How to Add Chords to a Melody Video Lecture - Guitar Become a Pro (English)

how do you add chords to a melody I have
them into this video for a long time and
I think this is probably one of the most
important lessons you could ever truly
understand because it ties in so much
about music theory and is the ultimate
example about how music theory is such
an essential tool to be creative in a
guitar playing or songwriting way right
so we need an example to kind of go over
this and since you all know that I'm og
and I live that thug life we're using
somewhere over the rainbow as an example
so we've got the melody it starts off
like this and so far we're just going to
focus on those notes right so the first
thing we have to know is what key were
in we're doing this in the key of C now
songs we played in a lot of different
keys we're just going to take the
melodious run here and the key of C
major and talk about adding the chords
behind this creatively alright so if you
watch them the other videos you know the
major scale in this position C's
position I'm not your middle finger on
the eighth fret
looks like this so actually talk about
the names of the notes compared to scale
degrees today right now all these notes
are going to be taken from this shape
right we're going to jump around with it
we're going to start on the octave C
jump to an octave c b g a b c c a g okay
so it's just going to be the first note
string talked about now we start off
with this octave jump from the C right
we have a C to a see now if we the way
to do this is we have a note and we know
we want to put chords it goes with this
note alright so we actually have a lot
of options and there are traditional
ways to do this and they're more
creative voice choose we're going to
talk about both but we're going to start
just by looking at the main chords that
populate the C major scale and these are
just going to be the Triads as you can
see right so every triad is just a three
note chord that comes from stacking
those notes and a scale on top of each
other where you just take one you skip
one and take another one and then you
have to end up with a 1 a 3 and a 5
right so this first little phrase are
just to see notes right so there are
three chords that have a C note press
in the list of triads so it would make
sense to maybe pick one of those chords
so we can actually try that melody out
over all three of those chords so we're
actually going to start with the F major
chord which is the acid a and see where
the melody is on top right but as you'll
see this is where really knowing your
chord voicings that comes in handy
because we want to play s major chord
somewhere in this spot where our melody
is right so the F major chord that I
would pick is this bar forward routed on
the eighth fret of the a string which is
a F right so I've got 8 10 10 10 and 8
so it kind of ends with a C now we can
play this chord in a way that we get
both of these notes in the melody right
so we can maybe start the first to strum
of this board and selectively strum some
of the strings until we end on this C
chord which is just a power forward into
the whole thing where we get that C on
top so that might not be the most
traditional way to do it but that's just
one option that we have another one a
chord that has a C in it is where C is
the third that would be an a minor chord
so we can start the song on and a minor
now is this voicing right here I've got
that C in a different spot the fifth try
out the g string and there's the octave
right so I can strum this a minor
and then add my pinky over there right
[Music]
but that might also not be what I'm
looking for
so really the obvious solution to this
is to pick where the sea is the root
note which we're just going to make a
bar chord here a C major Barre chord
right so now C is the root note it's the
melody we're putting it on top of the
chord and in the middle of the chord and
[Music]
is also the first chord of the song now
a lot of times most of the time the
first chord that you hearing the song is
the key to the song is in right this
isn't an exception there this is in the
key of C major so it makes sense to
start on a C major chord because the
melody also has a note in the C major
chord which happens to be the root note
they're putting on top right so start
with the C yeah and we've got both of
those notes if you notice kind of
strumming for the first C and then I'm
kind of coming to the second seat on the
way up right now the next part is where
we can start getting a little more
creative right we have this run it goes
B G a B now what we could do is we do
the same thing we did in the first chord
and make every one of those notes a new
chord where it's the root of the chord
right so if we have a B G a B C we could
take all the Triads from it and then
just play it like I'll use kind of like
higher voicing so you can really hear
the melody on top we've got these two a
C 2 a B G a B D ok so again
I've got a B diminished to a G major to
a minor so that B diminished again and
back to the C right so that's a
perfectly fine way to play I personally
kind of feel that that's a little disk
and a little too broken opposite because
I hear this as uh as a phrase a phrase
being a group of notes and a lot of time
when you're taking a chord to go with a
group of notes you want to kind of have
the core to stay in the same spot
there's not a lot of songs you can find
where the chord changes every time the
melody note changes right so how do we
pick a chord that can encapsulate all of
these notes in one right so we have a G
an a a B and a C right so just off the
top of my head I see a G and a B and I'm
actually thinking of an E minor chord in
this position in this area right there's
an E minor Barre chord E minor triad
being an e a G and a B right and that
kind of puts us nicely over this little
spot where we're in and what I can do is
I can grab those notes from this shape
so again I'm getting the B G a B C now I
can get every one of those notes over
this chord and it starts by just going
right through that voicing hitting the
be in that chord B G now the second time
I Strummer I stopped on the B string to
really emphasize the top of that melody
b3 a now I'm swinging my pinky over to
get that a note and really in the
process of making an operation of the
score but I'm still thinking of it being
over an e right so
back to the beer and then now we were
stuck with the sea right now we could do
we could just add that SIA to an E minor
chord you go back to the C major book
there's a lot of stuff that you can do
here but so far we have a see you do a
higher C okay so that's just one kind of
way to use that phrase now again there
are a lot of different ways to do it
this is just one example of it but what
we're going to go next to is the next
part of that melody that's C AG now
we're going to change positions just so
we can kind of use some different boards
here we could easily do the exact same
thing going CAG down here but we're
going to go to this C it's the same note
just in a different spot right see the
first was B string a the fist for the
high E string and Jesus third fret
hearing okay so now I got to do another
C now I can go back and look at my list
of triads and be like okay do I want to
use the C major the F major or the a
minor so again coming from what we just
did
a minor we could do that that kind of
brings it down a little bit like
choosing that chord makes it kind of
fall-like I almost like a like a minor
fault type thing and again these the
chords you choose have a huge drastic
impact on how the song sounds so we can
come from here to an a minor or we can
come go C major so again it sounds fine
I kind of think it sounds a little blend
because we've been kind of on this C for
a while already so if we choose the the
F chord where C is the fifth
to me that sounds right having the four
chord and then ending on top here okay
so I'm going with the four chord I'm
going to choose to put an ass to kind of
sit under that seat right now I want
another chord it's going to give me that
a sound right so again we have more
options that we can use here we can go
look at the list of tribes that have ay
in it we could go a minor alright and
that sounds great to you but I want to
get a little more creative with this I
want to take a chord that isn't
necessarily even in this scale I want to
have something that has an A on top but
I'm going to leave the scale and borrow
chords from somewhere else now I can
just cycle through chord voicings for
something like this I could take like a
major right I has an top that's what you
happy I don't know about that maybe it's
something a little more kind of mixed
what about like a major 7 voicing oh
it's kind of cool right
so this is where just knowing a lot of
chord voicings helps q so what I'm doing
is I'm buying the 3rd fret and my
pinky's grabbing the a on top right so
this is actually a b-flat major 7 chord
voicing with an A on top again b-flat is
not in the key of C at all it's not so
far away so it still sounds kind of cool
okay so there's a little bit of
dissonance there but it's something that
like maybe creatively you could like so
we're gonna stick with this one right
here and then find something for that G
right now since we've kind of gone in a
dissonant way maybe let's go back to
home base to kind of grab that cheese
now what I did there as I went to the
one chord to see is with the G on top
all right those really just regular C
major forward your pinky on the top of
the string so so far we've got the see
this is not an E minor with the phrase
you have B flat major seven and back to
C now there are a lot of different
chords you can choose to do this this is
just kind of like one example of how I'm
using triads and extended chords from
other keys to pick a chords to go over
melody and now let's uh let's go just a
few notes further I think goes alright
so we're going to see ah e GD e ah okay
[Applause]
so are there I did the whole thing over
an escort because we had a C and then at
so again on that list of triads a chord
in the key of C with C and s one that
you could choose is an ass major right
so I could play that whole phrase over
and ask major chord I can end on the C
then I'm borrowing it I'm getting that
feature enough now what I want to do
though I want to make something
different again right so I'm thinking as
F major for the C note but then to me
that phrase kinda gets broken especially
in the context of the song I think that
is a good opportunity for a chord change
and again this is not a right or a wrong
way to do it again this is really just
how you can be creative and maybe
somewhat original in kind of your own
compositions or trying to add chords to
songs that you know right so I've got to
see I want to change something to enough
right now I'm already in
I'd have major chord so I can add that
on top to an F major chord
sounds nice but maybe I want something a
little more jarring here what we could
do another court that has an F in it
that also is not in this key if it is
very different from an F major chord but
also similar is F minor chord right
so going from major to minor on the same
chord has a very drastic impact and this
is a good example of maybe one you can
use a major chord to a minor chord
and then back to home right my
philosophy on kind of going way outside
of the key on oh boy outside of keys
like the right term but uh kind of like
when we added to B flat major seven
owner adding this F minor F minor seven
to it is to kind of go outside and come
back quickly so if we do this let's go
back home
and do the rest of that phrase over the
1 quart see
you
so really I'm just kind of taking chords
that are following the notes in the
melody and the way I see it is knowing
the notes that go into a chord and being
able to populate a skill with chords is
a great way to always give yourself
options and the more you start thinking
about this the more you'll kind of
notice maybe other chords that you can
borrow from different scales and like
maybe what melody goes on top and then
you can kind of just let your ear guide
you uh you know music theory is only
part of the battle using your ear is
really kind of like I was paramount
importance but in my opinion this is
like the number one way that music
theory really comes in handy when you're
looking for a chord to put on top of a
melody because melodies almost always
are written by ear and you know they can
be written with the aid of music theory
for sure but as far as like accompanying
and arranging songs music theory is
really where at that and it's something
that in my own playing I've noticed has
gotten a lot better once I kind of had a
really really good working understanding
of music theory so my advice is to
definitely just start with the triads it
until you get like a handle of like
which chords has like the first the
third and the fifth within that group of
the seven main chords and then once you
get a handle on that go into more
extended chords and then maybe start
adding two melodies like the seventh on
top of a chord of the ninth of the 11th
of the 13th and really I think you'll
find that even though it first it's kind
of daunting or may seem daunting kind of
knowing everything and like thinking
that you have to know like oh my gosh
where do all these notes lie in the
scheme of chord building it's something
that really educationally just builds on
itself and then after a while you won't
even think of like having to like
remember what goes where and stuff like
that so definitely hopefully that was
helpful to have any questions please hit
me up on Twitter Instagram the comment
section or the website and I'll parse
tune thanks a lot