Harmonizing Melody With Chords PART 1: Using Triads on First Set of 3 Adjacent Strings

Introduction

In this segment, we are going to cover some basic techniques in harmonizing melody by voicing chords(in this case, triads) underneath our melody notes. A familiarity with triads, major scales, and the notes on your strings can be very helpful in comprehending and applying this concept. I recommend familiarizing yourself with the single-string approach and the triad 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 3 things:

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

2.) The 7 diatonic triads within the key of C major ( C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim)

3.) Just the first 3 adjacent strings on the guitar (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) in standard tuning.

In Ex.1, is a C major scale played on the 1st string from the open string to the 12 fret from the "E" to "E". 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 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 1st 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. What do you notice?

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, I harmonized the phrase only using the three major chords in the key (C, F, G). In Ex.9, I used only the 3 minor chords in the key. For Ex.10 and Ex.11, I used a mix of the two.

Exercise: Now try your own. Compose a simple melody using 3 or 4 notes in Ex.1. Once you have your melody/note choices down, try harmonizing each of your notes with any of their three options provided in Ex.2 - Ex.4. Practice playing your melody as chords and singing the melody as you play. Notice how the "color" or character of your melody changes as you use different chord options.
Remember, their is plenty more possibilities for harmonizing these melody notes but for now, we will limit ourselves to these until they are internalized in our musical minds.

Tonality Experiment PART 2

Dig This

The examples below show how we can take some of the interval combinations in  PART 1 and extend them up another octave to create a larger melodic structure with more range. Play and study the examples below. Notice how Ex.1 is in intervals of minor 3rds (C to Eb, F# to A) and Ex.2 is in intervals of major 3rds (C to E, F# to A#). After you get the hang of this, try some of the other interval combinations from PART 1 and extend them another octave or more. Remember to be creative with this material. You're a kitty. This is a ball of yarn. GO!

Okay so now that you have messed around with extending these figures up past the octave, let's see what happens when we add even more intervals into the equation.

 Ex. 3, we now have 3 notes (a minor 2nd and a major 2nd) from each fundamental. I highlighted them by dividing the note groupings into eighth-note triplets and also showed how you can play it as a descending line.

Ex. 4 shows how we can play a different permutation of these 3-note figures by playing them in different orders. Notice how in this one, the permutations are the same from both fundamentals.
side note: try changing the permutations from each fundamental to where you have alternating permutations

Ex. 5 shows a 4-note figure with a permutation. This one starts with the fundamental, skips to the highest note in the grouping, and then descends (root - perfect 5th - minor 3rd - minor 2nd). Do you get a sense of where this is all going? See and/or hear some possibilities?

The possibilities are endless if you use the logic behind these examples. Come up with your own and create ideas for new compositions or platforms for improvisation. Go!!!

Tonality Experiment PART 1

Introduction

The examples below are ways to experiment with tonality. In this case, I am defining tonality as the grouping of tones that establishes a tonal relationship, both melodic and harmonic, that characterizes a particular sound, mood or color. When we create tonality, we most often hear (consciously or subconsciously) a "root note" or tonal center in which all of the other notes have a relationship to, hearing the sum of those parts just as our eyes perceive combinations of color. The tonal center is our resting point or "home".


At the top, you will notice three fundamental tones: C, F#, and the octave C with C functioning as our tonal center. The tone F# is exactly half way between C and the octave C. 
The examples below that are different interval combinations from each fundamental tone. The sounds of the interval combinations between the root, the tritone and the octave will produce different tonalities and possibilities for melodic figures and ideas.

 

Hint: Try altering these combinations by changing the order of the notes, and playing different rhythms. Play them backwards... get freaky with it!!!

Side note: This concept is based off material in from the book "Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns" by Nicolas Slonimsky. I highly recommend this book. Play around with these and then check out Tonality Experiment PART 2