. It can be very useful to move the melody up an octave.

How to Choose Easy Songs

To start with, I'd suggest you try and work out easy melodies! Here are three things you should watch out for:

#1 - Range

The range of the song can make things harder! If it's really high, you won't be able to play it in an Open Position!

#2 - Large Jumps!

Songs with large jumps in the melody, meaning the distance between the melody notes is further than a couple of tones, are generally harder to work out!

#3 - Embellishments

Embellishments can make things harder, too, RnB stuff particularly. Still, even some older, simpler stuff, like Wish You Were Here, can be kinda tricky!

🚨 You might find it tricky to learn the melody for more modern pop music. The melody often becomes much more rhythmic and less melodic, making it harder to define the melody. Sometimes, the words are more spoken than sung!

While it’s totally possible to learn to play melodies with loads of embellishments, it’s probably not a great starting point.

BONUS! Go Further.

3 awesome things happen to you when practicing to play melodies on the guitar! Let's talk about them. :)

Bonus #1: Sing with Confidence!

People often are not confident singing when they don’t know the melody!! It's very hard to sing a melody well if you don’t know what it is!

Learning to play the melody on guitar will, for certain, help you sing it better and sort out any strange tuning moments. :)

Often when people sing out of tune, it’s because they’re uncertain of the melody at that particular point!

Bonus #2: Leading to Chord Melody

As an awesome bonus, once you know how to play the chords and the melody, you can start putting them together into chord melody arrangements! A great example is the Greensleeves arrangement we learned in a previous lesson. :)

Bonus #3: Learn Solos

As you get better at hearing and learning melodies, you’ll find that it’s also a lot easier to pick up lead guitar lines as well! Why not try some easy ones right away? :)

Because you’re used to working out the voice on the guitar, you’ll also be able to pick out other instrument melodies like harmonic or even piano lines!

8 Easy Songs to Try

Here are 8 songs to get you started playing a melody on the guitar!

1 - Let It Be by The Beatles. The first part is all based around a C Major, and you can play the entire melody in an Open Position.

2 - House Of The Rising Sun by The Animals. Start off on the second fret, fourth string to the third string. Then, play the open string and the first fret on the second string. We put it just with the chords now! Did you get the idea?

3 - Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. This one is a very easy one! You'll probably be able to work out the entire melody on your own.

4 - Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Whitters. A great one to play the melody and combine with the chords. Super fun practice!

5 - Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. Great song, also good for beginners. We'll play a bit together in the video lesson, and you should be good to do the rest on your own. :)

6 - Breakfast at Tiffany's. This is one of my favorites. It works great in Pattern 3 of the Major Scale. :)

7 - Yellow by Coldplay. Lovely melody - try to sort it out!

8 - Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. This classic might be a bit harder, as it gets loads of embellishments. Still, if you're feeling confident, give it a go! It sounds great! :)

Advanced Shizzle!

Here are a few things to pay attention to once you feel comfortable with a melody and play it confidently:

Listen out for places where a slide up or down to a note will sound cool. You can either take it from the actual melody or try things out for yourself.
Pay attention to how long notes are held for. Try to replicate the actual melody as an exercise, but remember you can totally make it your own and play it however you like.
If you can use vibrato, think about where this will sound good. Hint! It’s not going to be every note. Usually just the notes you end on but make sure it’s appropriate. Commonly vocal vibrato starts small and gradually gets wider. Rock Guitar vibrato goes crazy right away!

For a second verse, it can sound really cool for a second verse to play the melody up an octave. That gives movement to the arrangement but means you’ll have to learn it in two places.

As you get better at this, you might find that you can ‘hear your way around’ playing a melody without working it out. How cool is that? If you get to that place, congratulations - that’s a great jewel in your musicianship crown!

💡 Following Grade 3? You'll get a personalized practice schedule by the end of this module. If you're not following the program but struggle with practice routines and consistency, check this out.

Now, it's time to grab your guitar and join me in the video lesson to learn more.

Next - The failing leaf… Coming soon!