For me, melodies pop out of chord progressions so a good progression is the place to start. Even a standard or common progression like D-G-A or C-Am-F-G can be an inspiration. They may have been used over and over, but the number of possible variations is endless. You can stay on one chord for longer than others, for example, and get a different variation.
It helps to know the main chords in the key you're playing in. There's some material on chords here (see Workings of Music forum) but for example in the key of C the principle chords are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and G7. You can work out the same set for other keys by simply going up the same number of semitones for each chord, so in D it's D, Em, F#m, G, A, Bm, and A7. The major chords have a strong pull -- a melody wants to land on one of them after going to a minor chord, and the G and G7 both feel a very strong pull to go back to the C chord. Look at the chord progressions for lots of songs and you'll get new ideas.
Stephen
Lennox Head, Australia
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