A good friend and I have been discussing something that there doesn't seem to be a clear answer on (admittedly, I spend a lot more time on the physical and dexterity side of my playing more than music theory, which so far has not come very naturally to me)
If you were to write out a melody, or even a basic guitar riff, how do you then go about plotting out what chords or tones should go underneath it?
I mean beyond the "safest" mode of finding the most prominent notes, and dropping down an octave or something ;)
Here is an example:
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---5--6--5-----5------------------6-----6--5-----------
-------------7-----6--7--------7------------------------
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To come up witha starting chord, would you take the first 7 notes of this, and try to figure out what scale they are part of?
I'm slightly confused I guess.
Knowing some basic scale forms would help you to find out what key any given lick is based off of, and by that you could start shooting around for chords that fit underneath.
Some of your "cheater" give-aways are looking at the notes that your melodies begin and end with. These are not 100% accurate (depending on the music), but it's an easy way to figure out they key for a lot of songs.
Do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life...
The problem with the riff, is that it does not seem to be based on a "normal" key. You give the sequence C#, D, E, F (intervals of S, W, S), which is not a part of any major or minor scale and none of the notes in the riff appear to be passing or ghost notes.
The key of D is close, but Dmaj has an F#, not an F and Dmin (relative) has F and C. So you are likely to find that one note will sound dissonant, depending on the key you choose.
Well, let's have a look at your melody.
The notes are:
E-F-E-D-E-C#-D---D-F-A-F-E
On first glance, it starts and ends with E, so it looks as if the key centre/home might be E. The F and C# don't fit E minor or major very well, but you if we analyse it in E, the notes are:
1-b2-1-b7-1-6-b6---b7-b2-4-b2-1
Hmmm. Not a very good fit, although you could call it E Phrygian. That b2(the F) is unusual, but otherwise it's a fairly good fit for E minor. It has both the maj6 (C#) and the min6 (C), but the maj6 can be thought of as an approach note to the b7 (D).
What about D?
Analysed in D, the notes are:
2-b3-2-1-2-7-1---1-b3-5-b3-1
I find this (D minor) a much better fit, myself. It's unresolved at first, then nails the D as the key centre with the maj7 approach tone (C#).
The second part is simply a D minor arpeggio (D-F-A) with an extra E (2nd/9th). Let's call it a Dmadd9.
So I'd say this passage is in D (harmonic) minor and the chords that would fit best are either A7-Dm or even:
Em(ii) A7(V) Dm(i)
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---5--6--5-----5------------------6-----6--5-----------
-------------7-----6--7--------7------------------------
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That's my take on it anyway. Others may disagree.
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Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
No reason to argue with you Helgi. Right or wrong, good or bad, doesn't matter. You show exactly what the original post asked for- How to figure it out. As someone that can use some lessons in this area, I am gratefull to you for showing how to analyze the melody.
Thanks!
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i sorta agree Helgi.. except i'd name it a harmonic minor mode (like the Phrygian Dominant / Spanish Phrygian) except starting on the 1st note away from the root.
No Bb in the melody, so we could assume if there was a B it would be flat.
D E F A C#.. D harmonic minor.. but more of like a "dorian", starting on second note of the scale. I mean if you can have modes of a major and minor (and harmonic minor) then this should count, ive never come across this scale before so i couldnt tell you its name (assuming there is one).
Minor "key" assumes harmonic or melodic minor. Natural minor isn't used for anything much.
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Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
I'm sorry hbriem but i have to disagree with you on that. Natural Minor is used all the time. EX. All along the watchtower, Since i've been loving you, countless amounts of jazz songs, babe i'm gonna leave you are all songs based out of a natual minor scale. When i saw Kab's riff it looked to me like it was part of a A natural minor (or A aeolian minor) scale. But since it's just a riff there are lots of chords you can put behind it, play the riff over and still have it sound good. hbriem showed 2-5-1 progression in D minor which works over your riff too. If your using it as just a riff of a song there are really countless things you can do with it. It could be simply A minor, or you could get deeper and say your playing some modes. If you look at the first note and the last note (both an E) you can say that it's A minor, E is the 5th of A, so it is a chord tone. To be able to completely analyze melodies requires a good amount of theory knowlegde and at the same time a little creativity to decide what chord you actully are playing over, that can be flexable, to a certain degree. I hope this helped atleast and didn't just confuse you.
I should have said "used much less". Harmonic/melodic minor is the default. Natural is unusual.
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Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
i really do agree with furious_b, maybe we dont see the same music, but from what i have seen, i barely ever see melodic minor, and i think harmonic and natural minor are used as much as each other.
But we can argue about this all the time, its just what music we listen to, see, and analyse.
