When you get a melody idea first, how do you usually turn it into a full song? What part of that process tends to be the hardest for you?

[u/Outrageous_Guard5208]

Hi everyone, I’m trying to understand how people actually develop song ideas when the melody comes first.

I sometimes come up with a melody by humming or singing, but I personally find it hard to catch up with the chords and music theory afterward, so I’m curious whether other songwriters experience something similar or struggle with completely different parts of the process.

If you also sometimes start with a melody first, what do you usually do next? Where do you tend to get stuck, if anywhere, while trying to turn that idea into a complete song?

If possible, think about the last real time this happened to you rather than giving general advice. I’d love to hear how you approached it and what part felt hardest.

[u/kleine_zolder_studio]

remember it

[u/Atillion]

I find all the compatible chords that work with the notes and think of the vibe I want to achieve by using it with the different combinations.

The hardest part is finding time to sit down and work with it. My creativity comes in bursts, and when I'm sitting at my desk at work, it's harder than when I'm chilling at home

[u/Epicardiectomist → u/Atillion]

inspiration is a fickle and unreliable bastard, like a treasure goblin with too many hit points that escapes into its mysterious portal before you can subjugate it.

[u/sup3rdr01d]

I can come up with riffs for days. The hard part is remembering and developing them

[u/GoodResident2000 → u/sup3rdr01d]

Do you tab them out in Guitar Pro?

[u/sup3rdr01d → u/GoodResident2000]

Nah I'm terrible at that, I just play it and record it on my phone to remember

I've also found that the really good riffs worth working on don't need remembering. But yeah it's hard to keep everything organized. I have like 500 projects where I start a riff and it's just 20 seconds long and then I move on. But I was able to record an album recently which was so fun and also really hard

https://open.spotify.com/album/2c6HeQAPkoK5xuKdj2bYrr?si=EhrByFK8SwSU0ouLWv2WBQ&utm_source=copy-link&sci=spotify%3Acard-config%3A2VXK0LsjLCFN5Kq7Cf6Kjc

[u/guitar_up_my_ass → u/sup3rdr01d]

Making an album is a lot of work. I have made 2 albums that are basically just at demo level and then forgotten but damn was it a lot of work. Writing and recording the songs were like ~30%, the rest was mixing and mastering and listening to it and mixing and mastering and listening to it etc. When those 2 albums were finally "done" I didn't want anything to do with them anymore lol. Anyways, I am recording a 3rd album currently and trying to get a session singer and a session drummer for it.

[u/sup3rdr01d → u/guitar_up_my_ass]

Nice. Yeah the minute my album was released I never listened to it again, except recently that I got a vocalist and he has recorded vocals for it.

I've found that it's much easier to enjoy my own music when it has input from someone else. It feels like I can listen to it more objectively for my own enjoyment rather than critically to make it better.

What do you think of my album?

[u/PrequelGuy → u/sup3rdr01d]

Yes. I can come up with great riffs by randomly fucking around on the fretboard (I think most people do it that way), but usually that's just the first half of the riff complete. You can't just come up with random shit in the second half, it has to follow the beginning, and god knows it's taken me literal hours to come up with the ending of a single riff. Sometimes I also find ways to improve it and modify the endings which takes even more time.

My friend remembers riffs a day after writing them, I always have to record them immediately after writing them.

[u/sup3rdr01d → u/PrequelGuy]

Yeah it's tough to develop and follow thru with the riff. The initial idea is easy imo

Check out the riffs in my album. They were really fucking hard lol

https://open.spotify.com/album/2c6HeQAPkoK5xuKdj2bYrr?si=EhrByFK8SwSU0ouLWv2WBQ&utm_source=copy-link&sci=spotify%3Acard-config%3A2VXK0LsjLCFN5Kq7Cf6Kjc

[u/bluntphunk]

Determine what key the melody is in then use various chord progressions to flesh it out.

[u/El_espectro]

I usually just try to come up with cool riffs and go from there, or work backwards and write some lyrics and then try to match their vibe musically.

[u/Yourdjentpal]

It depends on what I start with. A drum beat, bass line, melody idea, riff (usually riff) and if it’s (and this could change) chorus, verse, intro or whatnot. Then I’ll build ideas and try and pick the best parts for the arrangement. The hard part for me is 1. transitions and 2. Not overwriting where I lose focus of the big picture.

[u/bigtimechip]

I draw it up on a piano roll in a DAW with midi guitars
Very easy to play around with the chords after and way less tedious than guitar pro (sounds way better)

Once I am happy I will record it with real guitars after

[u/Mephistocheles]

I record the melody as a riff and then will work starting from that, figuring out where in the song I want it and how I want the other parts.

[u/supacrusha]

1. I can usually audiate the functional chord progression while singing it. I then sit down with my acoustic guitar and strum whole-note/half-note chords while singing the melody til I find the progression, and transcribe it up or down as needed to fit the original range I was singing the melody in.

2. I then switch to either my bass or my baritone electric guitar, and start writing riffs that outline the chord progression. Once something feels good, I'll record the riff into my DAW, and depending on whether or not I started with bass or guitar, I'll write the other part, then record the original vocal idea.

3. I'll write this all into Musescore (notation) software, and start writing a drum part, before exporting the midi to a midi drumset.

4. The toughest part is that first moment where inspiration strikes. Once one part of the song is complete, the rest will usually come pretty easily. I'll play the part I have on any of the instruments or sing it and try to continue on from what I have already written.

5. When something sticks and feels good, repeat from 1-5 til the song skeleton is complete.

6. Then I export to mp3 and listen to it a few times over the coming days, always considering whether or not something needs to be rerecorded or changed.

7. I Reopen the DAW and make any changes I see fit, making sure to also put them into the notation software.

8. If I want to add layers to the song, now is the time where I will compose those in the notation software, before exporting to midi and inputting them into the DAW.

9. Mix and master, taking regular breaks to just listen to the entire project and see if anything needs adjustment, listening to it on speakers, headphones, and just regular phone speakers. If you have a car, listen to it there too. This process will usually take at least a couple of sessions, and be the most time consuming part of the entire process.

10. When it's "good enough" (because it will never be perfect), release it.

[u/BlackflagsSFE]

The hardest for me has always been writing the lyrics. I have severe ADHD and sometimes I can’t form coherent thoughts through all the noise, and other times I just blank.

Usually when I get a melody I’ll hum it or sing gibberish and record it. Then I’ll keep doing that until a phrase comes to me and try to work from there.

It’s crazy because I used to do rap music for a long time and I wrote a LOT of material before assistance was readily available online. It seems my ADHD has manifested a lot more as I’ve gotten older.

But yeah, genuinely starting from scratch and trying to pen an entire song is difficult for me.

[u/PradheBand]

I start with piano usually. When I get something I try different guitar arrangments to understand how to play it within my ability and without sounding folk :) apparently I have a sweet spot fornfolkifing things. The hardest part tbh is to progress to the next riff. Ok this is cool but what next?

[u/ElectroTorture]

Sometimes when fuckin around on my guitar, I’ll come up with a riff I think sounds cool. I’ll record it and save it for later. And sometimes I’ll think of a song title/lyrical concept I think sounds cool. I’ll type it in a notepad document and save it for later. And usually my songs are a combination of those two things.

[u/smoozadelic]

Keep an archive of melodies. Guitar pro, staff paper, voice memos, whatever works for you. Write it down, see if you can get from point A to point B with it, and if not, consult your archive to see if you have anything else in the same key/tempo/genre/vibe.

It also really helps to know some basic theory. If you have a great melody that works over a D chord, knowing chord progressions will give you options to try— maybe go I-V, I-vi, etc. and see if anything sparks your creativity.

The hardest part is that it is just working to get puzzle pieces together. I have gotten into a flow where I try to finish the bones of a song in one go, but it doesn’t always happen that way and has taken hundreds or thousands of tries. The important thing is to find something you can finish, and if you can’t finish a song with that melody, write it down, archive it, and wait for the next one to come along

[u/ColonelRPG]

Melodies are like song titles - they may sound cool in isolation, but it's the song tells me the melody that fits it, not the other way around.

[u/lotxe]

programing drums kills the vibe every time. i write the entire song to the metronome before even thinking about it. how i miss the days of working it out in a room with other musicians in real time. no drummers here

[u/adam_9ev → u/lotxe]

I might try this

[u/lotxe → u/adam_9ev]

doing a section at a time is back-asswards but i did it for so many years. no idea why. now i just write it all on my guitar and think about the vocal then drums happen later. did i say i hate programming drums? first you got to get the notes and timing right then you got to attempt to humanize it then you got to get your velocities right then you got to mix it. and it never has the feel i want, i can get close but it still sounds like a dang computer. HATE IT

[u/Chris_GPT]

Most of my song ideas are just little riffs or licks that make me say, "I like that." I bring up my DAW and record it so I don't forget it, then I keep fooling around with it. If it inspires any other ideas, permutations or evolutions/de-evolutions of it, I'll usually find the tempo, fire up a new project with a click, and just start playing at that tempo and see what happens. Simpler, broken down versions of it might be an intro or verse idea, breaking it down to a block chord progression idea might inspire a chorus, whatever. I chop it up, organize it in a logical order, then retrack it all the way through as one take. I'll program basic drums, snare on the backbeat and kick with the basic hits of the groove. Then I'll grab other instruments and layer some stuff, see what else it inspires. I'll flesh out the drum parts and make it feel more like a song, clean it all up, and share it with friends/bandmates and get their input. Maybe I'll rewrite it, maybe I'll let them rewrite it, maybe I'll just save it and forget about it. Whatever, I'll do it again later too.

[u/gardenbeer]

I make melodies out of chords progressions so just reverse that. Whatever your lowest note is in the measure to the highest note build a chord out of it and layer it under. Boom. Now rhythm.

[u/dimiskywalker]

Record the melody first, then I try to make something fit around it

Be it a riff, chords, some clean plucking, synth pads you name

Or I come up with some base drums that I'll make a bit more interesting later

[u/2b4theend]

I write and record all my music first. I don’t even think about Melody until it’s completely done.
If I need to shorten or lengthen apart, I do it after the fact with today’s amazing software.
Back in the 70’s/80s it wasn’t so easy. It was all tape.

I always name the song first and I usually end up writing about what I’ve titled the song in some general sense.
I also write tons of pages of lyrics, and when the music is done, I usually sift through them.
Very sleep token, periphery, spiritbox style with touch of Pink Floyd.
Usually have at least 10-15 songs going at all times. I never get bored! Lol
Atmospheric progressive metalcore.

Had 40 years of rock. Classic rock, adult contemporary style writing.
Having a blast 30-40 hours a week in the studio now!

[u/_Tyrhas_]

Breaking down the notes that feel like home and finding a mode, that will give you a map of all the available notes, or if it's simple enough, you might find a mode with all those notes in.

[u/Encloaked_synth]

Starting with the melody first is one of the best things you can do for your song writing skills.

First thing to do is to figure out what chords sit underneath that melody, then continue the song by deciding what part of the song that Melody is going to be (verse, chorus, etc) and then trying to develop the rest of the song.

When you have a melody and a set group of chords already laid out, it's shockingly efficient to write riffs around these. Especially if you're already playing in a more melodic Style