Melody generating techniques/ideas

[kayln]

I'm relatively new to the songwriting scene...I have quite a number of lyrical ideas based on a number of different themes that I have written down. Granted that I have plenty of scope for improvement on my songwriting skills (which by the way will be an endless journey), at the moment it takes me time to come up with melodies...occasionally I'll come up with a OK melody but I spend more time feeling blank.

So I wanted to know what all you songwriters do to come up with new ideas. What do you do to improve on melody generation? At the moment, these are some of things that I do to get my creative juices flowing
(1) Listen to music of course (A wide array of genres that I listen to)
(2) Work off of some other melodic idea that I created (whether good or bad)
(3) Get inspired by a cool melody, riff or song that I hear and base my ideas off of that moment of inspiration.

Any advice or suggestions?

 

[flygal]

I need help in this area, also... any advice anyone has would be much appreciated. :wave:

Thanx!
~ L

 

[Angry Little Fairy]

music first, the lyrics

 

[seekin an answer]

What I often do is running some harmony in the background as a loop, and just kind of listen what I hear over it. It took me some tries to get steady with that, but it is well worth it.
Another approach would be just writing some random notes on a paper and then starting to rearrange them. If you do it right, it won't sound like free jazz

 

[bluegojoe]

Thanks guys, this helps.

~ L

 

[Shanequa]

try to emulate people, thats what really helped me develop my style in the beginning, listen to tons of artists in tons of genres.

 

[Baby girl on the way!]

just steal stuff

no one will really notice and if they do they won't care

 

[fauxfiala]

exactly, why come up with something original when what someone else has done will still get you money