Originally Posted by: RedCross1. What is the sequence of work for composing a song: (melody, scale, key, chord, chord progression .. )

Whatever works for you. I usually start with a few riffs in mind from messing around while practicing and then build off that with the band. That is, quickly get together working bass and drum parts, roughly arrange a pattern to the parts, and then play through it a couple times while the singer improvs over it until we get a vocal line. After that we refine, add/remove parts, rewrite instrumental lines to better fit the big picture, and add a solo if appropriate. Then we play the song to criticism from a few people, and finish it by their suggestions. This isn't all set in stone, btw. The best song I've helped write was written almost entirely by our drummer.

You won't find yourself messing with theory a lot in composition past a certain point. Your ear is the most valuable tool you have.

I am particularly confused with the bit that we have to stay in the scale the contain ALL the notes of our melody. Please explain.

Some scales are pretty interesting, if you know what I mean. ;)

2. What is the sequence of work for composing a solo: I first thought it would be the same as composing a song but later think differently. Do we compose solos based on the scale of our song (i.e. the note in the solo has to be in the scale)? We dont come up with it so randomly as our melody right?

The solo should be in the same key as the background, although 'color notes' are perfectly acceptable if used well.

3. From 1 and 2, I come up with another question: can the song be in many different scale?

It can change keys but you don't want to try playing in more than one key at once.