What is your approach to writing tunes?

[BlueNote]

For those that write their own music, what approach works best for you? What do you start with first -- chord progression? melody? form?

[Riff]

I generally sit at the piano, play a chord and find a melodic fragment that works with that chord, and continue from there. So basically I write chords and melody together. During this process a form will suggest itself whether AABA, ABAB, or something else. Usually a style will also suggest itself. (swing, bossa, rock, etc.)
When the melody & chords are complete I go back and fine tune the rhythm.

A couple of times I've taken an existing chord progression and written a new melody. I've done this with Rhythm Changes, "There Will Never Be Another You", and of course, the blues.

[Razzy]

For me the tunes I've written basically write themselves, along the same lines that Riff suggested. Everything just leads to everything else, based on what you hear in your head, but I must say it all starts with feel for me. Some kind of rhythm will present itself, I'll put some notes to it as I hear it, then build the chords around that. In one case the particular group I wrote for wanted to play my tune a LOT slower than I had in mind (around quarter = 50), using various double and triple time meters to bring about a powerful effect of tension. It worked out quite well, and I learned something... it's always good to bring your tune to another set of ears, especially your teacher's.

[Koutetsu]

I've found a lot of flexibility in chord structure, so melody and rhythm come first for me.

[Roger Aldridge]

I don't take any one particular approach. At one time or another I'm sure that I've used all of the "what comes first" approaches. After one does enough writing you get to a point where tunes come about in their own way. It's helpful to study tunes in a similar way as you'd study a transcribed solo by one of the greats. Take the tune apart by melody, rhythm, harmony, and form. This can help to give us ideas for our own writing. It's not that different from developing our own solo style on saxophone.

Form is something that I find to be really interesting. Think of all of the tunes that have a similar predictable form such as AABA. For me, working with form is similar to playing "inside" and "outside". It's enjoyable to write a tune that's within a particular form. It's also enjoyable to stretch a form into something that's quite different...that has unexpected twists & turns. One can also do this with melody, rhythm, and harmony.

Two composers I greatly admire are Carla Bley and Mike Gibbs. Very interesting writers! If you haven't already done so, check out some of their tunes.

[hall3]

Usually I pick up my flute or sax at the end of a hard days work and play whatever comes out of the horn. What comes out depends on how I'm feeling. So I guess you would say I start with a melody. But recently I watched an edition of smooth jazz tv where they interviewed rhian benson. She said that her composing usually starts with a newly discovered chord on the piano or guitar that makes her feel a certain way. And then capow!! The words and melody pop out. I thought that was interesting so I decided to give it a try. Boy was I surprised! I let band in a box choose some chord progressions for me and then I sang a melody on top of the chords. Next, I played the melody on flute or sax. Man I was really impressed at what I was able to come up with. I haven't bounced the songs off anyone else yet but I think I have few good ones (still rough around the edges, but definitely recording material). hope that helps.