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Adding Chords to a Melody
a. It's important to think about strong beats and weak beats with regard to your new melody. Sing your melody and try to get a sense of where the pulses happen. As you sing, you'll notice your toe automatically tapping... that's a good sign! For many melodies, you'll find that the first beat will feel like a strong pulse and the next one will be a bit weaker. It's on the strong beat that the chords will change. Let's take the melody, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" as a good example. Each syllable of each word alternates between strong and weak. You'll find that it feels most satisfying if the chords change on the strong beats, or even every second strong beat, or every fourth one. It's less pleasing to change chords on the weak beats, though it can happen occasionally.
b. So... what chords do we use? The first chord should emphasize the key you're in, so if your melody is in C-major, then the C-major chord will probably work well. You'll find that in any major key, three chords will work quite nicely: chords based on the first note, the fourth note, and the fifth note. In C-major, the three chords that will be most useful to you are: C, F and G. So take the first strong beat note(s) and weak beat
note(s). Those notes will likely belong to one of the three chords I mentioned. That will guide your choice. So the chords to Twinkle Twinkle would be: C C F C F C G C (where each chord happens on each strong beat.
c. I've just used three chords as an example, but now the fun begins... try substituting some chords for other ones. As an example, the C chord works well in C major, because it reinforces the key. But try substituting one of the C chords with an A minor chord. A minor has a C in it, so it will work, and will give your music an interesting flavour.
Keep in mind that simplicity is better than complexity, especially in the world of songwriting, when you want people to remember your melodies. So don't try to use too many chords. Four or five different ones are usually sufficient.
Good luck! (The information in this article comes from Gary Ewer's downloadable e-book, "The Essential Secrets of Songwriting" http://www.secretsofsongwriting.com)
About the author:
Gary Ewer is a Canadian composer, arranger, clinician and teacher. As a composer Mr. Ewer has written for CBC radio and various performing groups. Presently Mr. Ewer is a full-time instructor at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is the author of Gary Ewer's Easy Music Theory, a CD-ROM course in music rudiments. He has also authored "The Essential Secrets of Songwriting," (http://www.secretsofsongwriting.com) a downloadable e
