how to avoid disharmonic chords with the melody?

[crazyfiltertweaker]

If I search for chords for the melody which can also consists of chromatic notes and to create a harmonic rhythm, there can be much disharmony...

How can I avoid it?

[MadBrain]

- Melody should be in the same scale as chords. For instance, if the chord is C minor, melody cannot play F# because that's not in a possible scale implied by the chord (C minor chord could be C minor, C dorian, C phrygian, C minor melodic... but none of these scales have a F#).
EXCEPTIONS:
- Chromatic notes in between scale notes (so F F# G over C minor can work)
- Chromatic notes that go up or down a half-step to a melody note (so F# G over C minor can work)
- Chromatic notes that are held until next chord where they belong (so F# over C minor can work if next chord is D7)

- Melody should not play notes that are a minor 9th over chord notes for too long. In Jazz terminology, they are called "avoid notes". For instance, F cannot be one of the accented notes over a C major chord because it forms a minor 9th with the E in the chord. Likewise, Ab cannot be accented over a C minor chord because it forms a minor 9th with the G in the chord.
EXCEPTIONS:
- They are ok as passage notes (so E F G over C major is perfectly fine)
- They are ok if they aren't accented and move to a different note (so F E over C major is fine)
- They are ok if they're held until next chord and they belong in next chord (so F over C major is fine if next chord is F)
- The minor 9th in 7b9 and sus4 b9 chords is part of the chord already so they can be accented (So Db over C7b9 is fine)

...

Since you're working out possible chords from melody, these apply in reverse... so if the melody is playing, say, a long E that isn't an in-between note, all chords that can have E can work (for instance C, C#min, Dadd9, E7b9, Em7, Fmaj7, F#min7, G13, Ab7#5, Am7, Bb7#11, B9sus4). If the melody goes C D E F G A B C, then a C major chord works because you can fit all these notes in the extended Cmaj13 chord (C E G B D A) except for F which is probably an in-between note anyways.

[anomandaris1]

You will usually avoid clashing minor seconds and tritones with your main melody, unless you are playing some really dark, scary or sad melodies.
You can freely harmonise with diminished chords without changing the basic feel of the melody scale you are using (If you are using standart major, natural minor).
If you are using some other scale, you will basically have to know the style and what kind of chords are common for it (or construct the scale and write all the triads which you can use on each scale step to know your limitations).
If you are making original compisition, just use anything that sounds good.

[mateuz]

Hi guys,

Could somebody do this exercise with me?
Imagine I want to play some chodrs in scale - I go for F major.

Notes I can use are: F G A A# C D E F

I can start F major, right? - F A C
What are the triads I can use within this scale?
I know thare are some exceptions but to start easy what chords are possible within F major scale?

Regards,
M.

[MadBrain]

(double post)

[MadBrain]

Hi guys,

Could somebody do this exercise with me?
Imagine I want to play some chodrs in scale - I go for F major.

Notes I can use are: F G A A# C D E F

I can start F major, right? - F A C
What are the triads I can use within this scale?
I know thare are some exceptions but to start easy what chords are possible within F major scale?

Regards,
M.

A good first rule of thumb is simply every triad in the scale:
Fmaj = F A C
Gmin = G Bb D
Amin = A C E
Bbmaj = Bb D F
Cmaj = C E G
Dmin = D F A
Edim = E G Bb

Notice how each one starts from some point in the scale, then skips a note, then picks a note, then skips a note, then picks a note (Like Gmin = F G A Bb C D E...)... In other words, it picks 1-3-5 (1st note, 3rd note, 5th note) starting from the chord root.

This also works for 7th chords (pick 1-3-5-7 from the scale starting with chord root) and 9th chords (pick 1-3-5-7-9 from the scale starting with chord root).

7th chords:
Fmaj7 = F A C E
Gmin7 = G Bb D F
Amin7 = A C E G
Bbmaj7 = Bb D F A
C7 = C E G Bb
Dmin7 = D F A C
Emin7b5 = E G Bb D

9th chords:
Fmaj9 = F A C E G
Gmin9 = G Bb D F A
Amin9 = A C E G B
Bbmaj9 = Bb D F A C
C9 = C E G Bb D
Dmin9 = D F A C E
(Emin7b5b9 isn't used much)

[datroof]

Music theory provides good answers to this question. But in practice the answer is subjective, and depends upon what kind of music you like and your personal taste/threshold for dissonance. Besides studying theory, I think the most useful way to answer this for yourself is to analyze some of your favorite music, and see what it does. Your own answer to this question is a big part of what makes up your personal style.

[mateuz]

Thanks a lot for your answer MadBrain!

Your own answer to this question is a big part of what makes up your personal style.

You made a good point here. But believe me - I'm a mechanical engineer - I can't work without solid basics I don't want to follow the music theory, but I need it to know where can I start. Just a little bit

Is there a simple answer why it can be said that melody is in F scale?

We have notes from F major scale: F G A Bb C D E F. We have all the triads. But isn't F maj (F A C) also a part of A minor scale A B C D E F G A?

With kind regards,
Mateuz

[sjm]

Imagine I want to play some chodrs in scale - I go for F major.

Notes I can use are: F G A A# C D E F

There's no A# in F major. The A (3) in the scale of F major is an A natural. The note after A needs to be a B (4), and in F major is Bb.

[mateuz]

Right, I corrected myself already in my last post.

So how it is with the scale? Isn't Fm (F A C) a part of F major and A minor scale at the same time?

[sjm]

Fm is F minor and is F Ab C.

A chord isn't "part of a scale". A scale is a series of notes. You can of course form chords from those notes, in which case the chord will be "in key".

So yes, F major can be used in A minor or C major or F major or Bb major etc. without introducing any notes that are outside of your key signature. Every key shares notes with other keys; the more closely related the keys are, the more notes they share and by extension the more chords they share.

A lot of music however does not restrict itself to remaining purely in key, which can make things a lot more interesting. For example, a song in C major might use E (E G# B) or D7 (D F# A C).

[mateuz]

ahh, I was thinking about F major and wrote only Fm.

Thanks a lot for teaching me!

Cheers!

[sjm]

One thing you want to take a look at is how the basic chords in closely related key signatures compare with one another.

Let's take C major as our starting point for simplicity's sake. We can form 3 major and 3 minor chords using the notes in the scale of C major:
C, F, G and Am, Dm, Em

Now let's compare that to the chords in G major and F major, the most closely related keys to C major. We have:
G major: G, C, D and Em, Am, Bm
F major: F, Bb, C and Dm, Gm, Am

I've bolded the chords that are also found in C major. Obviously that's not an exhaustive list of possible chords you can form from the notes in the corresponding keys. But you can see how the related keys share a lot of chords (because they share most notes). And even the chords that are different only differ by a single note (for example the G in C major and the Gm in F only differ in that one has a B and the other a Bb).

[mateuz]

I seems I will need a lot of time to understand why melody is described to be in specific scale although it mixes chords from different scales/keys. As I see his now it is more about the feeling than a strict rule.

Fortunately I might not need that knowledge urgently

Next step is then how to play chords according to music theory. I will look up some basic knowledge regarding chords progression.

Thanks again to everybody for sharing knowledge!

Cheers!

[manducator]

http://www.musictheory.net/