Which
Chords Should I Play
With This Tune?
Have you ever wondered
that? You have a melody that you know, or you have a lead
sheet in front of you with just the melody. How do you know
what chords to use in the left hand?
We have an entire
course on the subject that makes it crystal-clear, but let me
just give you a little hint here on how it works:
1. Find out what key the
song is in. Until you know the key, you're just guessing which
chords to use. But once you know the key....
2. Locate the primary chords
in that key. In other words, what is the I chord? What is the
IV chord? What is the V chord? Those are the primary chords in
any key. So if you're in the key of Eb, the primary chords are
I=Eb, IV=Ab, and V=Bb. If you are in the key of A, the primary
chords are I=A, IV=D, and V=E. If you are in the key of G,
then the primary chords are I=G, IV=C, and V=D.
3. Look at the tune of the
song. Does it start on one of the notes in the I chord? If so,
chances are 90% or so that the chord you should use with that
melody note is the I chord. Then take a look at the other
notes in each measure and ask yourself "Does this melody note
belong to one of the primary chords?" If so, play either the
I, IV, or V chord depending upon which melody note matches the
notes in those chords. After all, every note in the diatonic
scale is found in one of those 3 chords, so no matter which
note of the scale is being used in the melody, one of those 3
primary chords will match up to it!
4. Look at the tune again.
Do you see any accidentals? If so, that means you will have to
use one of the secondary chords in any key -- either the II
chord, or the IV chord, or the III chord, or the VII chord.
This should give you a
little glimpse of how you can match any melody note to the
correct chord. Of course, this is a very simple example, but
the principle is the same no matter how advanced the song.
(You can also use chord substitutions based on this idea -- it
gets very creative and exciting! For a complete treatment of
this subject, be sure to take advantage of our course:
"How To Match The Melody Notes Of Any Song To A Chord
In Your Left Hand"
If you've ever wondered how you can know which chords go with
which melody notes, this is the course you are looking for!
You'll learn how to go about matching the melody notes (the
tune) of any song to the appropriate chords. It's really a
simple process, once you understand it, but if you don't know
the secret, you can wonder about it for years. Learn it now,
and know it the rest of your life.
 |
