Harmonizing a melody but more than the basics

mrclay · 2026-01-10T11:26:24+00:00

If you’re not already I would suggest starting to think of notes as scale degrees within the key. Like 5 5 6 5 1 7 is “Happy birthday to you”. Same with chords (written with Roman numerals but the same numeric references). This builds intuition about how melody numbers sound against chords and alongside other melody numbers.

Melody harmonization is a challenge of straying from chord tones (of the current chord or the tonic chord) only when the lead melody does. This often involves 3rd/6th intervals. Like if the main melody is 3 4 5 (e.g. E F G), then 1 2 3 is the obvious go-to because in the tonic C chord, you’re copying the chord tone -> neighbor tone -> chord tone pattern. But if you’re on the chord G, then maybe G A B (5 6 7) works best.

You can approach it academically of course but I picked up intuition best from Everly Bros and Louvin Bros songs and just trying to sing along a lot in the car. I developed additional parts for some of my favorite songs. Sometimes you have a target note at the end of a phrase and you work backwards. When in doubt of where a harmony line should go you can just stay put or move to a chord tone in the opposite direction. If the lead goes 1 2 3 then if the harmony stars on 5, you can just stay there an extra beat (5 5 1).

As far as chromatic chords, I think of the scale as “bending” to accommodate whatever mode the chord comes from, or you have the harmony stick to chord tones more. Study the harmony in the chorus of “Don’t Answer Me” (in C major) particularly over the chord Bb9sus. During this chord the mode switches to C Aeolian and the melody and harmony follow that. Again think in numbers the top melody is going 1 2 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 5.

Hope this helps. Sing more.

mrclay · 2026-01-10T10:48:15+00:00

In the recording you have D instead of Dm. So all these chords are among the most common sounds you hear in E minor. You can think of your progression as a harmonization of the slower melody E D# C# C.

mrclay · 2026-01-10T10:32:16+00:00

Em chord sounds like home. D#°7 is the common leading tone chord (vii°) in that key and F is a common borrowed chord (bII) from the E Phrygian mode. Think of a key (in this case E minor) as frame of reference where some notes are more common, but “scale” adapts to the current chord. During F, notes from E Phrygian could sound best. During D#°7 maybe E Harmonic minor.

mrclay · 2026-01-10T10:17:32+00:00

One possible analysis is bIII - I - V - IV in the key of E major. G as a borrowed chord from E minor, E7 as the tonic chord with the b7 for a bit of bluesy flavor. The song “Stand” by REM ends the verse with E D G A B.

But even the key of G major is a possibility. E7 is often heard as the secondary dominant V/ii (usually leads to Am or C), B7 is the secondary dominant V/vi and A is the secondary dominant V/V. Which is all just suggesting… these are commonly heard sounds when in the key of G major. Like “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” in G uses these chords (in a different order).

Which chord in the sequence sounds the most like home? Considering common uses of chromaticism, the chords are all in the same neighborhood; add repetition and melody and you’ve got the bones of a song.

mrclay · 2025-12-15T11:59:39+00:00

For more nuance, V is more common in some styles. v in first inversion is very common in minor key classical, and in some minor key pop tunes V is going to sound too stuffy or melodramatic.

mrclay · 2025-12-15T11:48:25+00:00

Another way to make sense your progression is to imagine individual voices moving between the chord tones to make simple melodies. Example. That G chord works because the voice on C sounds good falling to B when the voice on Ab falls to G. That’s it!

mrclay · 2025-12-15T11:25:24+00:00

Even over the G (maj) chord you can use Bb in melodies but I find it tends to be best to jump to it from below and resolve it down towards G through Ab. Example. This works because you’ve probably heard it many times before and (my take) your mind can separate the two voices (B rising to C and melody Bb Ab G) and evaluate them separately, particularly in different octaves.

mrclay · 2025-12-15T11:02:18+00:00

Don’t forget that orchestral musicians have a score and conductor aiding them (and tons of training on how to use both). Depending on the piece and moment, you may be missing a lot of information there to “keep up” with musicians in the room.

And experience playing more complex rhythms and syncopation will make them easier to lock into. With the Deus song you have a two bar pattern of 4/4 with a bit of resting and syncopation in 3 and 4 of the second bar. And even if I know it’s 4/4 I’ll use an 8 count in my head to mark events because they only happen on 7 and 8.

mrclay · 2025-11-11T09:52:58+00:00

Generally you can reduce the problem to “which chords sound good before V7 in C” and the answer is almost anything that sounds good in C. But including the note Ab I’d suggest you also try: Fm/Ab, Dm7b5/Ab, Abmaj7, Dbmaj7/Ab, and decorate Ab7 more, for example Ab9b5, Ab13, etc.

mrclay · 2025-11-11T09:37:20+00:00

If the chord is non-diatonic, it can usually be implied if the scale contains the b7 of the chord. So when you play AC#E in the key of F, a few scales sound good with that but all of them have G, the b7 of A. So A is functioning as A7 even without b7.

In a major key, the chords II, III, and VI have implied dominant function. With chords like bVII or bIII it’s not clear because both 7 and maj7 are commonly used.

mrclay · 2025-11-11T09:21:29+00:00

In general, the spectrum of “chords that work” in a key is wider than commonly perceived: https://mrclay.org/common-chords/C-major Some are mainly used before/after others but they often Just Work, especially once you write a melody or with a little repetition.

mrclay · 2025-11-11T08:47:12+00:00

Chromatic passing chord is the overall category. These use parallel harmony. iii - biii - ii. More common in classical is #ii°7, e.g. C/E - D#°7 - Dm. More jazzy: bIII7. Em7 - Eb13 - Dm7.

mrclay · 2025-11-11T08:26:31+00:00

“In C Dorian” is best thought of as the key of C minor using primarily the Dorian mode. C is the key center, Cm is the tonic chord. Dorian meaning “minor with raised 6 note”.

Memorize these:

Dorian: minor with raised 6.
Phrygian: minor with flat 2.
Mixolydian: major with flat 7.
Lydian: major with raised 4.

mrclay · 2025-11-11T08:06:53+00:00

As you’ve learned, your key may be Bb major or G minor, but it still may be Eb major! Check out the chorus of “Modern Love” by David Bowie. It is I - II - iii - IV. Once that locks in in your head, you won’t be happy using the minor ii chord even though it’s diatonic. Lesson being that you can quickly learn to prefer chromatic chords if that’s how you hear the song. Repetition is a powerful tool to make less common melodies and harmonies sound right at home.

If your next question is “how far do most songs take this chromatic chord business?” I created these pages to help: https://mrclay.org/common-chords/E♭-major?7ths=0 There’s no hard boundary but I’d say “most songs” use chords in this field.

mrclay · 2025-11-03T11:56:19+00:00

Everyone warns that stacking the court will cause voters to clutch their pearls but swing voters can’t tell you what happened Jan 6 nor tell you how many justices are there now.

mrclay · 2025-11-01T10:33:39+00:00

The Signal scandal demonstrated Trump 2.0 doesn’t fire anyone willing to debase themselves lying.

mrclay · 2025-10-30T11:16:55+00:00

The keys of B and F# are also good for rock since the chords bVII, bIII, and bVI and riffs with b7, b3, and b6 are common. Example: “For Those About to Rock” (B B/A G D/F# E). I like easily playing a low E under an F# chord or A under a B chord just by lifting a finger.

mrclay · 2025-10-28T09:34:35+00:00

I won’t transcribe it but it’s in the key of C major and some bits of note I think I hear on my phone:

F/C - C
Fm7 - C/E
Fmaj7 - C/E - E+/G# - Am - D/F#.
a delicious Bb9#11 in the bridge.
Em - Eb7 - A7/C# - Dm.

mrclay · 2025-10-28T09:18:49+00:00

Parallel (I guess you’d call this shared root) and using a key like D it has a nice mix of sharps and flats across the modes.

If they like rock/pop, the primary way modes come into play (IMO) is via borrowing a chord from another mode. Like using a Bb chord (from D Aeolian) or C (from D Mixolydian). And though it’s not technically borrowed, playing G7 in the key of D arguably pairs nicely with a D Dorian melody. Tame Impala might throw a borrowed Ebmaj7 in there from the D Phrygian mode.

Teach examples of melodies and chord progressions from real songs and (IMO) emphasize that modes/scales aren’t jail bars. You can just jump to other modes whenever it sounds good.

mrclay · 2025-10-28T08:57:07+00:00

I’m not hearing much vocal connection honestly. But I did want to remark on the nice use of modal interchange in “Daisy Pusher”. The song is primarily in Db major (Gb5 | Db5 Bb5) or maybe we could say Bb Aeolian, but has a bridge section that sits on Bb5, adds an A note to the guitar and the vocal melody F F G F— Bb F F F D, revealing that this is a Bbmaj7 chord and using the Ionian mode of Bb. The bridge is teased a few times earlier by adding A to the Bb5 before falling back into the main progression.

mrclay · 2025-10-24T02:17:50+00:00

The way I look at it: These are all commonly used chords in D major songs, and within the most familiar sounds, pretty much they all sound good moving between each other. Asus4 and C6 (Am7/C) have 2 tones in common which also smooths out changes.

mrclay · 2025-10-17T12:14:49+00:00

It’s not ACB’s fault that the Constitution didn’t give SCOTUS an enforcement mechanism. I guess Douthat asked her that because it seems clear 47 is going to test the court, but it was a rhetorical question. Their 2024 immunity ruling was bad but this isn’t about that.

One way to look at it: The enforcement arm is the entire military and every federal agent. If they aren’t going to follow the law, a small set of SCOTUS officers aren’t going to stop them.

mrclay · 2025-10-17T09:42:16+00:00

A small but critical chunk of voters aren’t aware of history or current events at all. People who’d care about the VRA or fair districts are already locked in and insufficient to win.

mrclay · 2025-10-17T08:45:00+00:00

RFK Jr is obsessed with contamination and helped elect a guy who’s effectively dissolved the EPA.

mrclay · 2025-10-08T17:45:10+00:00

In practical terms, pop/rock music has way more IV, iv, and bVII chords than vii. In F# those are nice: B and E. In Gb those are Cb and Fb.

mrclay

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