Harmony & chords

There is a moment in one’s musical progression and betterment when the power of chords is realized. This occurs well after the grasping of chords themselves, as a concept, for as a concept, they are one of the simplest musical ideas written here, or anywhere else, as they are:

Notes stacked atop or below each other.

This, of course, is almost limitlessly broad. Theoretically, under this definition, the biggest chord one can play on a piano would contain 88 notes, and the smallest two. While I stand by this definition, as it allows for all chord types to fit under it, let’s zero in on how chords should be thought of more practically. 

We should start from small and grow from there. The smallest chord that is independently definable contains three notes, of which there are many types. Let’s, for sake of example more than anything, start with a major chord in root position: Root note, four half steps to middle, three half steps to top. Now, from here, we can derive essentially every other chord possible, keeping in mind that we can move each one to a different of the twelve root notes. 

Here’s a decidedly uncomprehensive list of example derivatives we can create from that first major chord.

• Minor: Flat (lower a half step) the middle note
• Augmented: Sharp (raise a half step) the top note
• Major 7th: Add the 7th note of the root note’s corresponding major scale
• Dominant 7th: Add the flatted 7th note of the root note's corresponding major scale
• Dominant 7th Flat 5: Flat the top note, and add the flatted 7th note of the root note’s corresponding major scale
• Major 13: Add the 7th note of the root note’s corresponding major scale, as well as the 2nd note of the same scale, and finally the 4th note of the scale
• …and so on

So, if you were to closely examine the rising number of notes in each of these convoluted chord instructions, you would find the first still has three, and the last has six. A slightly closer examination would also reveal that, of course, however many notes a chord contains, that is also how many inversions or orientations it can be played in. An example…

E major Chord, root position: E, G#, B

    1st inversion: G#, B, E

  2nd inversion: B, G#, E

This is the wide and wonderful word of inversions, which are necessary to alter tonal subtleties in isolated chords, achieve effective voice leading in chord progressions, and most fundamentally, allows for greater ergonomics when changing chords. 

Let us recall our definition of melody from another of our discussions: 

Melody: A phrase made up of intentionally chosen notes played in a particular rhythm, meant to be primarily remembered over other pieces of a composition

Astute music listeners sometimes detect much more in songs and compositions than single notes strung together in melody—there is often more depth to these memorable lines than first meets the ear. Quite often, these are subtle, enhancing notes we call harmony.

Harmony: A complementing, usually simultaneous “counter-melody” played in tandem with the main melody

As with nearly all musical concepts, the rules that define the bounds of harmony are loose and even somewhat arbitrary. But, they are useful, so let’s examine. 

One method for finding excellent harmonies is to pull notes from the same chords your melody is played over.  This means you will need to have a chord progression deduced or created for your melody line, but, rarely do melodies exist in isolation. 

Here’s another concrete example. 

Chord: F major

Melody: A, C, A, C, D, C, A

Harmony: C, F, C, F, A, F, C

So, while not every melody note is in the F major, every harmony note is, to successful effect. 

Another method is to select an interval and play the note at the interval below each melody note, maintaining the interval with each new note. Our new harmony, if we chose a sixth, would then become: 

Harmony: C, E, C, E, F, E, C

Given just these two methods (and there are others), we can see that while close related, harmony is not quite inextricably tied to chords. 

How can you truly make use of such tools? Well, let’s examine two scenarios: One, the song-learning scenario, and two, the song-writing scenario. 

For song-learning, especially by ear, being able to recognize intervals just by ear can assist in learning the harmony of a certain song. Use interval training practice tools on a regular basis, and you will subconsciously begin to recognize them. 

For song-writing, use your training in scales, recognizing intervals, and chord theory to experiment. That’s easily the most important piece of harnessing harmony for songwriting purposes. Some harmonies are more effective than others, and some ears like some harmonies more than others. You must learn what your audience enjoys, as well as what you prefer. This takes time, mistakes, and experimentation.