I'm sorry you got upset there, M.Ted -- I'm sure that you're right that the more music theory you know, the better. I usually do write the tune first; but, I came up with an interesting (I thought) progression the other day, and just thought it would be good discussion to see how other folks on the 'Cat use their creativity to 'discover' the melody line.

Just a note -- I heard a great interview the other day on the radio with Barry Mann and his wife talking about how they wrote so many of the great 'pop' songs of the sixties. And guess what, they used chord progressions many times as the basis for their tunes. I may not know melody from my elbow, but I think that many of their songs have wonderful and memorable melody lines. Just my humble opinion...

-- Áine