SaskMusic

This installment will attempt to delve a little further into the development of chord and melody. As a pianist myself, I hope these ideas will be fairly transportable. When I’m referring to chord over bass note, or "slash chord" (as in G/E), it indicates a G major chord over an E bass note. On piano I generally use a 1-5 (E & B) on the lower end without clashing.

If you read Part 8, you’ll remember references to using the third or sixth of the chord scale as the bass note. Here are some examples using thirds:
(Of course, the third will use the key signature of the scale)

C/E
D/F#
E/G#
F/A
G/B
A/C#
B/D#

Thirds generally work best with "straight" chords (not 7th or sustained) and also work with minor chords.

Using the 6th under the chord creates a lovely sus (sustained) tone which – to my ear – has a more open sound than simply playing a normal sus chord. You could also look at this as a m7 chord formed from the bass note.

With 6ths you have:

C/A or Am7
D/B or Bm7
E/C# or C#m7
F/D or Dm7
G/E or Em7
A/F# or F#m7
B/G# or G#m7

To delve further into sus sounds, the next logical step is to partner up the I-IV-V primary triads and use them as "passing chords". For D major, we would have D, G and A. You might have something like:

                 D A/D D A/D

or

                 G/D D G/D D

This kind of vascillation between sus and "straight" chords creates a nice feeling of tension/release.

You can go on with the primary triad movements, now using your 6th in the bass...

    D/B A/B D/B A/B

You’ll notice the new kind of sus tone created when you pair the A major with a B bass. The sus2, or what I call "clashing" chords, are great for building suspense. Of course, you don’t want to employ these types of layered chords ALL the time, because their effectiveness is emphasized when they are balanced with straight, everyday chords.

I will often start with straight chords, and then begin to "colour" in with layered chords...which in turn will often suggest subtle (or not so subtle) changes to the vocal line. For instance, I started with this progression...

4/4   Bm      |G     |A       |Bm 
        Bm      |G      |A      |G
        D   A   |G     |D A   |G

...and ended up with this...

4/4 Bm      |D/G   |A/C#      |D/B A/B 
     Bm      |D/G    |A           |G/E
     D   A    |G/E   |D A/F#   |G

Layering also works well in walkups/walkdowns where you want progressive changes to unfold, but not sound contrived.

                  C Dm Em F

can become

                  C F/D G/E F

You can also use this technique to change your primary-chord progression into something different.

The chunky

C G Am G F C Dm G

becomes a gentle walkdown...

C G/B Am G F C/E F/D G

As simple as these changes seem, they can open your ears to entire new melody lines.

Remember the rules? Okay, we’re going to throw them out now. We’ve touched on "variety" before, but now comes the good part. You don’t have to use the same chord pattern in every verse! Usually a melody will fit over many different chord progressions, and by making subtle changes with each new verse you can impose a sense of forward movement and mood specific to the verse.

Here’s one of mine to illustrate (I’ve underlined the differences):

Verse 1:

2/4 Fsus Dm 3/4 C/A
2/4 Fsus Em 3/4 G/A
2/4 Fsus Dm 3/4 C/A
2/4 F G/E 3/4 D

Verse 2:

2/4 F Dm 3/4 C
2/4 F C 3/4 G
2/4 F G 3/4 Am
2/4 F G/E 3/4 Am

In this example the chords of verse 2 are actually more simplistic. Usually the reverse happens, with more complex sounds coming in as the song progresses.

Changing things slightly from verse to verse is not a new idea. Often it’s done vocally with the addition of harmonies or other accents, but you can start to think of your chord arrangement as having some fluidity too. Even classical composers (lots of rules) knew the value of variation, and would employ it in many different ways throughout their compositions.

Let’s look at a piece of music that everyone knows, and take it through a few variations.

Standard version:

C                                   G              C
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb

C                                    G                                C
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.

Version 2:

C                F               G                Am
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb

C                F                    G                              C
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.

Version 3:

C      Dm    Em  F       G              G/B
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb

C      G/B    Am  G      F                    G          C
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.

Version 4 (swing it!):

C     Am     Em           F     G       Am     G/B
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb

C               Am  E            Dm           G           C
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.

Version 5:

Am    F/D   Am  Am/G  F    G    Am   G/B
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb

Am    F    Dm   E/G#        F                  Dm   E Am
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.

Version 6:

C/A   G/B   C  C/E      Dm   Bb   Am G
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb

F      G     Am   F/Bb         F            G/E         C/A
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.

These is just the beginning of ideas that can be found in a few minutes of effort. The simple vocal melody of the song works over all of these new progressions, but the changes also suggest many new directions for the melody.

If you can do such a variety of changes to a simple 4-note melody, think of the possibilities for one of YOUR songs.

By Lorena Kelly with thanks to Ken Burton for SaskMusic. Originally published August 2000.

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