[tubbycub]

What do most people do when writing songs?
Do they create the melody or do they work on the chord progressions first?

Another question:
If I have a melody crafted out, how do I find the chords that will fit into this melody?

Note: I do not have any piano/guitar background, and do not know much about playing chords.

 

[Razzy]

You should learn how to play chords and learn to play other compositions at least trudgingly before you try your hand at composing anything of great length.

In terms of writing tunes I find it helps to start with a limiting factor: write a melody using a pentatonic scale, or a 12-tone row, then harmonize it. Eventually you will find harmonies and melodic turns that you gravitate toward and you will learn how these are best manipulated together. Just like playing our horns, composition is never great in the beginnings, but with time spent, perserverence and more and more pieces written, it will improve.

 

[tubbycub]

I can somehow create some bass lines below the composed the melody. These are probably the root of the chords which might give me an idea on the chordal structure of the song. But, given that there are so many chord variants to each key, like maj, min, dom7, dim, sus etc.....are there easier ways to figure out the exact variant that will fit nicely into the song? Or do I have to try every single variation?


...oh man....