Harmonizing Melody With Chords PART 3: Using Triads on Adjacent Strings 2, 3, and 4

Introduction

In this segment, we are going to cover some basic techniques in harmonizing melody by voicing chords(in this case, triads) underneath melody notes. In this segment, we are going to use the notes of the C major scale located on the 2nd string (B) and the triad voicings from adjacent strings 2,3, and 4. If you haven't already done so, I recommend familiarizing yourself with the triads PART 2 lessons in this blog first so that you can grasp this material more easily.

For the sake of practice, we will start by limiting ourselves to 2 things:

1.) Notes of the C major scale on the 2nd string. These will be designated for melody

2.) The 7 diatonic triads within the key of C major: C (I), Dm (ii), Em (iii), F (IV), G (V), Am (iv), Bdim (vii) 

In Ex.1, is a C major scale played on the 1st string from the open string to the 12 fret from the "B" to "B". Play the scale tones in Ex. 1,  ascending and descending, until you are comfortable with the locations and the names of the tones. Sing them so that you get a good aural feel for them.We are going to take these scale tones and harmonize them, as we did in PART 1 in a few variations using basic diatonic triads. Eventually, we will use these scale tones to build melodies and harmonize them with chords.

Ok, so now that we have our scale tones on the 2nd string under our fingers and in our ears, lets take a look at how they can be harmonized using basic diatonic triad voicings in Examples 2-4. Notice how the scale tones in Ex.1 are the top notes of the triad voicings in all the examples. With this technique, we are harmonizing below the melody.
As you work through each example, you should do two things to make yourself aware of what's happening in this process: 1.) Sing the scale tones that you are harmonizing and 2.) Always be aware of what chord (Dm, F, Am, etc.) you are harmonizing with. Practice each example until you can play them comfortably, ascending and descending.

Another way of perceiving this material is to look at one scale tone and harmonize it with all 3 diatonic triads shown in Ex. 5 and Ex.6 below. Sing the top tone and play through each harmonization. Do you notice how the melody note takes on a new "color" or character when it is harmonized with different chords?

Alright, so now that we have some familiarity with the scale tones, chord shapes, and the harmonizations from the above examples, let's look at some examples of how we can take a melody and harmonize it in a couple different ways by using the material from above

We are going to use this short melodic phrase in Ex. 7 as our guinea pig . Play this phrase, sing it, and get it in your ear. In Ex. 8 - 11, I tried different combinations of the 3 chord options in each example. Play through these and sing the melody as you do it and notice how the "character" of the melody changes.

Exercise: Come up with a simple melody (3 or 4 notes is good to start with) using the notes in Ex.1. Once you are comfortable with your melody/note choices, try harmonizing them with the different triads in Examples 1-4. Notice the different sound that your melody takes on as you harmonize them with different chord combinations provided in the examples above. For now, you have 3 chord options for each note. There are endless options but for now, we will limit ourselves to these until we have them internalized into our musical minds.