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Road Scholar:
Idiot's Guide to
Chord-Melody
From Guitar Player, June '98
Subbing for Sessions this month is Andy Ellis' firsthand report on
attending the National Guitar Workshop. "Idiot's Guide to
Chord-Melody" is one of the workshop lessons Andy brought back
from his week on the road.
How do you craft a chord-melody
arrangement? "Start with really simple
voicings," Adam Levy -- now GP's
Associate Editor -- told a group of budding
jazzbos. "This will leave room on the
fretboard for the melody. Besides, big, fat
chords are harder to manipulate."
Playing the voicings in Ex. 1, Levy elaborated: "When I went to
music school, one of my teachers called these kernel' chords.
For now, just the root, 7, and 3 give you all the harmony you need.
Commence with major 7, dominant 7, and minor 7 shapes with the
root in the bottom voice. When the root is on the sixth string, the 7
and 3 are on the fourth and third strings, respectively. Locating the
root on the fifth string puts the 3 on the fourth string and the 7 on
the third string (Ex. 2). To make this really useful, learn each set
of three kernel chords in 12 keys. And how do we do that? We'll
use the circle of fourths (Ex. 3)."
Levy then played Ex. 4. "I'm using only kernel chords to voice a
I-VIm-IIm-V7-I progression, first in the key of C, then in the key of
F, a fourth away. Notice how the chord roots alternate between
the sixth and fifth strings." Keep moving counterclockwise around
the circle to play through the remaining ten keys: B (B maj7,
Gm7, Cm7, F7, B maj7), E (E maj7, Cm7, Fm7, B 7, E maj7), and
so on. "Name each chord as you play it," Levy advised. "You'll
learn faster."
Once you can cycle a I-VIm-IIm-V7-I progression in fourths using
kernel chords, Levy told the class, you're ready to arrange a chord
melody. Some tips:
When working from a lead sheet or songbook, move the melody
up an octave so it falls on the top two strings.
Don't feel you have to harmonize every melody note or play a
chord on every beat.
Because stripped-down kernel voicings don't contain a 5, ignore
this note when you encounter chords with altered 5s. For instance,
play a Cm7 5 as a Cm7, or a G7 5 as a G7.
Similarly, ignore extensions. If the chord has a 9, 11, or 13,
simply play the root, 3, and 7.
Chord-melody arranging means learning the melody. Play
through the melody by itself to get it under your fingers.
Strive to sustain the harmony, but preserve the melody above
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all. If this means cutting a chord short or dropping it altogether, so
be it.
Don't necessarily settle for a song's original key. You may want
to move down a few steps to take advantage of the guitar's rich
timbres, or transpose to allow open strings.
Inspired by Levy's ideas, I trekked back to my quarters to draft a
basic chord-melody arrangement for "Motherless Child" (Ex. 5),
based on kernel voicings and simple triads. Try it -- you'll see the
system works.
Listen to Example 5
ROAD1636.WAV (for Windows)
ROAD1636.AIF (for Macintosh)


PHOTO: ANDY ELLIS