Adding Chords To A Melody

[BertKoor]

I wonder if the OP worked out the chords for the bassline

they're never coming back, no one will ever know

We don't know until we ask:

Adding Chords To A Melody
[...]
I'm at a crossroad.

Hey @Passante, were you able to work it out? Did any of this discussion help at all?

[jancivil]

I was being flippant

I could be wrong, occasionally they do. -<

[Hink]

" do you add just 1 note to form a triad and thus incorporate the melody into the chord"

Do you started with music a hour ago?

How would you feel if someone said, "Did you start learning English an hour ago?". What if he did?

[Passante]

I wonder if the OP worked out the chords for the bassline

they're never coming back, no one will ever know

We don't know until we ask:

Adding Chords To A Melody
[...]
I'm at a crossroad.

Hey @Passante, were you able to work it out? Did any of this discussion help at all?

Hi, for now I found my own way to move forward with this, it's very rudimentary but is my only option as of now.
I basically hum the melody/notes in my head while playing until I land on the right pitch. I try every note of the scale and decide what feels right in the context.
I do think that learning to play piano would help me massively but that takes much time that I don't have atm.
Some suggestion are more useful than others, some are just too complex for me considering where I am right now.

[BertKoor]

I basically hum the melody/notes in my head while playing until I land on the right pitch. I try every note of the scale and decide what feels right in the context.

That sounds not bad. Do it more often and you'll become better.

[jancivil]

singing is a good idea, you get to know and associate the tones physically

[iikkap]

I wonder if the OP worked out the chords for the bassline

they're never coming back, no one will ever know

We don't know until we ask:

Adding Chords To A Melody
[...]
I'm at a crossroad.

Hey @Passante, were you able to work it out? Did any of this discussion help at all?

Hi, for now I found my own way to move forward with this, it's very rudimentary but is my only option as of now.
I basically hum the melody/notes in my head while playing until I land on the right pitch. I try every note of the scale and decide what feels right in the context.
I do think that learning to play piano would help me massively but that takes much time that I don't have atm.
Some suggestion are more useful than others, some are just too complex for me considering where I am right now.

Humming is a good way to go, that way you're operating based on what actually sounds good!

As for learning to play the piano and it taking a lot of time - I think you could look at it in a different way. Learning to play well of course takes a ton of time, but learning to mess around on the keyboard, trying how different chords sound with eachother is FAR less effort. You can do quite a bit with minimal technical skill.

[Passante]

I agree with fmr, you're most of the way there with melody and bass.

Here are a few things to consider in general -
-You don't have to harmonize each melody note with a different chord. Listen to your melody and try and hear where you feel the chord changes should be.
-Once you have a set of notes that you'd like to harmonize, see if your melody implies or outlines a certain chord. For example if your song is in the key of C and your melody goes G E C you are spelling out a C chord, and probably want to play a C chord. But if your bass note is an A, then you're probably looking at an Am7 chord.
-Decide which notes in your melody are "target notes" and which notes are "passing notes", most likely you'll want your "target notes" to be one of the chord tones in whatever chord you're in. Again in the key of C, if your target melody note is G, you're probably looking at a C or a G chord.
-All of these ideas really depend on how stable or animated you want your melody note to be. If you want one of your target notes to have more potential energy, meaning it isn't at rest and wants to go somewhere else, you can either have it not be one of the chord tones and/or be an extension of the chord like a 7th or 9th. Using the example above, a G note over a G or C chord will be very stable, while a G note over an Am7 chord will have more motion and potential for movement. This same G note in an Am7 will have a desire to come to rest somewhere else either moving to different melody note or having the chord move underneath.

Once again I'm back at this topic and want to underline and thank strummy especially for this comment he made. That reply resonanted for many months in my mind after I read it and made me think. It was an eye opening moment for me, his explanation about passing and target notes specifically. It doesn't mean that I follow a formula now in creating the harmony but is something I always take in consideration.
And jancivil's comment about interchanging bass and melody is very useful too. I was actually already approaching things in such way, but I needed a confirmation. Now I know that it's ok to overstep the boundaries.
Anyway, a curious thing I'm noticing is that it turns out the most creative/interesting and strange melodies I made was in the period I didn't have any theory knowledge at all. When I look at these melodies and analyze them, they don't seem to make much sense, but somehow they sound very ethereal and unique. It's harder for me right now to create such vibes.
However I understand that it is all a matter of knowledge and I have not arrived at such a level where I can exert control, I lack mastery.

[jancivil]

for future reference, hearing no music leaves us guessing and supposing. There’s no right or wrong way guaranteed from talking in the abstract.
It’s all contextual.

[eLawnMust]

Just to pop in here, I suggest not using triads & instead using compound chords to convey the message this gives you alot more notes to play with that can be transitioned or crossed & perhaps a better feel than plain triads that provide a 'straightforward' sound like for country, folk, folk-rock. Hard to explain really but I don't use ANY triads in what I do sooo....

Here's a WIP in Protrekkr I am currently doing it's all compounds with whole-tone riff on change-over & one 303 dedicated bassline the other 303 counter-riffing-

https://soundcloud.com/waxing-and-wanin ... -iteration

Don't worry so far it's short>>>

[Aaron Marshall]

The beauty part is there are many avenues you can travel. There's not an absolute right set of chord that secretly go along with your bass and melody. You might even try something that is a little disharmonic momentarily to add tension. Only you know.