Does anyone else have the problem i am having, I tend too fall into these spells where i cant make a good melody, i am not the greatest piano player but i do know all the scales and so on!!!! I dont know maybe my ears arent serving me right cause i figure you should be able too make a decent melody out of a major or minor scale but i just seem too not be able too!!!!

Any tips on how you guys create your melodies, or keys that you have figured out that go great in progressions.... Need some help here, or some input!!!

THANKS,
TRAIN

I know 2 ways of creating melodies:
1. I have the melody/idea in my mind, before I sit in front of the PC. Then I "just" have to transfer it into the right notes in the sequencer. This happens more unfrequently.
2 and More often: I experiment with note intervals. I just think of number rows like 2 up, 3 down, 4 up, 5 down. Simple patterns. Then I enter the notes, play them in a loop and - of course it sounds bad and wrong in the beginning - start shifting the notes until something like a melody occurs. Sometimes I even start with random notes. This way you will never find a real beautiful melody, but it works for finding dark sequences for loops. (i am into hardcore techno, hehe)

I usually have a sound and sequence just hit me randomly and ill keep humming it or write the sequence in a notebook and make a little note about what type of sound it is and try to remember.

Another little trick is to find a sound you like and plug it into a matrix sequencer and right click "randomize pattern". Hit it a few times until you find something. Pull some notes here, lower some there. Gives you a basic outline you can expand upon.

Man i am going to save you a lot of time that i wasted while i was learning guitar.

It is good to know as many scales and notes and chords as you can, but dont ever limit yourself while you are writing to those scales and chords. When you think "hey im gonna write a really evil sounding riff in the phrygian dominant mode" you limit yourself to that scale.

When you hear a melody that suits your song in your head, try humming it into a dictiphone or something like that till you can tab it out in reason or on a guitar then once youve got it down start looking a what scale (or time signature) its in.

Probably the best thing i can think of advice wise is to never try write a specific kind/genre of riff/melody or in a specific time signature, coz when you do you'll almost invariably come up with something lame.

The best riffs/melodies are the ones that dont actually sound like they are in an odd time signature or in a specific scale but when you sit down tapping your knee you go "wait a minute thats in 9/8!"

If you get all worked up and go: "hell yeah im gonna write a sweet arse riff in 6/8 and then have a riff right after that one that goes into 4/4!" you'll almost always (or at least i do) get something that has basically no flow whatsoever and you got to scrap it. and if you do decide to keep it youll just end up with a ridiculous riff salad.

So say you get an idea for a riff or a melody and you want to use, don't put that preconceived idea in your head before youve actually gotten the best OUT of the idea, just let it FLOW

You seriously just learn all those scales and chords only to realise when it comes to writing music, none of it matters so long as you have got the sound you want.

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