music writing

Chords and melody have to work together; I like to work with one first, then the other - if you try both at the same time it's a lot more difficult.

Let's say you've done a chord progression first. Look at each chord and identify the notes - then try to come up with a basic melody that uses only those chord tones. After you have a basic melody written, then you can 'decorate' it with momentary notes outside the chords.

If you're working the other way, take your melody in chunks of one or two measures at a time. Look at the notes, and ask yourself "what chord do these tones make"? You can ignore notes that are very short, especially if they happen in between beats.

Since it's Christmas, let's look at "Silent Night" as an example. In the key of C, you've got the notes G-A-C-E, with the A very short and off the beat - ignore the A, and it's a C chord; that's how it's usually harmonized. After that's repeated you have D-D-B, then C-C-G. These phrases feel like they should have different chords - and they're usually done as G7 (G-B-D-F) and C (C-E-G). The next phrase begins A-A-C-B-A, with the B short and off the the beat - take that out and you've got A-C. If this phrase feels major to you, you use an F chord... if it feels minor, you could use Am. You just keep working like that, trying out different chords that use all (or at the very least, most) of the notes.

And I started playing about 40 years ago, and I do make mistakes when I'm playing. I just try not to make too many of them :) If I'm improvising, there's no such thing - like Thelonius Monk (a jazz pianist) said, if a note ain't right when I start with it, it's right when I'm done with it. I try to take that approach in performing too - if I do something with my fingers that my ears didn't expect, I try to see what I can do with it. If I'm playing something from sheet music, I just do my best to focus on it and get the best results I can.

thank u mr noteboat. your reply helped alot
but here is more 1 more question please ...is that what professional do? i men like great bands and professional songs or music arrangers??

and about mistakes you are giving me hope again ... :note1:
thank you

Professional arrangers are usually given a 'head chart' - a bare-bones version of the song that has the melody and chords. The arranger's job is to divide up the chord tones between the instruments available. So the decision on what chords go with the melody is the responsibility of the songwriter or composer, and the decision of which instrument plays which chord tones belongs to the arranger or orchestrator.

One of the keys to becoming a really good player in a band setting is actually learning to think like an arranger -- recognizing that what you're playing not only can't conflict with the other instruments, but that it needs to compliment the other instruments.

One big mistakes newer players make is failing to recognize the importance of space in an arrangement. The other thing that tends to be a mistake guitarists make more than any other players is not recognizing the importance of the notes you don't play!

For example, if I'm playing a chord like a Fmaj7 (F A C E) and I'm playing with a bass player, the only notes I might play are the A and the E and perhaps a melody tone. I can trust the bass player to get the bass and the fifth. Or I might choose to play the A C and E -- which is an Am chord.

By choosing to play fewer notes, I don't sacrifice the harmony (my part will combine with the bass player's part) and I allow for more space in the arrangement so it will sound cleaner to the audience.

This concept is not limited to playing with a band. If you're facing that same Fmaj7 chord playing solo, you might choose to play the F triad for beat 1, and then play an Am arpeggio for the rest of the measure. The F note will be implied for the remainder of the measure and you don't need to hit it at all. Consider what tones are shared between the melody and the chord -- you might play some diads with chord tones and melody tones together.

The list of ideas continues on forever -- but arrangers have to think about three things:

1) how all of the tones come together
2) how each instrument's line sounds on it's own
3) how easy or hard it is for each instrument to play the part

If all you're concerned with is the first two, it's pretty easy to come up with an arrangement "on paper" that is actually quite unplayable by the average musician. If you forget the second, you can end up with something that sounds a bit off to the listener as an instrument doesn't sound good by itself.

And of course if you forget the first, then you'll simply have something that doesn't sound good at all.

thank you mr noteboat and mr kingpatzer ,
both replies are great thank you very much .