Fitting chords to a melody?

axisus · June 2014

How does one go about it?

I'm useless on theory!

close2u · June 2014

Using theory:
List out the notes of your melody.
How many sharps / flats?
Refer to the Circle of 5ths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths
You then have your signature key.
If you know the harmonised Major scale of your key then you have seven chords to play with.
Play the melody, listen for obvious punctuation points and try a chord at those points.
Does it sound right?
If not try another.
Etc.

Using your ear.
Similar to the last part of the above but with more trial and error.
What note do you start on.
Play the chord with a matching name.
Does it sound right?
Maybe it should be minor not major.
Stop in the melody when it sounds like a chord change should be happening.
What note have you stopped on?
Play the chord with a matching name.
Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

I'll try to find / link a video on this if I find it.

axisus · June 2014

Thanks, that sound useful! I shall have a go. Thanks.

frankus · June 2014

There are two approaches I like:

Danny Gatton's - find a good bass note under your fingers, play the lead note and jam your fingers in between till you find a nice sound.

Ted Greene's - have an armoury of chord voicings you simply know (hear in your head and find under your fingers instantly), shove the right ones in as you play the lead line -- play it through a load of times using a different finger for the lead line and see if it throws out different chords... do it slow enough and you increase your repertoire of nice sounding voicings (NOT chords) for a particular musical note.

Something I like doing on older tunes, I first harmonized using diatonic chords, is to pull measures using modes, you can derive this using a cycle of fifths, to sequences modes in terms of smallest changes, then write the diatonic chords from each relative mode (C ionian: Cmaj Dmin, C mixolydian: C7, Dmin etc), sacrifice a virgin, defile a toad - the usual nonsense... you get this principle to try out,

find your boring chord in here (substitute the root note) : Cmaj7 -> Cmaj7 -> C7 -> Cm6 -> Cm -> Cm7b5 -> Bmaj7 ->
if you'd like it to sound airier go left, if you want darker go right... this is for creating harmonies based on the major modes ...

I've got the charts for the "declinations" of melodic and harmonic modes but if you've got a circle of fifths a virgin and a manticore heart you can figure those out for yourself.

close2u · June 2014

close2u said:

I'll try to find / link a video on this if I find it.

I should have known .... it was a Justin Sandercoe video & lesson

here:

http://justinguitar.com/en/FO-104-MajorChordScaleRelations.php

here:

http://justinguitar.com/en/FO-105-EasyHappyBirthday.php

here:

http://justinguitar.com/en/FO-106-MinorChordScaleRelations.php

here:

http://justinguitar.com/en/FO-107-WaltzingMatilda.php

Thanks @misterg for helping me to retrieve this from the justinguitar archive

Misterg · June 2014

@thisisguitar posted a diagram showing which chords contain a certain note which I thought was neat:

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa183/lyndos/Picture5.png

I can't see how to link to individual posts, but it's in this thread:

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/9803/how-to-write-songs-like-this

Clarky · June 2014

it can be simpler than all of the above..

first, determine the key of your melody and then the chords available to you in that key [just triads for starters]

generally [if you don't want too much tonal richness / dissonance - Jazz for example], look for the notes that sound longest / most often in a bar.. the principle note/s in that bar will apear in three chords in that key.. for example, in the key of C, if you hear a melody note of E most often in a bar, that E can be the root of Em, the 3rd of C or the 5th of Am. So, your melody note will be "consonant" with all three of these chords.. so try them and then use your judgement to see which you prefer..

Note: this is just "a way" and not the only way.. that said, it's a nice simple place to start..

another very powerful compositional tool is simply to know lots of songs.. not only to know how to play them, but also to have taken a look at how the melody works with the chord progression.. having a good understanding of a large repertoir is the ultimate creative trigger / source.. essentially.. learning by example..

Drew_TNBD · June 2014

Take the melody. Figure out what the notes are. Write them down. Find out which diatonic scales have all of those notes. Pick one that seems to work. Write those down in a list.

Major scales follow a pattern of tones and semitones - TTSTTTS

Minor: TSTTSTT

You'll then have enough to get the degrees of that diatonic scale. You can then find out what chord fits each degree of the scale by going through the notes. If you know you've got an fsharp in there... you know you're never going to have D minor for example. There are patterns that come from this. Major scales follow this basic pattern:

1 - major

2 - minor

3 - minor

4 - major

5 - major

6 - minor

7 - diminished

So in the key of C major a I-II-IV progression would be Cmaj, Dmin, Fmaj.

You can do a similar thing for minor scales.

Clarky · June 2014

to add to this....

if you can find a bass line that works with your melody, at some moments the bass note and melody notes will be the same, at others they'll be different..

where they are the same you have the same 3 choices open to you thatI described above...

where they are different, your choices can be made smaller..

using the previous example, in the key of C, if you hear a melody note of E most often in a bar, and you like the bass note C with it..

that E over the C in the bass can now be a C triad or Am / C [Am 1st inversion]

you are essentially writing a bassline and melody and then filling in the gaps based upon the chords that you've worked out that are available to you

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Fitting chords to a melody?

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