How to... Harmonizing a melody? (starter level)

[Gustar]

OK, I'll just give you step by step instructions.

Let's say you want to write a happy song in a major.

1. You decide to pick C-major (because it's the easiest - no sharp/flat).

2. The three major chords for C-major are C (notes c-e-g), F (notes f-a-c) and G (notes g-b-d). How do you know that ?

Either you look in a chart that has been posted or you count 5 semitones up from C (which should lead you to an F) and then you count five semitones down, which gives you the G

3. Now, let's start our chord progression. Let's say you like the chords: CC FF GG CC Put them in your sequencer as your background.

4. Since you picked C-major, and there are no black keys in c-major you can try to create a melody using only the white keys. I'm sure some people could explain to you which notes you 'd pick why but that'll confuse you too much rigth now.

If you think that's boring: The famous song "I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee" can basically be recreated with only these three chords and only white keys on your keyboard.

[Compyfox]

Let'S forget the melodies in this case. Let's say I use the C-Major scale. Am I allowed to have other chords than C, F and G?

Not counting inversions or 5th/7th/9th chords of course. And what about switching to Minor for one or two chords?

Oh wait, what am I talking about? I don't even know what I'm doing. XD

[nuffink]

Let'S forget the melodies in this case. Let's say I use the C-Major scale. Am I allowed to have other chords than C, F and G?

Not counting inversions or 5th/7th/9th chords of course. And what about switching to Minor for one or two chords?

Oh wait, what am I talking about? I don't even know what I'm doing. XD

The C major scale has the following 3 note chords (triads)

C major
D minor
E minor
F major
G major
A minor
B diminshed

You can use any of them. You can extend them with 7ths, 9th etc. And you can even substitute them with other chords (and there are rules about what chords work).

[egbert]

All the scale tone chords in a key are up for grabs. If you are in C ma there are ma chords on C,F and G, minor chords on D,E and A and a half diminished chord on B.

The original question was about harmonising a melody though. If you have a melody you harmonise it by choosing chords that support the melody and make a progression which works with the melody. There are many ways to harmonize a given melody - some obvious or simple - others unusual or complicated. Some Jazz players took standard tunes with simple chords and reharmonised them with much more unusual progressions - and I don't mean just adding some extensions to ma triads.

[Sascha Franck]

Hrmpf, uhm...

Well, I seriously don't want to type all this, but I will. Take it as a christmas present or whatever.

But we need to start slowly. REALLY slowly.

Compyfox, do you know the differences between a major and a minor chord? Does that mean anything to you? Are you aware of a major chord being constructed of root note, major third and fifth? A minor chord being root note, minor third and fifth?
If so, please say yes and I will happily continue.

[Hannes_F]

Compyfox,

I think you have everything in your hands that you need.

First: try not to find chords, try to find single notes that fit to your melody. Chords are a nice concept but that is what they are - a concept, an abstraction. Chords are built from notes, and notes are real.

So my suggestion is this: first learn to find notes by ear that help your melody. Then find some more notes. Then find some notes that fit especially for the bass. And finally see that there is a system behind it and people called it 'chords'.

The problem with chords, as fine as they are, is that there are lots of exceptions. Actually every melody that is interesting uses notes that do not fit into simple chords. So I really think the way I suggest to you is easier - and actually more musical for the start.

NOW

your best fried when finding notes that fit to your melody is something that is called the THIRD. People without any theoretical background have sung two-voiced songs for hundreds of years, nearly always using THIRDS. There is even a term called 'kitchen third' because this was a very common musical method while working.

'THIRD' or 'TERZ' (terzo in italian) means that the second voice is THREE notes away from your melody note. Example: you start your melody with a F# (we count ONE), a note deeper would be E (we count TWO) and one more note deeper would be D (we count THREE). Go to your keyboard NOW and try to play both notes (F# and D) at the same time.

Really. Don't waste your and my time - go there and don't come back for reading until you tried it.

OK. So the D would be a THIRD away from the F#. With other words the D could qualify as a well-sounding starting note for a second voice for your melody.

(Side note: With this intervals the starting note is also counted. With other words the 'distance' of a third is basically TWO notes, not really three. We come to the number three if we begin to count with the melody note.)

Another example: Look at the keys on your keyboard. Say we use only white keys and press a C, then going a third down would mean an A. There is one free key left between the both (the B).

Now you know that THIRDS are your friends and fit to the melody in many times. BUT ... there are differend kinds of thirds.

First, we can go DOWN a THIRD from the melody, or go UP. For your piece that means your second voice could start with a D or with an A.

Is this confusing? Would it be easier if we only had one choice? Yes but here the fun begins. Because it is your choice. You can try both and decide what you like more. Nobody can force you to decide on the other.

Now say you like the A better. There is only thing that disturbs you: the second voice is now higher than the melody. Which is allowed but in this particular case you don't like it. No problem, use another A that is lower than your melody. We are allowed to exchange one A for another A, no problem.

Have a break.

Now before I end for today I have to tell you that there is a second possible variation with those THIRDS. Look at your keyboard again. Find a C. Go one THIRD up - E. Go one THIRD down - A. Two options for a THIRD - either A - C or C - E.

Now count how much notes are really between them. This time we also count the black keys. You will notice that counting upward we find C (1), C# (2), D(3), D#(4), E(5) .... five tones all in all.

Counting downward we find C (1), B (2), Bb(3), A (4) ... four tones all in all.

That means we have found two sorts of THIRDS - one sort with 5 semitones, and one with 4 semitones. The big one with 5 semitones is called MAJOR THIRD, the small one with 4 tones is called MINOR THIRD.

Again confusing? So many different THIRDS?

Be happy. Again it is your choice, and I am only showing you the possibilities. You, and only you, decide whether you start your second voice with a major third or a minor third, and whether you want it to be above or below your melody.

Now here comes the cooking receipe for your second voice:

- Have a melody note
- From that note go up or down, and to 4 or 5 halftones. That gives you 4 possibilities in total

-- minor third up
-- major third up
-- minor third down
-- major third down

- Choose one. Notate it or remember it.
- In case you find a good sounding note but it is too low or too high for your taste you may switch to the same note from another octave.
- Now go to the next melody note and find again a good sounding third.

And so on.

If you do this and post your result I can go to the next step.


Hannes

[deastman]

Compyfox- This link was posted in your other thread. I read through the whole thing last night, and found it to be a simple, clear, and concise introduction to music theory. I recommend you look it over.
http://www.chordmaps.com/

[Compyfox]

Hrmpf, uhm...

Well, I seriously don't want to type all this, but I will. Take it as a christmas present or whatever.

This is a joke right? Tell me this is a joke. Because if it's no joke, then I'm seriously flattered with your presence.

But we need to start slowly. REALLY slowly.

Compyfox, do you know the differences between a major and a minor chord? Does that mean anything to you? Are you aware of a major chord being constructed of root note, major third and fifth? A minor chord being root note, minor third and fifth?
If so, please say yes and I will happily continue.

Dur 3-4 halfsteps
Moll 4-3 halfsteps

Does that answer your question? If I would't know that, I wouldn't write tunes (chordprogressions) that alter between major and minor. I just have problems playing them "live", put them together so that it doesn't sound akward, finding the scale or put an inverted bass "melody" over it.


I must have aquired at least "some" basic knowledge, else I wouldn't even know where to start asking questions, don't you think?


Hannes, I'll dig through your post later. Maybe the "kitchen third" really works some wonders.

[Panda]

Get this and study it:

http://www.playjazz.com/AC019.html

Take it as a christmas present or whatever. Have fun,

Nicolaas

[Compyfox]

Okay, stop it playing dumb on me and telling me "take this as christmas present or whatever".

If you can only flame or have sarcastic comments, shut your mouth, thank you. This is not only annoying, but also not helpful at all. Stop beating the dead horse.

Geez, dammit!

[Sascha Franck]

This is a joke right? Tell me this is a joke. Because if it's no joke, then I'm seriously flattered with your presence.

No, it's not a joke, because I know this will become a lengthy episode.
But ok. Try to follow or don't, it's up to you.

So, you know the difference between minor and major. Good. This is a big part of things.

Some more questions, please answer them, even if some of them will sound stupid:
- Do you know a simple major scale and how it's building up on each of our 12 notes? Like where the halftones sit?
- Do you know how basic chords are constructed? Like building things up in diatonic thirds? Fwiw, diatonic = belonging to the key we're in.
- Do you know that 7ths are added the same way - in putting another third on top of our major, minor or diminished 3 part triads? Note: 7ths are important for almost all contemporary harmonic schemes.
- And finally for now: Do you know about intervals? These are important when it comes to naming chords and they're useful for a number of other things as well.

In your own interest, please answer honestly. I am not trying to make jokes here or whatever. I will try to put things in a simple, yet effective way.

[Compyfox]

- Do you know a simple major scale and how it's building up on each of our 12 notes? Like where the halftones sit?

Not 100%. Did I mention that theory is usually bound with reading scores and that it melts my brain? Guess I did.

- Do you know how basic chords are constructed? Like building things up in diatonic thirds? Fwiw, diatonic = belonging to the key we're in.

What is a basic chord? Do you mean Dur/Moll now? Well I know the halftone steps at least. I know jack what you mean with diatonic in this case.

- Do you know that 7ths are added the same way - in putting another third on top of our major, minor or diminished 3 part triads? Note: 7ths are important for almost all contemporary harmonic schemes.

An added 7th (or "septe") is seven halftones to the root note, or 2 halftones higher than the 5th/Quinte. Same with the 9th, but here it's 9 halftones from the root, or 4 halftones to the Quinte.

- And finally for now: Do you know about intervals? These are important when it comes to naming chords and they're useful for a number of other things as well.

Intervals? Do you mean stuff like 1-3-5 or do you mean that roman number stuff? Cause I sure don't know what you're talking about.

[VicDiesel]

Oh, I'll have a stab at it too.

You need a list of scales and chords for this. Google is your friend.

Your melody starts on a F#. Which chords have an F#?

F# major and minor. If that was the key, the G note should have been a G#.

D major. Candidate.

D# minor. Very unlikely. Besides, then the G should have been G# again.

B major and minor. Those are also candidates.

The next measures is a run between E and G, so my guess is that those are chord notes. That means an E minor or C major chord.

Next two measures are the three notes of a D chord. Big clue!

So what would the first line be? D | Emin | D | D. That works. Try D | C | D | D just for kicks. If you like it better, keep that one.

You can also try Bmin | Emin | D | D or Bmin | C | D | D. All perfectly legitimate.

The next line starts on Bb. Now, if your tune is in D, then you'd expect G major and A major chords. (The 4th nd 5th step of the scale.) But it's a common trick to take the minor versions of that, so I would now officially put the song in D, and the second line starts with two measures of Gminor, then you go back to D. The last measure is quite clear: the most logical chord with a C#, when you're in the key of D, is the A major.

Et cetera, et cetera.

See, part of this is putting puzzle pieces together, but a lot of it is experience. I look at that line and immediately see a D chord. It was only when I started posting this that I realized that Bmin would also work.

Now you continue. In part 2 there is a G#, which does not appear in the D scale, so you need to find a chord for it. See that B at the end of that run? That's a clue. Which chord has G# and B? Et cetera.

Victor.

[JumpingJackFlash]

I must have aquired at least "some" basic knowledge, else I wouldn't even know where to start asking questions, don't you think?

I don't think Sascha was trying to be patronising, he just meant, like what nuffink was saying, that harmonising a melody (particularly one like you posted) is not easy; you can't just read through a couple of posts here on KVR and come up with a great harmonisation from scratch. - By your own admission you don't know a great deal about theory and stuff, - yes, you do have some basic knowledge, but in my opinion, you should sit down with some books on harmony, read through them, and try things out. Start simply with the basics, and progress from there. It doesn't have to take years, but if you want a good harmonisation, you'll need to know about chords, cadences, and the nomenclature (Roman Numerals for example) that are used to describe them.

I'm not saying this to be horrible here, I'm trying to give you some advice. I wouldn't expect to read a leaflet on brain surgery and then operate on someone tomorrow!

The melody you posted is tonally ambiguous. By this, I mean it doesn't have one simple key that fits the whole piece. It could be harmonised in a variety of different ways - major, minor, - even modally, and they would all sound very different from each other. There is no correct way to harmonise a melody, a lot of it is just taste.

Nevertheless, here are my tips on harmonising a melody:

A) <b>Work out the key or keys</b>. - There maybe one or many. Generally, you do this by:

1) Check the key signature (if there is one). Work out which keys have that key signature. (Each key signature belongs to one major key, and one minor key). - Use a reference table if you don't know what they key signature corresponds to.

If there isn't a key signature (as with your melody), you need to look at the notes instead. Look for sharps and flats and make a note of them somewhere. Also make a note of any naturals - that is, notes which have been sharpened or flattened, but also appear in their 'normal' form.

Be aware of non-harmony notes. These are generally short passing notes or auxiliary notes (such as the G# in bars 18 and 26 of your melody.) - These notes are chromatic - they are foreign to the key and do not belong to the harmony. Disregard them for the moment.

So, with your melody, we have F-sharps and B-flats. We also have one C-sharp and two C-naturals. (Ignore the G-sharps as mentioned above).

Now; work out what key all these notes can belong to. (Generally, in simple major pieces, there will be either flats or sharps, but not both).

Note, there is such a thing as the order of sharps, or the order of flats. This is as follows:
Sharps: F,C,G,D,A,E,B. Flats: B,E,A,D,G,C,F.
This means, if a key has C-sharps in it, it will also have F-sharps in it. If a key has G-flats in it (for example), it will also have B,E,A and D flats. - You cannot just have a key with random flats or sharps in it; it must follow the order.

So, in your piece, you should consider the following keys:
G major. - One sharp (F).
D major. - Two sharps (F,C).
F major. - One flat (B)
E minor. - One sharp (F).
B minor. - Two sharps (F,C).
D minor. - One flat (B).

Remember also, that minor keys are more complex. - You have the harmonic minor and the melodic minor. In the harmonic minor, the 7th note of the scale is also sharpened. In the melodic minor, the 6th and 7th notes of the scale are sharpened when going up (and flattened back to normal on the way down).

Therefore, a melody in E minor would often have D-sharps in it. A melody in B minor would often have A-sharps in it, and a melody in D minor would often have C-sharps in it.

As you can see, there is no one key that fits your melody, since no key has both B-flats and F-sharps in it. (Except possibly G minor, with F# as the raised seventh, but your melody does not seem to fit G minor well - see below)

So, now you have a list of keys to consider. Take each one in turn an see how it fits with the melody.
Generally, a melody will begin and end on the tonic chord. - This is the first triad of the key. Triads are based on the 1st (root), 3rd and 5th notes of the scale.

The first note of your melody if F-sharp. So, which triads does that fit into? - It fits into F#, D(major) and B.
(F# is the root of F#, the 3rd of D, and the 5th of B).
It does not fit with G major or E minor so those keys are looking less likely.

Now, look at the final note of the melody and apply the same process. (A is the final note, it fits with A, F and D.)

So what key prevails overall? - D (major or minor) seems most likely; it fits most of the accidentals in the piece and fits also with the first and last note. This is not the only possible key, but it does seem one of the more likely ones to give a good harmonisation.

Look up any words you're not familiar with; I've tried to link the more technical works to Wiki articles.
Sorry, that's rather a long post. If you're still interested, I'll write a separate post on actually harmonising the melody.

[Sascha Franck]

- Do you know a simple major scale and how it's building up on each of our 12 notes? Like where the halftones sit?

Not 100%. Did I mention that theory is usually bound with reading scores and that it melts my brain? Guess I did.

Ok, then let's start right here.
Fwiw, a sidenote, before I continue: No need to read any scores. A keyboard and a piano roll will just do the job fine.

Most of our western music is made up from 7 note scales (as you know, there's 12 notes overall, so a few are missing per each scale), the absolutely most common one being the major scale.
The major scale has a certain "structure", meaning that whole- and halftones are arranged in a distinct order.
I will start with a C major scale, which you may already be familiar with, as it's using all (and only) the white keys.
So the scale goes: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-(C) (and then continues throughout all octaves).
With a keyboard in front of you, you can see (or count) the steps between each note.
starting with the root (in german "Grundton", in this case C), the steps are WT, WT, HT, WT, WT, WT, HT (WT = whole tone, HT = half tone).
The important things to remember for now: There's a halftone step between the 3rd and 4th degree of the scale and between the 7th degree and octave.
This is *exactly* the same for all major scales, so you need to adjust your "basic note letters" accordingly. Example: In the key of D, the first 3 steps would go D-E-F#, simply because the major scale structure demands a wholetone between degree 2 (the E) and degree 3 - so the F is raised to become an F#.

Please note: You don't need to sit down and remember all this straight away, but it helps to have it written down somewhere, so you can look at it whenever you need to. After a while, things become a second nature - especially when you try to play or program them (no need to play them fast).

Another note: In our most commonly used scales and relatives (more on those later), each note letter is exactly used *once*. There's some exceptions, but it's best to stick with this for now.
So, each and every scale contains each and every note letter. The ones that don't suit the scale criteria (how HTs and WTs are "arranged") are altered.

Questions? Please ask.

What is a basic chord? Do you mean Dur/Moll now? Well I know the halftone steps at least. I know jack what you mean with diatonic in this case.

In this case, I meant how chords are built up inside keys/scales. Basic principle: You take whatever note of a given scale and put thirds onto it. Note (more on that later): A third is when you skip one of the scale notes. For instance, C to E skips the D, hence it's a third.
So, to build a chord in C major on the C, we would use C, E and G for the basic chord.
Still staying in C, but this time building a chord on the A would result in A, C and E.
You can easily play through all of the chords in C major on a keyboard, the finger shape stays the same, as it's all white keys only.

Alright. Now the fun begins. Well, actually, the work as well.
Let's take just the first two chords in C major, the one building up C and the one building up on D.
C = C - E - G. This is a C major chord. Major because the third (E) is a major third (4 halftones away from the root).
D = D - F - A. This is a D minor chord. Minor because the third (F) is a minor third (3 halftones away from the root.

When we continue doing this for all the scale tones, we will end up with the following chords:
C major
D minor
E minor
F major
G major
A minor
B diminished

Ok, you may notice the "B diminished". What the f**k does that mean?
Answer: It's all about the 5th (german "Quinte"). A "plain" 5th (german "reine Quinte") is always 7 halftones away from the root. With our scale chords, this is true for all but the B. The chord building up on our B would be B-D-F and between B and F we will only find a diminished (german "vermindert") 5th.
Note: When you play this chord and double the root an octave below or so - you will most likely notice that it's sounding rather unstable.

Final notes for now:
- For analytic things, the chords are labeled with roman numbers. So C would become I, D would become II and so forth. This is true for every tonality. So, if we are in A major, A is our I chord, B our II chord, etc.
- In chord symbol notation, major chords aren't indexed, minor chords are. So a C is a C major.
For minor, usually "min", "minor" or "-" are used. The best thing being "min".
- Diminished in a chord symbol automatically means that there's a minor third as well (don't ask me why, it's that way).

Our final chord "formula" for each major scale would now look like this:
I
II min
III min
IV
V
VI min
VI dim

Alright, easy things to do:
- Play all the chords in C major.
- Try to play all the chords in, say, D major as well. Use the major scale formula mentioned above. Try other major scales.

More advanced things to do:
Take an easy "common" chord progression, such as I-IV-V-I. In the key of C that'd be C, F, G, C. Certainly one of the most common chord progressions of all the times.
Now, instead of jumping around with your fingers, try to use "inversions" (german "Umkehrungen"), to get a better "voice leading" (german "Stimmenführung").

I need to explain this.
A three part chord (which is what we're dealing with so far, all chords contain three notes) can exist in three inversions, when using "closed" voicings (each note as close as possible to the others).
For our C chord, those would be:
C-E-G, also known as "root position".
E-G-C, first inversion.
G-C-E, second inversion.

Now, let's take a really simple chord progression, such as I-IV. In the key of C that'd be C and F (both major).
The C, in "basic build up mode" would be C-E-G, the F would be F-A-C.
When you play them after each other, you will notice quite a jump. Sometimes making sense, most often not.
That's when inversions kick in.
The C is existing in both chords, so we can keep it on the same key.
The E is closest to the F, so we move it there
The G is closest to the A, so we move it there.
When starting with our root position C chord, the movement would look like:
C-E-G to
C-F-A (which is the second inversion of our F chord).
You could as well start with the first inversion of C and use minimum movement:
E-G-C would go to
F-A-C
Starting with the second inversion, the movement would become:
G-C-E to
A-C-F

Yes, I am making a big deal of those voice movements. Simply because they most often sound *way* more plausible than "jumping" chords.

Suggestions on things to do:
- Play some chord progressions. Here's a few common ones (chords in C in brackets, but do yourself a favour and try in other keys as well):
I-IV-V-I (C-F-G-C)
I-II-III-IV (C-Dmin-Emin-F)
II-V-I (Dmin-G-C)
I-VI-IV-V (C-Amin-F-G)
I-VI-II-V (C-Amin-Dmin-G)
I-III-IV-V (C-Emin-F-G)

- Try to play all these progressions using chord inversions, to achieve minimal movements between the chord voices. A good idea is to double the rootnote of each chord an octave or two below.

Phew, enough for now. I'll gladly continue with 7ths and intervals later on.