How to determine chords from a melody?

[dwest2419]

Hi guys back with another thread. From my previous thread called:"How to Memorize at Hearing Intervals" I learned a lot about how the intervals their names and how songs created using intervals and determine if a interval is minor second or major second, minor third in a song. Now that I have accomplished that - the thing now is how do I determine where chords come into play. For instance, if you take a Hillsong song "Dwell In Your House" I learned the melody to it but where do chords come in at? And that is what I'm asking how to determine chords from a melody? How to determine a chord in a song even when there is a major second in a melody or is it more to it than just having a major second interval? Its just what I'm asking.

[eddys]

How you find the chords will change as you develop. But at the begining of your artistic growth, consider the the base line in cunjunction with your melody. Generally, the base note will be the root of your chord and the root will be played with the left hand.
Once you have the base line and the melody, there are three different focuses.
 
One would be to find the missing note in relationship to the base note. After reviewing the structure of chords, use as much of the triad (root, third and fifth) as possible in you right hand with of without the melody. You will have to consider weather the third should be major, minor(1/2 step down) or suspended (1/2 step up). To color your music, you can add the 6, the dominant 7th or the major 7. Further emphasis can be reached by  altering the 5th either 1/2 step up or down. All is personal taste. With the left hand, you can use parts of the triad for as a run.

Another would be to follow the melody by playing the harmony (the tenor and the alto part) with your right hand as you hear it.

Then there are just chords / chord progressions without the melody or counter melodies that have their own harmony.
The base note is played alone or in octaves complimenting the chords or in a string of note leading to your next base note. The base note can aslso be played in combination with the 5th, 6th, 7th 9th or 10th in rhythym, sustained or in a walking pattern up or down.

No, this is not a lot. These are just toys and you need time to play with them. Very soon you will out grow these. and want more.
Watch other musicians.

God bless You and Praise God!!!

[gtrdave]

btw: the right hand/left hand thing doesn't apply here because dwest is a guitar player. 

As far as finding the chords from the melody, there are a few ways:
1. interval structure of the melody might lend a hand in helping you find the chord triads.
2. how the melody resolves, assuming it resolves, would be a clue as to the chords and key.
3. ask the songwriter. 

I've had to write chord progressions for songwriters who only had lyrics and melodies and it was a challenge, but not impossible. Just have to know a little bit of solid chord theory and know when and how to bend the rules in order to create a decent song.
Here's one of the tunes I wrote for my friend Ali. She only created most of the lyrics and the melody, and so I helped her finish the words, composed the chords and arranged the song:
Someone Like You - beware, it's country!

In the case of this song, the melody really lent itself to the chords that fit under it. It wasn't rocket science or anything, just musical common sense, so to speak.

[jonesl78]

I grew up in a COGIC church and everyone in service had the "go-ahead" to pop up and sing whatever song they wanted in whatever key they chose. I understood the diatonic scale by ear and usually the melody fell on the 3rd of the chord. For example in the key of C, if the melody was on E, I know that the chord is a C major and would play it. Likewise, if the melody fell on the F, I would play the D in the root because it would be a D minor. This usually worked with slower songs. On faster songs, I could usually recognize the progression somehow. Those were good times because it really gave me a sharp ear.

[Virtuenow]

I asked T-Block this question a long time ago.  I am able to find the melody to any song-- but have difficulty finding chords & bass.  In this message I figured out the melody to "No Limits", by Israel Houghton.  I asked for help in building the chords off the melody on that song (and future songs).  T-Block said I needed to get the bass, and could work from there.  He added the bass to the melody I figured out, and explained in DEPTH how to form a chord from there.  Here's the quote from that message:

Now, once u are able to figure out the bass pretty good, time to move on to chords.  Chords can be tricky cuz there is no set way to figure them out, especially if u trying to play like the CD.

This is where knowing progressions come in handy.  Take the bass notes, turn them into scale degrees, then see if you can fit a progression that you already know in.  As you fill in the chords, put those melody notes at the top.  Here's where we left off:

Quote

    LH bass notes / RH melody notes

    D / E  No
       / E  li-
       / C  mits,

    E / E  no
       / E  bound-
       / C  aries,

    F / C  I
       / E  see     
       / E  in-     
       / C  crease,

    A / C  all
       / E  a-
       / E  round
       / C  me,

    Bb / G  stretch
        / G  forth,

    A / A  break
       / E  forth,

    Bb / E  re-
        / E  lease
        / C  me,

    G / C  en-       
    D / D  large
    G / E  my
    D / F  ter-
    G / E  ri-
    A / D  tor-
    C / C  ry.


The first thing you can do when figuring out chords is try the chords built off each scale degree.  So, let's try that:

LH bass notes / RH melody notes

D / D-F-A  No limits,

E / E-G-B  no boundaries,

F / F-A-C I see increase,

A / A-C-E  all around me,

Bb / Bb-D-F  stretch forth,

A / A-C-E  break forth,

Bb / Bb-D-F  release me,

G / G-B-D  en-       
D / D-F-A  large
G / G-B-D  my
D / D-F-A  ter-
G / G-B-D  ri-
A / A-C-E  tor-
C / C-E-G  ry,


Now, those chords don't really fit the song, so now we gonna find some different chords that fit better.  Another technique for finding chords is to mix & match the different scale degree chords with different bass notes.  The melody notes will help us here a lot.  I'm gonna go through one note at a time:


D / E  No
   / E  li-
   / C  mits,

Notice that you got melody notes E and C.  So, what scale degree chords in the key of C contain those notes?  C-E-G,  E-G-B,  F-A-C,  A-C-E

Let's try some of those chords and see which one fits, keep the melody at the top:

D / G-C-E    D / G-C-E    D / G-C-E
   / G-C-E      / G-C-E       / G-C-E
   / E-G-C      / F-A-C       / E-A-C

D / G-B-E    D / G-B-E    D / G-B-E
   / G-B-E      / G-B-E       / G-B-E
   / E-G-C      / F-A-C       / E-A-C

D / A-C-E    D / A-C-E    D / A-C-E
   / A-C-E      / A-C-E       / A-C-E
   / E-G-C      / F-A-C       / E-A-C

From going through all those, there is only one chord that sticks out to be a match with the CD:      D / F-A-C

Another thing to notice about this song is there is not a chord played for every word.  In fact, the melody don't really match with the chords at all.  In this song, most of the music is accompaniment, meaning it is separate from what's being sung.  This makes things a little difficult cuz the melody won't really help you here.

We need something else to focus on.  Now, u got to use your ears and figure out the highest note(s) of the chords being played with each bass note.  So, let me show u what i hear:

D / C  No limits,
E / C  no boundaries,
F / C  I see increase,
A / B  all around me,
Bb / C  stretch forth,
A / B  break forth,
Bb / C  release me,
G / G  en-       
D / A  large
G / C  my
D / D  ter-
G / C  ri-
A / A  tor-
C / C  ry,

Now that we got it boiled down to what we need, let's go back and mix & match those scale degree chords again:

D / C

Choices:  C-E-G,  F-A-C,  A-C-E

D / E-G-C       D / F-A-C        D / E-A-C

Like we said ealier, the one in the middle fits, so let's use that one:

D / F-A-C  No limits,

Next bass note we have is:

E / C

Choices:  C-E-G   F-A-C   A-C-E

E / E-G-C     E / F-A-C    E / E-A-C

I like the first chord, so let's plug it in:

D / F-A-C  No limits,
E / E-G-C  no boundaries,

To save time, I'll give you the chords I use for the rest:

D / F-A-C  No limits,
E / E-G-C  no boundaries,
F / F-A-C  I see increase,
A / D-G-B  all around me,
Bb / F-A-C  stretch forth,
A / D-G-B  break forth,
Bb / F-A-C  release me,
G / C-E-G  en-       
D / D-F-A  large
G / E-G-C  my
D / F-A-D  ter-
G / E-G-C  ri-
A / D-F-A  tor-
C / E-G-C  ry,

That's how it's done.  If you got any questions, holla back at me.  Let me know if u wanna go through another song.

Trey

[dwest2419]

I grew up in a COGIC church and everyone in service had the "go-ahead" to pop up and sing whatever song they wanted in whatever key they chose. I understood the diatonic scale by ear and usually the melody fell on the 3rd of the chord. For example in the key of C, if the melody was on E, I know that the chord is a C major and would play it. Likewise, if the melody fell on the F, I would play the D in the root because it would be a D minor. This usually worked with slower songs. On faster songs, I could usually recognize the progression somehow. Those were good times because it really gave me a sharp ear.

I will be applying this method to songs aswell!

[Virtuenow]

btw: the right hand/left hand thing doesn't apply here because dwest is a guitar player. 

As far as finding the chords from the melody, there are a few ways:
1. interval structure of the melody might lend a hand in helping you find the chord triads.

@gtrdave could you explain what you mean by using interval structure of the melody to find the chords?  How exactly do you use the intervals to learn the song?

[gtrdave]

@gtrdave could you explain what you mean by using interval structure of the melody to find the chords?  How exactly do you use the intervals to learn the song?

Every scale is made up of a series of intervals.
A melody is usually just a series of notes taken from a particular scale or scales.
Map out the notes, determine the scale, create the chord triads and *poof*, you've created chords from a melody.