I'm sure there are lots of ways of writing music, but the way that has always intrigued me most is being able to think of a melody - and then simply write it down/record it for later. This is of course opposed to experimenting with a guitar. Of course, to be able to do this, you'll need a good amount of musical experience. Do any of you utilize this method/idea, and if you do, how long have you been playing an instrument and writing music?

This is the primary way that I compose. I've been playing guitar for 5 years.

Mostly I do for melodies If I'm going to write them or the general idea of the song. The actual guitar part I can't fully write and get until I actually sit down with a guitar and play it out. Maybe if it's insanely simple I could just put it in guitar pro but I've found messing around on guitar you can find the coolest riffs (even though most badass riffs have already been done haha)