Help With Harmonizing

[ellbo99]

Hoping someone can help with harmonizing a melody I have.

The melody is a simple 5 note sequence which I think is in the key of E.

The notes are E,D#,E,B,A. I’m playing this on the A string. 7-6-7-2-0 is the sequence.

I’m trying to harmonize this in thirds and fifths. The first question I have is, am I right to harmonize below the notes rather than above?

For the thirds below I have the notes C,B,C,G and F. It doesn’t sound great when I put this into practice. I’m assuming I have at least part of that wrong.

Any pointers would be hugely appreciated!

[Andrew]

Are you playing Jurassic Park? 🙂

There’s two ways you can look at this. Intervals can be ascending or descending and they can also be inverted. If your melody line is on the highest string (A), you could consider these notes to be the roots. So if you want to harmonize by fifths for the first note (E – fret 7, string 1), you could play the B note (fret 7, string 2) above it.

But, this could also be viewed as a perfect fourth – if you considered the B note to be the root. And this is along the lines of what you were thinking when you listed notes for thirds.

[ellbo99]

Yes I am Andrew, well worked out without any indication of timing!

So with harmonizing by fifths (the method you mentioned) I would be still counting upwards to get to the fifth but playing a lower version of that note?

Thanks

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by ellbo99.

[Andrew]

haha, awesome! and yes! I like fifths, but the 6th fret (D#) should be played with a B above it (minor 6) to keep it in the key of E major.

A string: 7 6 7 2 0
E string: 7 7 7 2 0

[ellbo99]

Hi Andrew, thanks for the help. Your version sounds great but I’m a little unsure why the D# has a B above it rather than an A. Also why does the B have an F# and not just an F above it?

Sorry if these are stupid questions and thanks for the help!

[Andrew]

Good questions Dave.

1) I’m a little unsure why the D# has a B above it rather than an A?

You have to consider each note on the A string as the root. So we would be considering a scale of D# major (which brings up another point, in that most would consider this an Eb Major scale – but this is another topic).

Anyways, a perfect 5th from D# is A# because a perfect fifth is made up of seven half steps (up 7 half steps). So it wouldn’t be an A but instead is an A#.

A# isn’t in the key of E major – which your melody derives from, so I subbed it out for a B note (minor 6).

2) Why does the B have an F# and not just an F above it?

Same reason we pointed out above.

Let me know if you have more questions.

[Author]

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