I've had a hard time ever making up a melody to a song. I usually am listening to a Beatles song and use the melody of that tune and write to it. But lately I've really wanted to learn how to come up with my own melodies for my own songs. Do you just think of them in your head? do they just come to you? or do you just play around with the guitar and hope for the best?

I write alot of lyrics but i don't believe I've ever came up with my own melody and it is very frusterating. I hope someone can guide me with some advice!

I know it's going to sound strange but I just play the chords on the guitar (sometimes on the keyboard) as if the song already exists!!! ... and record it on tape to listen later .. and improve it if necaesareanary ... the worst thing for me about doing this (to play it as a run-through of a notyetexisting song) is that I'm going to remember that original version later and it'll be really hard for me to change it   ...

Summing up, it's like when you're wishtling somehing you can't remember well and you're inventing (composing) something new!!! Get it? The clue for me is to have the lyrics first ... to know the mood I'm search for   ...

Just keep on playing random stuff until you've got something you like. As soon as you've got a good riff of melody, keep jamming on that and usually more will grow out of it. Works for me.

If that doesn't work, you can take a song you like and change it a little bit until it evolves into something of your own. Take an excisting melody that you like and let it go down instead of up on the last note, for instance. Keep changing it until it's a whole different melody.

And if that also doesn't work, you can always play an excisting song backwards and hope nobody notices.  

As Bruce Lee once said...."Don't think.....feeeeeeeel."

Quoted from An Apple Beatle

As Bruce Lee once said...."Don't think.....feeeeeeeel."

haha lol @ Apps  

I keep this in mind always.. melody is %90 familiar.. something that feels like it's always been around.. and then %10 original YOU... not me... YOU

thats good.

I think melodies is one of the most frustrating things a musician can endeavor into, and I'm no different. But I've found that using the keyboard is the most beneficial, especially if you're not an experienced singer (which I'm not). I'd say play chords in your left or right hand to a beat or a rhythm that feels good and then mess around with notes in the same key in the other hand. Brian Wilson reportedly uses "feels" to write songs, meaning that he would just sit at the keyboard and feel around in the notes for a while until something caught his attention, then he would work with that. It may not be Paul McCartney coming up with "Hey Jude" in his head on the way to see Julian, but it's a method.

-Tony

I feel for you, I come up with all sorts of lyrics, and I never can come up with music for it. I agree with the taping yourself method, I believe The Beatles practiced this for home demos, look how Strawberry Fields evolved!

best way i find to do it is to try and do both..... on my guitar i will conscientiously play chords and also look for add-ons at the same time, so play the root note on the top strings and then play a melody on the higher strings and then maybe make the root note run around while playing the melody.

that all probably makes no sense at all, btu it is the way i tend to work on my parts

Well, I'll sit at my piano. or something, and start playing a song. Then I'll just change things up, and I got me a melody.