Melody first or chords first?

[tramampoline]

What's your usual process rof songwriting? I usually start noodling on the guitar unitl I find and interesting chord or progression and that usually perks my ear to create a melody to fit the progression. It works for me when I use the other method as well, but not as much for some reason. What comes first for you?

[Non-Sequitur]

I find it much easier to come up with a melody when I already have a chord progression. In fact, I don't think I've ever done it the other way. Maybe I should try it...

[Kingnome]

My good songs were melody first. My crappy, self-indulgent wanking fluff-o-doom stuff was all chords first.

[ninja of love]

Originally posted by Kingnome
My good songs were melody first. My crappy, self-indulgent wanking fluff-o-doom stuff was all chords first.
I agree. I always do chords first and end up stuck. The best songs are always the best melodies.

[thelonius74]

Originally posted by ninja of love

I agree. I always do chords first and end up stuck. The best songs are always the best melodies.

Absolutely. If you come up with a chord progression first, then your melody has to work within the confines of that progression.

If you have a melody first, then you have almost an endless number of chords that you can put on top of it.

[thelonius74]

I should also mention that sometimes I do come up with progressions that I feel are very conducive to good melodies. So I'll do it the other way in that sense.

[ScottWMF]

riff first, then everything else falls into place

[zelmobeaty]

I too often start with chords. however, since I've been playing and writing a long time - it's getting old. I really want to start writing the melody first!

[spong]

normally melody first, but don't restict yourself to it. It really comes down to inspiration. A couple of chords can "set you off" as well as a bunch of notes.

[AlKindi]

Melody first and you song will have a soul.

[gibsoninvader]

what is the difference between the chords and melody? Is melody the singing tempo? I'm clueless here...or is melody the strumming pattern of the chords?

[gadflyer]

I always mix it up. The idea is though is to try to write every day. Even if it is just a four measure melody. I belt out melodies in my car. I mess around with my notation software even if I have no direction. I noodle on the guitar quite a bit as well.

When it comes to what comes first. Don't limit yourself to just one technique. Just remember, once you write a melody for a progression go away for an hour and come back to it. If you can't remember the melody you wrote it wasn't any good to begin with.

If you want to start with just writing melody first that is a pretty good idea. It usually is the strongest. Pick up some Rickard Strauss: Don Juan or Death and Transfiguration are both great songs to get you gears rolling. Even James Horner helps me out sometimes.

[dr fuse]

It depend what you are writing. If you wrote a main theme, i prefere beginning by the melody. It's your subject! But for a variation or or verse you can make for example a variation of the main harmony and do a melodisation on it. The most important voices is 1: your melody line, 2: your bass line. The rest is colors

[The Rock Jockeys]

Chords are first, then compose melody based on the chords.

[dr fuse]

strange affirmation! are you lissen the variations of "ah vous dirais-je maman " from Mozart? Doing melodisation produce less liberty for the melody movement. It's a choice...

[nin4269]

Originally posted by dr fuse
strange affirmation! are you lissen the variations of "ah vous dirais-je maman " from Mozart? Doing melodisation produce less liberty for the melody movement. It's a choice...

Not sure I follow... are you saying in Mozart's Twinkle Twinkle Little Star he doesn't take liberty with the melody? I think that's not the case, most specifically useing the 8th & 11th variations as example. However I'm not sure that's a good peice to use to prove the point, since it seemed to be written as a training exercise for his pupils (in my opinion).

Maybe I misunderstood.

[sunder]

weeeeelllll.... sometimes chord progressions suggest melodies, don´t they.

But often I have a melody and then I have this snippet of guitar stuff and that snippet of guitar stuff...

I have lots of little pieces lying in my backyard, so to speak.

A great melody is equally important as something that just feels good on guitar.

I don´t use straight chords very often, I write on electric mostly and I like rhythm parts that are more delicate.

And I have a handful of chord shapes that I prefer, so melodies will have to fit into that somehow.

On the other hand, sometimes if I have a really strong melody I break my little guitar habits.

I usually have key phrases, or a chorus, or a key guitar part. Those will most likely already have a melody and lyrics to them, if maybe goofy lyrics, but lyrics.

Then I have the key parts and now I start looking what the song needs... and this is usually the place where I go for melodies.

Middle eights lend themselves to melodies, for instance.

So my starting parts don´t have strong melodies usually...

I make them up afterwards.

I change my songs so often, it´s ridiculous. I like to do just stream-of-consciousness writing and edit it all together afterwards. It takes years sometimes.

Luckily, as I listen to a lot of classic pop songs, my stream-of-consciousness often provides good melodies to start with.

Ultimately, my chords and melodies are inseperable. I do them both at once, if that makes sense.

In deciding if a song is finished, if it´s good or bad, only feeling counts... if I´m comfortable singing and playing and listening, it´s right. I´m selfish I guess. If you can do a song completely drunk or stoned and not miss a note, it´s finished ;)


*s*

[Barry Jive]

Yeah, but even id you DO write the melody first, doesn't it have to be relative to something? Like, when I write melodies when I'm walking around or whatever, they're always chords going on in the back of my head.

[Lurid]

When I write my own stuff, I usually have a melody and lyrics taking shape before I put any music to it.

In the band, things are different...my vocalist and I usually share the writing credits, but a lot of our songs just come out of jamming. We'll just start jamming, I'll hit on 2 or 3 good riffs over the course of the jam, and usually when I hit an above-average riff, the singer will just lay something over it with a spontaneous melody and lyrics that may or may not have been written beforehand. That's how our last 5 songs or so have been written...and they're our best songs, too.

[Tubesarecool]

I use both ways, but sometimes I find that if I start with a melody I'll come up with a progression for the purpose of backing it that I would never have thought of otherwise!!!:D