Which Chords with Which Notes? Harmonizing a Melody I wish more songwriters would do the melody-first method.

Coming up with the mel ody after endless strumming of chords can often result in a tune that is directi onless and uninspiring. What probably scares writers off of writing a melody fir st is how do you harmonize it? ___________ Download The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 6-eBook Bundle, and discover 11 prin ciples vital to your songwriting success! ______________ Getting a bit of understanding with regard to chord theory is always a great ide a. If you cant read music, you might feel tempted to resort to a kind of random p rocess of applying chords to melody. But good songwriting is not usually a rando m process. And while through the random process you may eventually come up with chords that sort of work, its better to understand why certain chords harmonize c ertain notes, and how chords should ideally progress. Here are some tips for adding chords to your melody: 1. Every song needs a basic harmonic rhythm. Its the frequency of the chord chang es. For many songs, chords will change every four to eight beats. Determine what it will be for your own song. This usually means identifying the time signature for your song. If your song exhibits a continuous STRONG-weak-STRONG-weak patte rn, youre probably in 4/4 time. 2. Identify the key of your melody. Often the first and (especially) last notes of your melody will be the key note (tonic) of your song. Once you know the key, youll be able to identify the three chords that youll uyse the most: I, IV and V of that key (for example, in A major, youll find that A, D and E will be the chor ds that work best. 3. Chords will usually change on strong beats. This means that beats one and thr ee of every bar of your song will be good spots for you to change chords. 4. Identify the melody note on the strong beat. Usually the note or two after it will also offer a good clue as to what the chord should be. Lets say your melody has the notes A and C# at the beginning. These are two notes from the A chord, and its a safe bet to use that chord. But youll also find that the notes A and C# also exist in F#m, so consider that chord as well. 5. In general, your chord progressions will start on the tonic chord, then go to the IV-chord, moving on to the V-chord, then return to the I-chord. There are o ther chords you can use, of course, but that I IV V pattern will be a workhorse that will work well for you. 6. The faster your song, the less frequent your chord changes should be. Changin g chords frequently in a fast song makes the song sound frantic, and so unless y oure looking for that effect, make chord changes less frequent in faster tempos. If you dont know what those Roman numerals mean, or if you want to learn the more complete story behind why some chords work better than other ones in your song, my e-books How to Harmonize a Melody, Essential Chord Progressions, More Essential C hord Progressions and The Essential Secrets of Songwriting- Chord Progression Form ulas will explain it all to you in great detail, and will provide you with pages and pages of chord progressions you can use right now in your songs.