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Categories > Harmony & Theory > reharmonizing melody
 
 


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Keith

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Posts: 105
Posted Reply with quote  #1 
Howdy folks,

I was listening to Mark's lesson tape with Ted.
Ted was taking Mark through a process of reharmonizing a melody. First Ted would put a given note in the melody in the soprano and try chords selected from all 7 degrees of the key to harmonize it. Then Ted went through the remaining non diatonic degrees and tried chords built from  them under the melody note.  Ted had already been through this process countless times and knew in advance how a given chord would sound.

Does anyone know what this technique is called, and are there any books that describe it in detail?

My best to you.
Keith
LeonWhite

Moderator
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Posts: 438
Posted Reply with quote  #2 
There are some things on the web, not from Ted, about this.  The essence is this:
There are twelve notes in an octave, so there are 12 roots for potential chords.
Try the diatonic ones first,
Then try the other 5 roots.
With experience this might work.  Something ala "add tomatoes and then try something from each shelf in your closet."  BUT, things like that often do seem to help folks.  My tip in this approach would be (ignoring the case where the melody is the maj 7th note) - try the pesky dominants from those 5 notes first. 
That being said, I'm not a fan of non musical devices in general, so i did not learn that way.

Leon
AllanW

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Posts: 36
Posted Reply with quote  #3 
For non-functional reharmonization, there's a wonderful book by Mike Longo--Systematic Harmonic Substitution. It goes into chromatic substitutions, cycles of 5ths, cycles of 2nds, cycles of 3rds,  mixed cycles, etc. It's not hard to understand ,but it's not for beginners, and there won't be anything there about the usual functional harmony approaches. You'll need to read a little bit of bass clef. It's beautifully and simply organized, and gives you a way to experiment with trial and error with a lot fewer errors! It's available at Jazzbeat.com
Allan
Keith

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Posts: 105
Posted Reply with quote  #4 
Thank you, Allen and Leon,
I appreciate your input. Please know that  I am extremely grateful for this site.
Although my visits with Ted were few, they spanned roughly 20 years. I have always felt that I had Ted looking over my shoulder.

I have always been an acoustic player. This year I finally broke down and got me a Tele and a sweet Deluxe Reverb.
The fat tone and sustain and better access to the fingerboard have really opened up another world of sounds.  That and all this fabulous information, it's huge.

Again, thanks you both for taking the time to respond.

My best to you,
Keith
AllanW

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Posts: 36
Posted Reply with quote  #5 
Glad it's of help, Keith.
I should mention, for you or anyone interested in the book I recommended--Mike Longo's Systematic Harmonic Substitution--this book will be most useful for people who have a good knowledge of voice leading and a good chord vocabulary. If you've spent a lot of time with Modern Chord Progressions  you're well on your way, and you'll be amazed at what this approach will open up for you.
Allan
Keith

Registered:
Posts: 105
Posted Reply with quote  #6 
Thanks Allen,
My copy of MCP is old and well worn.
I ordered two books fron Mr. Longo's site.
ATB
Keith
AllanW

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Posts: 36
Posted Reply with quote  #7 
Hey BLC,
Glad to hear about your experiences with Mike Longo's books; while not written specifically for guitar players, if you've done your Ted homework, they can really move you along in a very systematic way.
I had the great good fortune to study with Mike, who is both a world-class musician and world-class teacher. As Ted taught us much more than music, Mike did also. I thought of my work with him as "lessons in joy" as much as "music lessons."
Allan
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