I am trying to fit some chords to a melody, and honestly can't tell if I'm overthinking it. I've attached the two possible progressions I've thought up and looking for feedback.
This is played on guitar. b
This is how I originally wrote it:
E (022100) A (X02220) A? (X02100) F#min (244222) B7 (X21202) C#min (X46654)
Progression: E / A / E / A? / F#min / B7/ C#min /B7
However, I'm concerned with the usage of the F#min as the melody over it is alternating between a non-chord tone of G# and an A (which is in the chord). Is this good or bad tension? The melody "lands" on the non-chord tone (G#) first, on the strong beat.
Second option:
To my ears, this sounds more "safe" and a little less interesting, but possibly works more smoothly with the melody? The same spot of the melody "lands" on the C#minor, now we are switching to A (the non-chord tone) on the "weak" or off beat...
E / A / E / A? / C#min / B7 / A / B7
Any thoughts would be much appreciated...
Theres a chord in a song i made where the melody while that chord is playing is all non chord tones. I only stay on the chord for half a measure, and theres three notes over it. These three notes dont belong to the chord, making them non chord tones. Is it acceptable. It sounds good to me but i havent been able to find another song that does this, which would make me feel validated.
So, I'm getting confused when encountering non-chord tones. What worries me is how to treat them, namely the question: would they be non-chord tones or new chord tones?
Take this image for example: example
Would you analyse the second beat (notes in red) as Neighbour Notes, or an F maj chord?
Thanks in advance
I've got a problem on Non-chord Tones in general that is really bugging me, especially the usage of passing notes.
Must the passing note always be resolved on the same harmony note?
For instance, suppose we're playing a C maj arpeggio under a melody C>D>E. However, the melody is played on every chord note. That is, the whole texture is played like this: C/C > D/E > E/G, in a relatively fast tempo.
Does that D classify as passing note when played like this tho?
Personally, I'm finding that it sounds more like a 9th rather than a passing note, maybe cause it's harmonised by E..
Having said had, would it be more appropriate if the D gets resolved to the E note, while the bottom E stays static?
So the texture would be like so: C/C > D>E/E > C/G
This way, I would clearly identify that D note as a passing note tbh.
Let me know if I need to clarify something.
P.s.
I'm not referring to any particular style, but rather to tonal music in general.
Thanks!
Hi all. I'm doing an 3 part Tenor/Baritone/Bass acapella arrangement of "Sunny Afternoon" by the Kinks, and the bit I'm struggling with is the second line of the chorus "I've got a big fat mamma, tryn'a break me". The line is mostly sung on/around the note D, with a C major chord underneath. With only 3 voices, I'm trying to work out what other notes to put underneath the melody in the tenor. Including the C and E from the C major chord makes a cluster of CDE that feels very dissonant for 2 bars. If anyone has any ideas on how to harmonise this line it would be much appreciated!
For the purposes of harmonizing a melody for a vocal duet, what are some "rules" for harmonizing a non-chord tone (embellishing, passing, etc)
I.e. say the current implied chord is a C major, and the melody note is a D...how might one harmonize that for the second voice?
Hello, im making music for 1.5 years , am self-taught in music theory and i feel like its highest time for me to learn play something more than a 3 tone chord oriented music.
Normally im making very artistic and rich sounding experimental music with this basic approach, however now that i decided to step down to something much simpler = peaceful piano music, i have space to explore 4 tone chords and the whole realm beyond 3 tone chord oriented music.
So my basic exploration idea is to set a fixed scale and a 3 tone chord, that would be C major and CEG chord. Now as i play the chord repeatedly, i want to throw in a melody on top of the chord, but i dont want to use only those 3 tones from chord which are just one or two octaves above. I want to be able to use non-chord tones and i want to know exactly why can i use the tones im using and what are they based on.
I watched some video on superimposing a scale onto a chord and some articles on using non-chord tones, but none of it really answered what i was looking for.
To stay basic and not go crazy right from the start, i just want to use tones from C major on a melody which plays on top of that CEG chord (as the example), so ultimately i would like to know, why or why not i can use D, F, A or B in that melody , what am basing this on?
Hope you understand me, thank you for answer.
Most chord ear training I've found helps you decipher what chord is being played based on its function. While this is helpful for most music, it's not helpful when I'm trying to transcribe music that uses tone clusters or wonky, non-functional chords. Does anyone know a way to get better at picking out each of the specific notes of chords?
I just don’t know how to identify them if they’re 9-8, or 7-6, 4-3, etc...
Like the title said - 70s sounding song, lower tone - male vocals - simple chords
I overheard the song playing in a store, couldn't shazam, but it sounded great, and I had definitely heard it before. Really not sure on the lyrics as I just heard it the one time - but I'm pretty sure on the notes - sounded tuned down a bit from standard guitar tuning (which is maybe why it sounded awesome and kind of stuck with me)
Here's the vocaroo (the whistling would be the lyrics): https://voca.ro/1hN3fd72chtS
Please help me find it - it was a great song and I gotta add it to my list!
Thanks!
When I say "harmonic analysis," I'm talking about naming chords in a piece of music. Regular chord names rather than Roman numeral analysis (although I know how to do Roman numeral analysis too). I can easily identify chords and their extensions, and so harmonic analysis is pretty easy for me except when it comes to distinguishing what's a non-chord tone (non-harmonic tone) and what isn't. For instance, "This measure seems to have a pretty clear C Major harmony, but there's also an A in there. Should I write that as a C6 chord instead of a regular C chord? Or is the A unimportant to the harmony, meaning I should disregard it?"
I already know the names and descriptions of the different types of non-chord tones (passing tone, escape tone, appoggiatura, etc.), but identifying them in real-life situations and in complex music isn't so easy. For instance, just because a note falls on an unstressed beat and isn't easily pigeonholed into a particular triad or seventh chord doesn't mean it's harmonically unimportant, right?
I've been scouring YouTube, Amazon, and the rest of the Internet trying to find the reasoning behind how people make these kinds of decisions when analyzing, but there seems to be almost nothing out there. I ordered a book called Harmonic Analysis, by Benjamin Cutter. It has tons of analysis exercises, which is what I was looking for, but I was disappointed to find that it doesn't give any guidance or explanation on how to do the exercises. It just expects you to know how to do them already. It doesn't even include any suggested solutions to those exercises (I say "suggested" because I know analysis is semi-subjective). Does anyone know of any resources for learning to understand harmonic analysis better and getting past these sticking points?
For example, in C major, G resolves to C because it contains the leading tone B, but so does Em, and Em does not resolve to C as strongly.
If the resolution is due to the leading tone resolving to the tonic, why does this only apply with the V chord?
So you target the 1,3,5 when soloing over each chord in a progression right?
So does this apply to the 1,3,5 of the individual modal scales that each chord represents? Or is it like, still the major scale pattern?
Hope that makes sense. Thanks!
I'm a little confused by how to analyze certain situations in four-part harmony where the music could be seen as containing either non-chord tones or an embellishing chord.
For instance, this is analyzed as having a pedal IV64 in the first measure, but you could also interpret it as a I chord held for three beats with two neighbor notes in the middle. In this specific example, it feels like the IV64 is more natural because the harmonic rhythm is one-chord-per-melody-note everywhere else. But in general, is there an unambiguous way to decide how to analyze this sort of situation?
I'm almost entirely self-taught so forgive any weird gaps in my knowledge.
I wonder if I'm the only one here that's bothered when they hear Non-chord tones described as "not part of the chord." Here's why it bothers me...
Most contemporary languages do not use this antiquated approach to music. Contemporary tonal languages actually use "non-chord tones" as harmonic extensions adding to the sonority and follow some rather prescriptive voice leading procedures with them. Well, I know I do at least.
For example, the #11 is a good case study. When my melody/motif contains a #11, it's generally at the apex of the phrase or gesture, and it delivers considerable momentum into the next sonority propelling the phrase/gesture to its conclusion. It usually falls on a strong beat in the phrase that resolves (much in the same way as a suspension) a half-step higher as the next sonority sounds. It's extremely compelling when done well.
Calling it a non-chord tone (a chromatic/borrowed, accented passing tone) does nothing to explain its significance. Any non-chord tone can be an "added" (add6, add2, Sus[4], etc.) or "extended" (9th, 11th, 13th) harmonic pitch. Furthermore, I don't find that it creates a significant level of complexity after a semester of theory.
Well, if you're a college student studying music theory, this might not help you as much in acing your next exam (so the proverbial "grain of salt" is recommended here). But for the rest of you just trying to learn on your own and obtain a grasp of theory - from someone who actually composes for a living using several contemporary tonal and idiomatic languages you hear in popular culture and so forth - I think "non-chord tone" terminology is a very misleading way to think about pitches that don't fit a triad. Just know that those pitches serve more of a purpose than simple melodic embellishment. They can be used to greater effect when you understand how they fit within the context of the sonority and make better decisions about how to voice them as a result.
Happy to take questions or elaborate on things I haven't explained very well. Hope this is helpful to some of you.
EDIT: Ended up picking up a Zvex Channel 2 yesterday, which is essentially a SHO with a master volume so it can act as a light transparent overdrive. I found it for 70USD new at the store so I just grabbed it. It's pretty much everything I needed, super simple and transparent and adds a nice sparkle to your guitar. So, that's what I'll stick with for now.
Hey guys, I'm looking for something that can be good for my always-on, base tone. I play slightly pop-rock/emo type stuff (Oso Oso, Sunny Day Real Estate, Weakerthans etc.) and I want a nice clean-yet-slightly-crunchy base tone that has nice touch sensitivity with sparkly highs, but not brittle when I play open chords. You know, crunchy when I dig in but nice and sweet when I don't, if I'm just picking. Something that keeps a warm tone with clear highs, if that makes sense.
I play an HH Strat on the neck or middle position into my DAW (soon to be Boss IR-200), I use an AC30 into an Orange Cab emulation, I run the amp clean. If I play live I just use whatever the venue has, so that doesn't matter, but in the future will probably use the IR-200 with an Orange Cab IR.
I'm thinking the MXR Timmy because it's smaller, has 3 clipping modes and bass/treble control. I'm thinking Westwood only because my other two overdrives are EQD (Plumes and Talons). So far I've had the best luck with EQD drive pedals, they always sound best to me (although I've never tried a JHS), and I'm thinking JHS just because people say it has a very good "edge of breakup" sound, very sparkly, and can also use an external footswitch to switch between gain stages which might be useful live when I need to crank in a little more gain on the fly.
I'd most likely be running it into a Plumes and Talons, at the beginning of my rig. I don't use a fuzz.
Does anyone use any of these pedals for this sort of music? I live in a place where they aren't available in-store, so this would be a Sweetwater purchase (Black Friday sales right now), so I can't try any myself, and Youtube demos don't seem to do them justice. Thanks for any ideas!
I'm currently working on a project for my theory class and I've noticed a weird thing in my music. Basically, between two chords, I found parallel motion of fifths between the Alto and Soprano voices. However, in my Soprano between the two notes, there is an appoggiatura, and in the Alto, there is an escape tone. I was wondering if these non-chord tones, in essence, "break" the parallel fifth motion. If not, I had written non-chordal parallel octaves between the Alto and Bass.
If the non-chord tones don't break the parallel motion, would that make parallel motion of non-chord tones viable for chorale writing?
https://imgur.com/a/oyCy0w0 pic related
I've been having some trouble hitting notes on pitch when they don't appear anywhere in the chord that's being played. For example, hitting a G# note over a C#5 chord or an F# over a Dmin7 chord. Does it just take a lot of practice to get a feel for how each interval sounds over each chord? Do I need to practice my scales more? Any tips or practice suggestions are much appreciated.
How do you describe a set of non chord tones when there are multiple in a row? I just wrote a piece and there are many parts where I have two or three consecutive notes which do not fit into the chord. How would I describe such notes?
For example: in E minor, I have a iv chord and the melody moves from A-G-F#-G-E. what type of non chord tone would the G, F#, and G be?
I’m familiar with how to play a 251 in all major keys and a couple different chord progressions and all the pentatonic scales, but my issue with playing scales is that they get boring and overtime it doesn’t sound melodic or as musical; is there a trick to using chord tones to help create more colorful playing?
Greetings,
I realize the next step to take my guitar/bass playing is to play with chord tones but I’m having a hard time knowing all the chords tones for every chord I play.
Pretty much my question is - do you need to know every note for every chord that exists, to be able to play with the chord tones?
Much appreciated
I'm analysing this measure and it has a ii65 and the bass has 16th notes to scale degrees 5 then 6 before it falls back to a V chord. Does the first movement act as a passing tone between the ii65 chord and the 6 scale degree, then the 6 scale degree act as a neighbor tone? (this is how I currently have them analysed)
Or would you analyse the tones together by grouping them and say that both of them are acting as a sort of neighboring clump between the ii65 and the V?
Thanks!
I am currently reading Harmony by Walter Piston and he refers to appogiaturas being strong rhythmically, and passing tones being weak rhythmically. What exactly does this mean and how would it be applied? His texts are much more confusing to me, than say Tonal Harmony.
So, I've been learning these past weeks most Maj 7, Min 7 and Dom 7 arpeggios on the 5 CAGED positions, which makes much more interesting melodies when I improvise over 1 chord, however, when I get to chord changes I usually get lost and feel the chord changes too fast. I would like to know how you guys and gals practice this? I've been wondering if i should stick to playing melodies on a couple of strings and add a little bit more as I feel more confident on a single position? Any tips would be great 😊
Do passing tones work when the passing tone occurs between two chords for example A-G over A triad to F# in B chord? Or is it strictly for use during 1 chord?
How to hear the notes that in the chord separately and sing them ?
