How

to harmonize a melody guitar

How to sing melody and harmony. How to harmonize a melody jazz. How to harmonize a melody. How to play melody and harmony on guitar.

Harmonizing a melody with a set of chords is a skill that takes time to develop. The results are dependent on the melody, which for the purpose of harmonization could be either friendly or difficult to work with. In this lesson, we’ll take a look at some of the more important considerations for harmonizing a melody. We’ll look at different examples, and
we’ll play them on guitar. In a Nutshell We will take a “bare” melody, and figure out how to add chords to it. Before Beginning We want a rough answer to a few questions: It is desirable to have enough consonance so that the result will sound like music and not garbage. It is desirable to have enough dissonance so that the result will sound like music
and not a string of mechanical arpeggios. It is likely that several notes will be played for each chord. Even if a single measure has 5 melody notes, it quite likely it only has one chord. For each chord, the note relationship could be: Melody note in the chord (most consonant) Melody note is a diatonic tension of the chord (somewhat consonant) Melody
note is in the key, but not chord tone or tension (dissonant) Melody note is none of the above (most dissonant) The dissonance of a note is modified by the prominence of the note, which is affected by the following: The metric position of the note’s attack and whether it falls on a strong beat, weak beat, or in between. Notes falling on a strong beat
have more prominence than notes falling on a weak beat, which have more prominence than notes between beats. This relates to harmonic stress. The length of the note. Longer notes are more prominent than short notes. The amplitude of the note. Accented notes have more prominence than soft ones. Leaps in the melody tend to be better supported
if both notes in the leap are also in the chord. Dissonances in the melody tend to be better supported if they resolve to a note that is in the chord. To harmonize a melody, we decide how often the chord will change, roughly. If the chord will change once per measure, then every note in the measure is considered for the purpose of choosing the chord.
We want to choose a chord that supports the melody, but the melody may have notes that are not in the chord and sound dissonant. Highly dissonant notes can be managed more easily if they are in a weak metric position, they are short, or they are low in volume. Examples of Harmonized Melodies Example 1, No Chords Here we have a very typical
melody that follows many of the conventions established hundreds of years ago by classical music composers. The melody was clearly written with the rules of harmony in mind.

First, it looks like this melody is in C major, so we will use the chords from C major to guide our harmonization.

And since the melody is simple, we’ll probably only need one chord per measure. ImajIIminIIIminIVmajVmajVIminVIIdim The best fit for measure 1 is probably Cmaj, because 3 out of 4 notes (C, E, G) are in the Cmaj chord. The only note not in the chord is approached and left stepwise. Measure 2 is likely Dmin, for similar reasons. Both notes in the
leap are in Dmin as well.
Measure 3 is likely Amin. Only the A and C notes are in the chord, but they fall on the metrically strong beats 1&3, whereas the other notes fall on metrically weaker beats 2&4. In addition, the melody moves by step.
Measure 4 needs two chords.

The first two notes are a cadenceA resolution, or feeling of finality, created by moving from a strongly tense and unstable chord, to a stable one. Usually supported by the notes in the melody as well. The most common cadence is V–I., calling for a Gmaj chord. The last note calls for the tonic Cmaj again. This G major melody is slightly more complex,
and also includes an A♯ which is outside of the key. Especially for that note, we’ll want to think of chords outside of the key that might support that note. Otherwise it sounds a little random.
To increase our options, we’ll use two chords per measure. The first measure can be Gmaj and Emin. This helps support the leap, which would otherwise leap from a chord tone of G to some weird note.

The second measure could be Cmaj and F♯7. This way the “weird” note A♯ is supported. It also happens to be the V/III, and III is the next chord. The third measure can be Bmin and G. Finally, to make sure the cadence goes smoothly, we can change the chord on every note if we want. Here are two examples to try yourself. Be sure to find a way to
hear the results of your choices, either by playing them on guitar somehow, or maybe even playing them on piano or entering them into computer software. Example 3, No Melody There may be many correct answers. The answers given here arose out of some of the more obvious possibilities which would come from trying to follow the process
outlined above. But the goal is just to find some chords that sound good and fit nicely. It’s as simple as that. Note Sometimes you will find that the melody does not really fit well with any chords that you can think of. You may not have considered all of the possible chords.

There are many, especially if you include secondary dominant chords and modal interchange chords. Another possibility is that maybe the melody isn’t a very good one, at least from the standpoint of harmonizing with chords.
Is it possible to change the melody? Or write a bassline instead of a chord progression? Key Tasks Write your own chords to the above two melodies (4 and 5). As the creator of Hub Guitar, Grey has compiled hundreds of guitar lessons, written several books, and filmed hundreds of video lessons. He teaches private lessons in his Boston studio, as well
as via video chat through TakeLessons. Harmonizing is one of the most frequently used guitar techniques in lead guitar playing and interestingly, most people don’t realize a piece of music is harmonized after hearing it. Bands like Iron Maiden and Dragon Force utilize harmonized riffs and solos in almost every song they play and I strongly encourage
you to check them out. Basically, harmonizing refers to 2 different melodies sharing the same tones being played at the same time. Besides helping you get creative and generate ideas in your playing, you can also apply the same concepts to doing backup vocals. Before we start today’s lesson, guitar harmonization requires you to have a basic idea of
music intervals and musical scales. If you need a refresher on these topics, please read the respective lessons first before continuing… Harmonizing in 3rds To get you started, let’s begin with the most common harmonization intervals in music: the 3rds.
I will be using the C major scale to illustrate some concepts in music theory to keep things simple. Now, imagine playing a melody in the C major scale with the notes: C-D-E-F. If we are to harmonize this melody in 3rds, we would have to utilize notes that are a 3rd higher in the C major scale. All you need to do is to count up three notes in the scale to
find the third. So, we would end up harmonizing the melody with the following notes: E-F-G-A. You will play the C note together with the E note and the D note together with the F note; so on and so forth. Harmonizing in 5ths Using the same example of playing a melody in the C major scale with the following notes: C-D-E-F. If we want to harmonize
this melody in 5ths, we would end up using the following notes: G-A-B-C.
Basically, just count up 5 notes in the scale to find the fifth. Simple? How Do You Play Them In Real Life? Harmonizing is easier if you have another guitarist who’s playing together with you. If you are alone, that’s fine too. It’s still possible to play harmonized melodies with the help of effects or proper fingering. Here is an example of a simple
fingering pattern for harmonizing in 3rds using the C major scale. |—–0—1—-3—5—7—-8—–10—-12—–| |—–1—3—-5—6—8—-10—-12—-13—–| |—————————————————-| |—————————————————-| |—————————————————-| |—————————————————-| Guitar Harmonization Exercise in C Major This exercise is based
in C major and I want you to do the harmonization in 3rds and 5ths.
Once you have done that, check your answers by downloading the guitar pro 5 file. Download .gtp5 ( Right-click Save Target as… ) Once you get the exercise right, I encourage you to be a little adventurous and start experimenting with different intervals for your harmonization. NOTE: Some riffs and solos sound better without harmonization and you
shouldn’t be harmonizing EVERYTHING at every opportunity. Sometimes, less is more. Use your best judgment when it comes to figuring out whether it fits into the piece of music. Get Access to Thousands of High Quality Video Guitar Lessons! Jamplay is the GREATEST online guitar lesson resource that offers step-by-step videos in HD. They cover
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