Riffs or chord progressions?

[champbassist]

So how do you start with a song? Do you have a certain riff/melody and build on that? Or do you have a chord progression in mind to serve as the basis for your composition?

I almost exclusively do the former, but in some parts of the song, find it necessary to write a chord progression down.

[Subsist]

If its a song I write, I usually have a riff or a little diddy that I show the guys then we build on it.

If its a song someone else wrote, I'll ask for the chord progressions and then listen to what the drums are doing. Then I'll fill in a bass line off of those.

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by champbassist

So how do you start with a song? Do you have a certain riff/melody and build on that? Or do you have a chord progression in mind to serve as the basis for your composition? I almost exclusively do the former, but in some parts of the song, find it necessary to write a chord progression down.

I follow the chords. Most of what I do is without sheet music. I play Country, so I assume the chord progression will be a I IV V --- and then listen to what does come up. Roots may be all I need for this groove. R-5 is a Country stand-by, but, something like R-3-5-6-8-7-6-5 may be called for. Each song is different.

If I get lost I assume a I-V vamp or the tonic pentatonic. One or the other will usually gets me back on track.

[mambo4]

Any starting point can yield a good result.
But I believe the best result comes from creating a strong, coherent main (vocal) melody.
I like to do this just singing what I feel, away from any instrument and without considering harmony(to avoid habitual patterns)
Without a strong main melody, you run the risk of either "filling in the blanks" to maintain your chord progression
and/or arbitrarily adding parts just because you can, at the risk of loosing an overall sense of coherence.

...if you have a main melody that is strong enough to stand on its own, everything else will easily fall into place.