Writing a great tune is half the heavy lifting in a songwriter’s day. Coming up with a melody folks can remember after one or two listens, and sing along to – now there’s a skill!

Fortunately, there are some time-honoured rules of thumb that give you an idea of what contributes to a successful melody.  

First up, a melody is just a bunch of related pitches (notes) sung or played for different time periods (rhythm).  What you have to decide is which notes, held for how long. 50% of the melody is the notes…