Problem with verses!

Damn...

I have no problems creating great guitar riffs for chorus, bridge, intro... But when it comes to verses, I have so much problems... Its the hardest part for me to come with something original. Sometimes I just don't know where to go...

Any suggestions that may help?

You could try skipping the riffs and just playing chords during the verses, that way the riffs would be more prominent during the other passages. Like, "Oh, alright, here comes that riff I like."

I'm not sure what you mean--you mean you can't write riffs for a verse? Why can't you just use the NEXT bit you write for a chorus or bridge for the verse of your present song? Is there a fundamental difference between a chorus riff and a verse riff?

Maybe its a specific type of riff you are struggling with? I can write simple riffs all day long. Some of them a heavy, some of them are "cool", some of them are geeky 60's sounding riffs, some of them are 70's rock type riffs, some of them are trippy psychadelic type riffs, some have a good "groove" that gets people dancing, and some of them are sludgy metal type riffs.

Unfortunatly, none of them will ever be a number 1 hit None of them which are chord progressions, have a chord progression more than about 4 changes.

Thats my weak point, and unfortunatly, imo.... thats the most important song type. If i could write a verse like "Something" by George Harrison, i would be living in beverley hills, full of self confidence, and id have a different hot groupie girl each night. But no.... i live in a crappy house that smells like wet carpet, i have no girlfriend, i can only just about afford food, and im not too confident about my ability :/

Melody first.

Let your chords follow the melody you created first.

Use a piano for new ideas.

Riff-first usually leads to a monotone vocal melody, unless you like that sort of thing. People who listen to the radio usually don't.

I agree with that to a point but its not true of everybody. I remember reading that kurt Cobain used to write the music first and then come up with the melody and lyrics. And when you listen to a song like "About a Girl" you can see how he wrote the simple riff, but he then managed quite a good melody over it, with a good range. I know alot of people dont rate him very highly, but it would be mad to not agree thats a good melody.

Some people can't do that very well though. Like you said, if the riff dictates the melody to you, it can end up being a horrible flat melody unless you are good at that. If you can write a good melody first, then fit some music to it. My only advice would be to not always try to write "clever" music. If you like rock music, there are plenty of examples of GOOD rock bands who play very simple riffs which complement the melody perfectly and they are catchy. Look at ACDC, Sabbath, etc. They might have fancy solos, but alot of the verse riffs are simple.

Dont Try to sit down and think it out. Just start playing the chords that you would play for the verses and just improvise, most of them wont be the best lyrics ever but everyonce in a while you will come across a few that you like.