Playing Harmony

[PhilGE]

Suggestions on learning how to play harmony for someone used to playing melody or rhythm? I'm preparing to play Norman and Nancy Blake's duet Mandolin Fanfare with a friend. Harmony simply seems difficult for me to hear/play - I default to hearing/playing lead/melody.

Thanks in advance.
-Phil

[Mike Buesseler]

Phil, have you looked for tab for the harmony part of Mandolin Fanfare? It was included on Norman's Homespun Video, and I'm pretty sure a close version was on Mandozine. Norman and Nancy's version is wonderful, of course.

For harmony, in general, try to find Nile's Hokkanen's "Twin Mandolin" book. Cleared up a lot of stuff for me!

[AlanN]

Several references out there for harmony books - Steve Kaufman has one, Ray Legere tabs out his wonderful solos to his Common Denomnator, several harmony lines in there, Twin Mandolin Workshop is another.

[Jon Hall]

Playing a harmony on the mando was much easier after learning to sing a harmony. I can recommend the "Learn to Sing Harmony" from Homespun. It worked for me and I was in my late 50's when I worked through it. Old dogs can learn new tricks.

[allenhopkins]

A shorthand approach to harmony is "playing another note in the chord, other than the melody note." I do a lot of harmony improvisation, with varying degrees of success, and that's my general approach -- playing a line that approximates the movement of the melody line (going up a step when the melody does, etc.), but uses the other note(s) in the chord. Doesn't always work, but it's a start. You can place your harmony line either above or below the melody; if you play a lower-pitched instrument such as mandola or octave mandolin, the lower harmonies, obviously, work out better.

[Geoff B]

You get a different sound with harmonies depending on what note you use to harmonize. The most consistently *good* sounding to MY ear is when you harmonize in 3rds. My hack method is to take the melody note and play the 3rd of that note (in the same scale, so it may be a minor 3rd) and follow the pattern thusly. You can play around with 4ths, 5ths (easy because you play the same thing on the next string up) 6ths or whatever, but I'm most usually happy harmonizing in 3rds.

A small example: if the key is "C", and the melody note is a "C", then a good harmony note would be an "E" (above or below, depending on how you like it). Have fun! i'm sure the theory goes deep, but that is my practical understanding of it.

[hokelore]

I have to sit down with pencil and staff paper, and write out the harmonies. It's the only thing that works for me. Only takes a few minutes, but I need to write them down first.

Tim

[AlanN]

The (3rd above) line is probably the easiest to deal with, and it does sound very pleasant. It's likely the most-used harmony scheme in bg-related picking. Grisman followed this pattern in his wonderful Janice off Hot Dawg.

Tunes like Salt Creek, 8th of January, Whiskey Before Breakfast all can benefit from this approach. On a tune like Jerusalem Ridge, the opening line is:

2-4-5-7-2 (D string)
harmony: 5-7-2-4-5 (last 3 on D string)

Sounds delicious

[bobby bill]

I think Mr. Hopkins sums it up best. When folks talks about playing a third above, they are often using Mr. Hopkins' approach - they just may not be aware of it.

Straight thirds do not always work, but the problem is solved if you think about the underlying chord.

Examples: (1) Melody note is C over a C chord. Harmonize with the next (higher) available chord note which happens to be a third up - E.

(2) Melody note is an E over a C chord. Harmonize with the next (higher) available chord note which happens to be third up -G.

(3) Melody note is a G over a C chord. (Here is where your thirds get you in trouble.) Harmonize with the next (higher) available chord note which happens to be a FOURTH up - C.

This is pretty basic stuff but it was a real revelation for me when I figured out that a harmony line was based on the chord rather than a certain interval.

[mandocrucian]

You'll probably find plenty of useful info in Twin Mandolin Method. "How To" formulate various harmoniy parts above and below, countermelodies, etc



Niles H

BTW: See Cafe classifieds for holiday specials on Mandocrucian's Digest back issue packets, chord books, etc.

[Phillip Tigue]

I've always been told you lose something with parallel harmony (straight thirds) and that it is better musically to give the harmony more movement.

[allenhopkins]

Bobby Bill's post above is very helpful. You can't play "straight thirds" when the harmony note isn't a third above the melody note (e.g. the melody note is G, your "higher harmony" note is C, a fourth above).

I do also find a good point in Phillip T's post: eventually you'll want to get away from just paralleling the melody line, one interval above (or below). You want to sometime hit a unison note, other times a "passing" note that may sound dissonant, but leads to a harmonious resolution. My suggestion of just following the melody line was a step to beginning to improvise harmony; after awhile, get more adventurous, add a harmony that diverges and then comes back, even try a "drone" harmony that stays on a single pitch while the melody goes higher and lower. Lots of things to try, once you get comfortable with identifying a good-sounding harmony.

[John McGann]

The singing idea is very helpful. You can try to hear two distinct voices and follow those lines, whether it's "Midnight on the Stormy Deep" or any two part Beatles song ("Love Me Do" is a good place to start), you'll be getting some good templates. Simon and Garfunkle have some very creative harmonies that break away from straight 3rds and 6ths and go into counterpoint (two independent melody lines, where the harmony doesn't mimic the shape of the melody).

The ear combined with theory and resources like Niles' book should get you there.

[ApK]

Simon and Garfunkle have some very creative harmonies that break away from straight 3rds and 6ths and go into counterpoint (two independent melody lines, where the harmony doesn't mimic the shape of the melody).

Is a counter melody a kind of harmony? I'm thinking of S&G's Scarborough Fair particularly. I mean, the counter melody is very 'harmonious' as in consonant, but I always assumed 'harmony' implied something particular about the melody. Is a counter melody a particularly clever harmony, or is it a distinct thing?

ApK

[bobby bill]

Harmony is something that happens whenever you have two or more voices not in unison. So, yes, a counter melody is harmony. The term should not be confused with "harmonious" or "consonant" since harmony may be dissonant as well. The term "counter melody" implies a voice of somewhat equal interest and more independent than, say, the lockstep thirds discussed above. You may find more contrary motion and different rhythmic patters. And some may even be particularly clever (see J.S. Bach). There is no precise definition of "counter melody" of course, but one test is to sing it by itself and see how well its stands alone.

[Mike Bunting]

The ear combined with theory and resources like Niles' book should get you there

Good advice, Nile's book was really useful to me some 20 years ago and you have to trust your ears, probably your most important tool in music.

[Coffeecup]

Mention of Simon and Garfunkle reminded me of something a guitar teacher touched on regarding one of their works. It had a second staff on the bass clef (piano score?) which he got me to transpose to the treble clef and play on guitar.