Chord Tones

[Naoise]

HELP !!

I have been trying to get from 'typewritter' manolin melody picker to a bit more/intermediate level. I have tried some cross picking, which has worked ok.
However I am now trying to 'upgrade' two O'Carolin's slow airs (Bridget Cruise & Blind Mary/Maire Dhall) which as played on a Harp by Maire Ni Chathasaigh - sounds excuisite - but with chords.

So basically I am changing some melody notes to 2 finger chords (where possible) - for instance instead of 'F'' (1st fret on 'E' string) to use a D' chord (2 finger). Are there any guidelines/translations already done out there.
No need to re-invent the wheel.
Thanks for any help.

Refs:
CD: http://www.amazon.com/Carolan-Album-Maire-Chathasaigh-Newman/dp/B000024CWL/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1224859937&sr=1-11

Book (history & tunes)
http://www.amazon.com/Carolan-Times-Music-Irish-Harper/dp/1900428717/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224860045&sr=1-3

by Donal O'Sullivan ISBN: 1900428717

[Jim Broyles]

If I understand your question, you want to add double stops - two note "chords" - to the melodies of tunes, right? The basic guide lines are that you use two of the notes in a chord corresponding to the melody. If you want to play a Dm double stop, use two of D, F and A. If the melody is F, first fret, first string, you can play an A string open, or an A string 5th fret D note with it and it will sound good. For 7ths, you can eliminate all but the 3rd and b7th, so to play a G7, you can do it with just a B and an F, the flavor of the G7 will still be there and will be implied to the ear of the listener even if it is not played by another instrument.

[Jim Broyles]

Or do you want a collection of two finger chords? (http://www.mandolincafe.com/two.html)

[Naoise]

Maybe I was not clear enough - I would like to replace a melody note with an equivalent sounding chord tone - so insteof the F note replace this with a D chord.
Double stops ??? (I will have to look that one up)
Thanks for the responses

[Jim Broyles]

Well you should replace a melody note with a chord which contains the melody note. If you play a D under an F note it will clash since the D contains an F#. You would want a D minor if the melody note is F. There is no real mystery to accompaniment - you play chords which have in them the melody note, underneath melodies. It can be as simple as a note from the triad of the chord, or as advanced as playing a colorful chord wherein the color tone such as a flat 5th, or a dominant 7th is the melody note. Sometimes the melody will be a passing tone, so it won't exactly be in the accompanying chord, such as a D note over a C chord, when the D resolves down to C or up to E. Knowing when this is happening will come to a player after more experience and it often depends on what is happening around it in the song. If you want it to sound harp-like, playing chords in which the highest notes are the melody notes would probably give the essence of a harp arpeggio ending on the melody note.

[Bertram Henze]

A simple start approach would be to strike adjacent open strings along with the current melody strings. For example, if melody is running on the D strings, feasible options are (GDAE):

x00x
x20x
x30x
x40x
05xx
03xx
02xx
00xx

If you have the open adjacent string below anyway, you might also do triple ones, like

003x

If you also stop the adjacent string, there are more options, like

x22x
23xx
24xx
42xx

etc. You have to experiment what sounds good and what is easy to do.

Bertram

[Naoise]

muchos, muchos.

[Naoise]

I am looking for feedback (constructive suggestions) on the following 2 items:-
A:: A Laymans Guide to Chord Tones
(Caveat Lector - I am NOT a trained musician) &

B:: The following reference - 'Music Theory and Arranging Techniques for Folk Harps' by Sylvia Woods ISBN: 093666102X
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Arranging-Techniques-Harps/dp/093666102X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231348214&sr=1-2
(please respond only if you have actually reviewed it)


A:: THE NOVICE'S GUIDE TO LEARNING CHORD
----------------------------------------------
Structure Option-Scales:-
1. As in the Scale 'A' to 'G' on the 'A' & 'E' strings match the melody notes to simple 2 finger/minimum chords series ('A' chord to 'G')
see - www.mandolinCafe.com/two.html
Thus you will have a familiar simple chord scale 'A' to 'G' as a minimum

2. Chord Variation:-
Get a sheet for each Chord letter (7 sheets)
In tab notation mark up the chord variations (starting from your simplest, 2finger, and variations A7, A Major, A minor, sharps etc)
Add to this sheet as you learn more chord variations from new tunes (be a magpie for the chords)
For some chords will have quite a few ('G') while for others ('F') you will have only a few.

3. Practice
Practice the scale sequence with your simplest chords
Practice the variations of each chord
(focus on the most frequent, remembering note the 15% that are used 85% of the time )
Practice switching to the sequences that occur in your style of music
eg: GCD, CFG, DGA, ADE, EAB, BEF#


B:: 'Music Theory and Arranging Techniques for Folk Harps' by Sylvia Woods ISBN: 093666102X
---------------------------------------------------------
Is there anything like this reference for the mandolin (most are repeating what others say),
Is there any author out there interesting in 'customising' this with Sylvia's permission, for the mandolin ?


Many thanks for any constructive feedback received.