Reharmonization Techniques from Pop to Soul to Jazz

[diijay]

I would like to know the methods that can be used the reharmonize a harmony in a pop way, soul and a more jazzy way.

The melody goes: ascending A C D E ( 2 times ) then A C D (then returns)
Harmony goes: Am F G Am

How would you reharmonize this and why, please explain using theory.

Thanks.

[tapper mike]

With styles it is more about metre then harmony.

While you could 7th all of your chords it wouldn't make the sound more jazzy.

Usually b5 chord subs only occur near the turn around unless your McCoy Tyner or Bill Evans.

[diijay]

I was wondering more ways besides the extensions 7,9,11,13 and relatives.

What else can be done?

[wrench45us]

there are 3 common ways I know of

1) backfilling -- this is using primarily the ii V of a given major chord to precede that chord as a sort of decpetive/leading to that key, but then we move on. so one could replace/squeeze in between the initial change from am to F replace am gm Bb7 F and then move on

2) there's also backfilling using some tritone substition or straight tritone substitution so originally am F G am , you could am F some sort of Bb7 (that shares d and f maybe even a from the original G chord) back to am
somebody correct me if that's wrong it doesn't quite work as I remember

3) throw in some leading dim 7 chords between original chords on an off beat

none of these are guaranteed to work for what you want
backfilling with tritones shows up in a lot of books, but I've never heard it work, so I didn't try to explain that


it might be best to just smooth it out a bit by adding some 2(9's) or 4's and establishing a note center -- like A could be part of all 4 chords by adding 9 to the G and establish that in your voicing by sticking on the same A throughout -- maybe on top of the chord

you could try the same by adding a D in the am chord (a 4), a D (a 6) in the F chord that could ambiguate the F as a dm7, and the D's already in the G chord

[seacouch]

Figure out as many scales as you can that contain those four notes (there are many!). Then derive the available chords from those scales. This alone will give you a lot of new sounds. Then try things like avoiding certain notes. Try chords that don't contain the thirds of your original chords (the most characteristic note of the chord), etc. This should keep you busy for a little while. Good luck!

[diijay]

here we go:

C major C; D; E; F; G; A; B; C;
F major F; G; A; A#/Bb; C; D; E; F;
G major G; A; B; C; D; E; F#/Gb; G;
G melodic minor G; A; A#/Bb; C; D; E; F#/Gb; G;
A melodic minor A; B; C; D; E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A;
C ionian C; D; E; F; G; A; B; C;
F ionian F; G; A; A#/Bb; C; D; E; F;
G ionian G; A; B; C; D; E; F#/Gb; G;
C#/Db harmonic minor C#/Db; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A; C; C#/Db;
E harmonic minor E; F#/Gb; G; A; B; C; D#/Eb; E;
A harmonic minor A; B; C; D; E; F; G#/Ab; A;
D natural minor D; E; F; G; A; A#/Bb; C; D;
E natural minor E; F#/Gb; G; A; B; C; D; E;
A natural minor A; B; C; D; E; F; G; A;
D dorian D; E; F; G; A; B; C; D;
G dorian G; A; A#/Bb; C; D; E; F; G;
A dorian A; B; C; D; E; F#/Gb; G; A;
E phrygian E; F; G; A; B; C; D; E;
A phrygian A; A#/Bb; C; D; E; F; G; A;
B phrygian B; C; D; E; F#/Gb; G; A; B;
C lydian C; D; E; F#/Gb; G; A; B; C;
F lydian F; G; A; B; C; D; E; F;
A#/Bb lydian A#/Bb; C; D; E; F; G; A; A#/Bb;
C mixolydian C; D; E; F; G; A; A#/Bb; C;
D mixolydian D; E; F#/Gb; G; A; B; C; D;
G mixolydian G; A; B; C; D; E; F; G;
D aeolian D; E; F; G; A; A#/Bb; C; D;
E aeolian E; F#/Gb; G; A; B; C; D; E;
A aeolian A; B; C; D; E; F; G; A;
E locrian E; F; G; A; A#/Bb; C; D; E;
F#/Gb locrian F#/Gb; G; A; B; C; D; E; F#/Gb;
B locrian B; C; D; E; F; G; A; B;
F#/Gb blues F#/Gb; A; B; C; C#/Db; E; F#/Gb;
A blues A; C; D; D#/Eb; E; G; A;
C diminished (halftone - wholetone) C; C#/Db; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G; A; A#/Bb; C;
D#/Eb diminished (halftone - wholetone) D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G; A; A#/Bb; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb;
F#/Gb diminished (halftone - wholetone) F#/Gb; G; A; A#/Bb; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb;
A diminished (halftone - wholetone) A; A#/Bb; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G; A;
C#/Db diminished (wholetone - halftone) C#/Db; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G; A; A#/Bb; C; C#/Db;
E diminished (wholetone - halftone) E; F#/Gb; G; A; A#/Bb; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb; E;
G diminished (wholetone - halftone) G; A; A#/Bb; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G;
A#/Bb diminished (wholetone - halftone) A#/Bb; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G; A; A#/Bb;
C major pentatonic C; D; E; G; A; C;
A minor pentatonic A; C; D; E; G; A;
C#/Db augmented C#/Db; E; F; G#/Ab; A; C; C#/Db;
F augmented F; G#/Ab; A; C; C#/Db; E; F;
A augmented A; C; C#/Db; E; F; G#/Ab; A;
C#/Db dorian b2 C#/Db; D; E; F#/Gb; G; A; A#/Bb; C;
D#/Eb dorian b2 D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A; B; C; D;
E dorian b2 E; F; G; A; A#/Bb; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb;
C augmented lydian C; D; E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A; B; C;
A#/Bb augmented lydian A#/Bb; C; D; E; F#/Gb; G; A; A#/Bb;
C lydian b7 C; D; E; F#/Gb; G; A; A#/Bb; C;
D lydian b7 D; E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A; B; C; D;
D mixolydian b6 D; E; F#/Gb; G; A; A#/Bb; C; D;
E mixolydian b6 E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A; B; C; D; E;
E locrian 2 E; F#/Gb; G; A; A#/Bb; C; D; E;
F#/Gb locrian 2 F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A; B; C; D; E; F#/Gb;
D#/Eb locrian 6 D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb;
F#/Gb locrian 6 F#/Gb; G; A; B; C; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb;
B locrian 6 B; C; D; E; F; G#/Ab; A; B;
C augmented ionian C; D; E; F; G#/Ab; A; B; C;
E augmented ionian E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb; E;
G augmented ionian G; A; B; C; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G;
D dorian #4 D; E; F; G#/Ab; A; B; C; D;
F#/Gb dorian #4 F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb;
A dorian #4 A; B; C; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G; A;
E major phrygian E; F; G#/Ab; A; B; C; D; E;
G#/Ab major phrygian G#/Ab; A; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab;
B major phrygian B; C; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G; A; B;
C lydian #9 C; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G; A; B; C;
F lydian #9 F; G#/Ab; A; B; C; D; E; F;
A lydian #9 A; C; C#/Db; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A;
A diminished lydian A; B; C; D#/Eb; E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A;
A#/Bb diminished lydian A#/Bb; C; C#/Db; E; F; G; A; A#/Bb;
D minor lydian D; E; F#/Gb; G#/Ab; A; A#/Bb; C; D;

[seacouch]

Right. There's a lot of redundancies in that list, making it a lot longer than it needs to be. Did you use software to generate that? So, you only need one version of each scale (ie: Major and Ionian are the same scale), and you don't need to list all the modes of each scale. And then, do you know how to derive the available chords from those scales and lists of notes? Each of those scales will give you a list of chords. You'll see a lot of the same chords in all of the lists, but each scale should also provide a couple unique chords, and those are the ones to pay extra attention to.