Harmonizing a melody

[John Larson]

One of the big things I've struggled with when it comes to steel is trying to adapt melodies into steel. Single note melodies always seem very thin for lack of a better term and I have no idea how to write a harmony on an existing melody.

One I've been recently trying to work on is the famous saxophone melody to Bob Seger's "Turn the Page"
It goes
F#^G, F#, D, A, B
A, B, F#^G, F#, D, A, A^B, A, G, F#, D, A, B

Chord progression is
Verse
Em, D, A x2 end on Em
Chorus
D, Em, D, Em, D, A, C, D, Em

I've been messing with this on the 10th fret E9 using pedals A,B,C.

[Rick Myrland]

I agree. I constantly hear guys say "just play the melody," yet doing that has proven impossible for me. I've also read "if you can hum it, you can play it." Again, no. I can hum a million melodies in my head and can never translate that to my hands, fingers and feet.

I understand the major scale, harmonized scale, and chord progressions but still can't get the melody in my head to come out the amp. Perhaps they'll address this at the Steel Guitar Camp in August?

[Pete Burak]

Start with something easy... like, One Note Samba?!
Seriously, how about something easy like, Lean On Me in C, on strings 6,7,8.
[tab]
6 8 8B 8B 8 8 8
7 8 8 8 8
8 8 8 8 8
[/tab]

[Tom Jordan]

Reading both of these posts, I get the impression that harmony notes are the mystery; what harmony notes do I play? I can recommend that you imitate a simple piece and play it over and over until you start “hearing” those harmony notes. I can even recommend a simple but beautiful exercise that not only helps but that you can also use after learning.

In Winnie Winston’s Pedal Steel Guitar book there is a harmony tab for Red River Valley. The melody is played at the top of the two-string grip (index finger) and the harmony (thumb) is played at the bottom of the grip. Listen to that until the harmony sticks out in your mind.

Red River Valley is the tune to Willie’s Can I Sleep in Your Barn from the Red Headed Stranger album. We still break it out on occasion. Winnie has a great arrangement that I never get tired of hearing and it really helped me out!

Have fun,

Tom

[Bob Hoffnar]

The E9 tuning is a diatonic machine built to play harmonized melodies ! Once you can see the neck like the white keys on a piano playing and harmonizing basic melodies is the easy fun part. I’ll maybe make a simple vid later to show what I mean.

[John Ely]

John, you might consider buying the Jeff Newman course "Just Play the Melody". It contains a number of well known classic styles and, from what your describing, it may be quite helpful. You may be able to get it from his grand-daughter's JeffFranwebsite, although she's gotten pretty mixed reviews with following through on the orders people place. Or you might put up an ad in "Steel Guitar Lessons" thread saying you'd like to buy this course. Good Luck,
John Ely
Minneapolis MN

[Fred Treece]

One I've been recently trying to work on is the famous saxophone melody to Bob Seger's "Turn the Page"

There is nothing subtle in that sax part. If you are trying to play that melody with the same dramatic gusto, put some gain on the amp, open up the volume pedal, and pick with some authority. Single note melodies on steel can be very effective, especially covering a horn intro like that one. I wouldn’t harmonize it, but that’s just me.

I agree with all the suggestions for learning about harmonizing. One key thing to remember is when to go from 3rds to 4ths. It’s a matter of taste, I suppose.

Oh, and listen to the harmonized leads on the Allman Bros Live At Fillmore East, and any of the early Poco albums.

[James Quillian]

I am studying the right hand technique of the sacred steel folk. They get a lot of body out of their single notes.

Another thing I find helpful is the concept of torque. Torque is different than force. Torque is more like a concentration of a small amount of energy the the point it is the equivalent of a more forceful action.


Putting more torque into the higher strings does produce a more full sound.

[Pete Burak]

You can get alot of mileage out of the AB pedals and the E-to-Eb lever, for two-note melody playing.
The song "Crazy" comes to mind...
The descending passage where it says:
I'm crazy for tryin'
And crazy for cryin'
And I'm crazy for lovin' you
Try working your way down starting from strings 4&5.
(not sitting at my Steel right now but a basic version is something like this, in the Key of C):
[tab]
4 8 8Eb
5 8AB 8 8A 8
6 8B 8 8B 8
7 8 8
8 8Eb 8
[/tab]
You can work strings 9 and 10 in there too if you want to follow Willie's vocal Melody.

[Erv Niehaus]

To add harmony to the melody note you need to know the chord you are trying to harmonize.
And the notes that make up that chord.
And where to find those notes on your guitar by means of the pedals and levers.
All of my tabs are written in the chordal melody fashion
Erv

[Rick Myrland]

I've tried the Jeff Newman course (in fact, I think all of them), and the only thing I learned from Just Play the Melody was how to play the tab he provided, I never picked upon how he arrived at exactly what he did on the neck. That's not a universal opinion on all of his courses, just that one.

Bob's comment about the white keys on a piano would probably make a lot of stuff fall into place, but I don't play piano (maybe I should). Pete's posting is spot-on with what I'm talking about, I just need to figure out how to make that sausage.

Erv's post is deceptively simple, and perhaps obvious, but speaks volumes. The melody is found in the chord, but changes even thought the chord doesn't change. So, do I look for the 3 and 5 notes to follow the melody? Do I look elsewhere on the neck for the 1? A combination of both? I think that's where mi disconnect has been all this time--how do I know where to go NEXT.

[Pete Burak]

It all starts with the "Do Re Me..." Major Scale thing. That is the basis of pretty much all of the Melody and Harmony and Scales and Chords.
You might consider getting a face to face Steel lesson from someone in your area on applying some basic Music Theory to the song(s) you are wanting to play.
It is very fun when it all falls into place.

[Erv Niehaus]

When you are adding harmony to the melody note you need to know the various positions of the particular chord.
This results in a smooth transition from one melody note to another.
For instance, The G chord is located at the 3rd fret open, the 6th fret with A pedal and F knee lever and at the 10 fret with pedals A & B.
If you pick strings 4, 5 and 6 as you move up the neck to the various chord positions, your top melody note goes from G to B to D. These are all notes of the G chord with the harmonizing notes on strings 5 & 6.
See, that wasn't so hard, was it!
Erv

[Scott Denniston]

Though I'm pretty far from being able to work up chord harmony with just any melody on the spot, I have a guitar course by Robert Conti called "Chord Melody Assembly Line" that has allowed me to understand the basic process. Knowing which chord (and type of chord) to place under each melody note involves just some diatonic understanding. It's not at all a random guessing game. There are lots of options and choices the more you learn about it (understanding and using substitutions etc.)but there really is solid structure. Robert starts out showing how to harmonize a simple melody that you know--Oh Suzanna, so you get the process. When you see the chord over the measure you're in that will tell you how to go about properly harmonizing the melody note according to the key the piece is in. There are lots of people here that can elaborate better than I.
Robert Conti's course makes the chord melody concepts simple and understandable and applies to any instrument. It would be great if someone could do a course like that for E9 and C6 so we could see it clearly on steel. I get a lot out of learning from stuff some of you guys have tabbed out. But just playing chord melodies that others have worked out I think is a slow road to learning and understanding the process for yourself. If someone ever does a course like Conti's for steel I'll buy the first copy.

[Fred Treece]

Pete’s “Crazy” example is great because the melody notes are all chord tones of the chords in the progression, and they can all be harmonized with other chord tones.

When you get a melody note that is outside of the chord, like in the very first two phrases of O Susannah, you get to the first crisis stage of harmonizing a melody. That’s where your knowledge of harmonized do-re-mi’s comes in handy, as well as having a sense of taste about how to go about it. One simple option would be to not harmonize those notes at all.

[Erv Niehaus]

When you run into an occasion like Fred mentioned, you can oft times work in a diminished chord with the F knee lever.
Erv

[Russell Adkins]

Harmonizing comes easy once you understand scales a bit , usually you ll harmonize a note in either 3rds or 6ths example is if your melody note is a c then your harmonizing note would be an e . just counting either 3 notes or 6 notes above your melody note is how to find your harmony note .

[Russell Adkins]

Chords in the c scale are c of course then d minor e minor then there is f next would be a g then a minor then there is that diminished chord which would be a b dim and back to c i think i had them right lol of course i did

[Fred Treece]

When you run into an occasion like Fred mentioned, you can oft times work in a diminished chord with the F knee lever.
Erv

I thought we were keeping that one a secret, Erv!
Jeez, pretty soon they’ll start thinking they can just harmonize with any old note...

[Erv Niehaus]

Fred,
You just never know!

Russel,
You harmonize with the 3rd and 5th notes of the scale.
Erv

[Pete Burak]

Here is a possible way to play that "Crazy for Tryin'..." passage at fret-8, with 3 or more note Harmony, adding the F-lever, and ending on a C6 ascending arpeggio up on fret-13 (you could also end it on fret-8 with no pedals or levers):

[tab]
F Em Dm A7 Dm G7 C6
4 8 8Eb
5 8A 8 8A 8 13
6 8B 8 8B 8 8B 8B 13
7 8 8 8 13
8 8F 8 8Eb 13Eb
9
10 8A 8 13
[/tab]

[Fred Treece]

I was only half-kidding, Erv. Harmonizing with any interval is perfectly legal, but the context has to be understood.

3rds, 4ths, 5ths, and 6ths are standard fare for parallel two-note diatonic harmony. But even in Tom Jordan’s example of a simple cowboy tune like Red River Valley in the Winnie Bible, there is a maj7 interval double-stop in the second phrase. It’s weird, it works in that context, and it’s not outside the diatonic realm.

Here is a short discussion on harmonizing in 3rds and 6ths that came up recently.
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... armonizing

[Bob Hoffnar]

Allot depends on practice time. Without putting in the seat time you won't develop the vocabulary. Physical practice internalizes intention and frees up brain space for more complex activity. Thinking about music is good but amounts to nothing without putting in the serious practice time. Believe me, if you put in a couple hours a day working on harmonizing melodies you will get it in a couple months. Then it's like knowing how to ride a bike. Feel free to get in touch if you need direction and are willing to put in the work.

[Fred Treece]

Practical wisdom that needed to be stated, Bob Hoffnar.👍

[Pete Burak]

Bob, Earlier in this thread you mentioned you would post a video on this topic?...
'Would love to hear/see your thoughts.