Chord Melody

[Brent Hutto]

So let's say I play a simple tune and instead of just the notes making up the tune, I play a triad per note where the melody note is the highest note in the triad. Twinkle, Twinkle or whatever it is. Does that, by definition, comprise a "chord melody" arrangement?

And whatever it's called, would it be normal for the same melody note at various points in the tune to be accompanied by different triads depending on where in the tune it falls?

And finally, if one of the melody notes falls on the D strings so you just have the melody note with one additional chord tone under it (on the G strings), that's not a problem is it?

[frshwtrbob]

1 yes

2 yes

3 no

[Tom Wright]

What Bob said. For "Twinkle" it would be convenient in A, so you would have 6-2-0-x, x-7-4-0, x-7-5-2, x-7-4-0, stretch for 11-9-5-x, 9-7-4-x, 7-6-2-x, 6-2-0-x.

["Umm, fish?"]

That's what I've been playing around with, using different inversions of the chords in order to get the melody note (or something near it) to the highest strings. Fun stuff, especially if you mix between playing chord melody and straight melody.

[Brent Hutto]

I started out noodling around with some dominant chord voicings (suggested in another thread) earlier today and then realized I the thing I was noodling sounded like the middle part of "Silent Night" in the key of D. So I kept noodling and came up with this arrangement. I've written down the fret numbers for a version all on the bottom three strings although I'm experimenting with going up to the E courses in a couple of places. But this seems to work fine down in a quiet, lower register moving up the neck as needed.

200 002 200 24x
200 002 200 24x

657 657 224
245 245 200

002 002 005 024 0-0-2
240 002 240 24x

002 002 005 024 0-0-2
240 002 240 24x

657 657 65(10) 657 224 245 779

245 240 24x 200 45x 02x 205

This is the fret numbers for the GDA strings in that order, the E strings are omitted since it would be "x" every time.

[Brent Hutto]

More usefully, here's my Silent Night arrangement with notation and tablature in a PDF file. I would attach a sound file but I can't play the darned thing (yet)!

[f#54]

Thank you Mr. Hutto for posting that. It sounds nice, real nice!

[Brent Hutto]

Thank you Mr. Hutto for posting that. It sounds nice, real nice!

I'm to the point where it sounds good enough that my wife just came in the music room to sit and listen to me practice it. Still some work to do for more critical ears (mine!) but it's getting there. I never came up with stuff like that on guitar, something magical about the mandolin for me.

Are you in "Central, SC" or in the central part of South Carolina? I'm in Columbia, BTW.

[Andrew DeMarco]

Brent,

That's a really beautiful arrangement. Wow.

[Jon Hall]

Brent, thanks for sharing.

[f#54]

Are you in "Central, SC" or in the central part of South Carolina? I'm in Columbia, BTW.[/QUOTE]

Central S.C.---I am guessing Central SC is California? Scandinavia? I am in Camden.
I have never used that 657 pattern before, I really like it, sounds good.

["Umm, fish?"]

Very nice work. Something seems a little weird to my ear in measure 9, but it's probably just my old cranky ear.

"Take the A Train" sounds good done like this, as does "My Favorite Things."

Edit: I just played through it again. I think it was my ear, or I just read it wrong the first time. Sounds great.

[Brent Hutto]

[QUOTE=f#54;865089]Central S.C.---I am guessing Central SC is California? Scandinavia? I am in Camden.QUOTE]

No, there truly is a small town called "Central" in upstate South Carolina. Somewhere vaguely in the vicinity of Spartanburg if I recall correctly.

[Brent Hutto]

Very nice work. Something seems a little weird to my ear in measure 9, but it's probably just my old cranky ear.

"Take the A Train" sounds good done like this, as does "My Favorite Things."

Edit: I just played through it again. I think it was my ear, or I just read it wrong the first time. Sounds great.

Thanks, buddy.

That measure does violate what I think is supposed to be a "rule" of mandolin chords. Two of the three notes on that third chord are G's an octave apart. I read somewhere that you can't afford to waste notes doubling up on chord tones on a mandolin. I supposed it could use an E in the bass (like 9 5 10) there but I like the way the melody moves up and back down while the bottom notes stay the same throughout.

["Umm, fish?"]

The rule is that it sound good, man. That's the end-all and be-all. So long as you are happy with it.

[Tom Wright]

Nice work. But dropping a chord here or there, on a weak beat, lets it flow.

I like a steady bass, kind of a pedal-tone effect. Here's another version:

[frshwtrbob]

I hope as many people will learn from the sharing of these two arrangements as well as the arrangements themselves. I guess the Christmas season is really upon us. Way to go fellas. Don't you wish you wrote that one....."Slee eep in heavenly peace"....

[JeffD]

Good stuff.

It is my preference, for playing and listening, to go back and forth between chord melody or note by note multi string harmony, and single note melody. I like to use the chords and harmonies to increase the drama or highlight the end of a phrase, letting them contrast with some single notes between.

I often do the tune the first time single note melody and a second time with a chord melody. Or perhaps A part single note and B part chord melody.

Lots of options to play with. Knowing the entire piece as a chord melody is very valuable, so that at any point if you want to you can pull it out.

Here is a favorite of mine I have posted before. Marty Stuart on Away in a Manger. Check out the playing at 1:23 and at 2:33. Single note melody sweatened with some well placed multi-string harmonies.

[Rob Gerety]

Great thread. I have a feeling there may be no better way for me (and others) to propel my playing forward than to work on exactly this sort of thing - on mandolin and guitar both.

[Brent Hutto]

Tom Wright,

I would have liked to have more of that pedal tone effect in my arranngement and in future I'll make that a goal. But the best part of your version is the open, ringing sound it has with the wide chord voicings. My fingers don't like it but my ears love it!

Rob, Jeff, Tom, everyone,

Thanks for joining in the discussion. I do prefer more of a mixture of chord-melody and sparser phrasings. Right now in my lessons and practice I'm just buckling down to training my hands to get in and out of chord shapes. More importantly, I'm trying to develop a feel for where I can find useful chords as I'm playing melodies. So I'm taking this as a learning experience and all your comments are very helpful.

[Bertram Henze]

I'm to the point where it sounds good enough that my wife just came in the music room to sit and listen to me practice it.

Isn't that the ultimate blessing!

...something magical about the mandolin for me.

That "magical", OTOH, is quite simple: they call it consequent 5ths tuning.

The options are pretty unlimited. I do similar things on the OM, and some of it can be transferred to the mandolin (though not so much room for fingers there, but I guess you can compensate with longer stretches, measured in frets).

[frshwtrbob]

Brent, What do ya think of this for the last 4 bars?

657x xx7x x203 xxx0 224x

245x x002

245x xx0x 24xx 620x 45xx 02xx

20xx x4xx xx0x xx5x xxx2 xxx5 70010

or instead of just the last 70010 :

709x xx9x xx9x 709x xx9x xx9x 709x xx12x xx5x xx7x 70910

for a little chuckle at the end?

Merry Christmas to you and yours,
Bob G

[Brent Hutto]

Bob G,

Your alternate ending reminds me a little of the ending of Joni Mitchell's great song "River".

But the thing I like best about your version is in the third bar when you work in that C# in the bass. That's a perfect point for a little something we haven't already heard.

How would you feel about the measure that goes

20xx x4xx xx0x xx5x xxx2 xxx5 70010

changing to 20xx x4xx xx0x xx5x xxx2 70010, getting to the final chord one beat sooner? It just seems to take one step too long to get to the end, at least at the slow tempo I play it. And skipping the fifth (A) to go straight from the third (F#) to the D is a tiny, little mini-surprise. Assuming you don't go for the full surprise ending...

[frshwtrbob]

Naaa....I've always been a sucker for those scmulzy, drawn out, ritardondo endings.
YMMV,
Bob
p.s. There i was thinking i'm so creative and joni mitchell had me beat 20+ years ago...haaaaa. I still like that ending the best, though.

[frshwtrbob]

Brent,

And what about this as an alternative to the 5th & 7th bar?
It may make it a little sweeter w/ the descending 3rds & single note:

002x xx2x 095x x74x 052x

Bob

p.s....but like i said b4, YMMV