Chords first... melody first. Two diferent ways.Toxikator wrote:I would say that harmonizing a melody line without any chords in mind is the wrong way to go about it. Decide what chords or chord classes (for example, ii and IV form a chord class as they are exchangeable) you want, and then find a way to fit the melody in to those.
Adding a Harmony to a Melody
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- KVRian
- 1057 posts since 28 Dec, 2005
Se non é vero, é ben trovato
PC/XP 2CoreIntel T3 OnixSatellite
PC/XP 2CoreIntel T3 OnixSatellite
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- KVRAF
- 1975 posts since 4 Feb, 2005
Oh, I'm not saying that you can't start with a melody. Just that your harmony needs to be designed to be functional, not just designed to use notes from the melody.
you might start with a melody and then choose chord voicings and certain chord exchanges to fit it, but it's probably not a good idea to, for example, choose chords that have the same roots as the melody notes, or double up the melody at a third or fifth or something.
When I say "have chords in mind" I just mean you should be thinking "of all the chords that I could put here, which one suits the progression best?" instead of "this chord has this melody note in it, let's use that".
you might start with a melody and then choose chord voicings and certain chord exchanges to fit it, but it's probably not a good idea to, for example, choose chords that have the same roots as the melody notes, or double up the melody at a third or fifth or something.
When I say "have chords in mind" I just mean you should be thinking "of all the chords that I could put here, which one suits the progression best?" instead of "this chord has this melody note in it, let's use that".
