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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 onattending the National Guitar Workshop. "Idiot's Guide toChord-Melody" is one of the workshop lessons Andy brought backfrom his week on the road.

How do you craft a chord-melody arrangement? "Start with really simple voicings," Adam Levy -- now GP'sAssociate Editor -- told a group of budding jazzbos. "This will leave room on thefretboard for the melody. Besides, big, fat chords are harder to manipulate."

Playing the voicings in Ex. 1, Levy elaborated: "When I went tomusic school, one of my teachers called these Œkernel' 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 theroot in the bottom voice. When the root is on the sixth string, the 7and 3 are on the fourth and third strings, respectively. Locating theroot on the fifth string puts the 3 on the fourth string and the 7 onthe third string (Ex. 2). To make this really useful, learn each setof three kernel chords in 12 keys. And how do we do that? We'lluse the circle of fourths (Ex. 3)."

Levy then played Ex. 4. "I'm using only kernel chords to voice aI-VIm-IIm-V7-I progression, first in the key of C, then in the key ofF, a fourth away. Notice how the chord roots alternate betweenthe sixth and fifth strings." Keep moving counterclockwise aroundthe 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 usingkernel chords, Levy told the class, you're ready to arrange a chordmelody. 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, ignorethis 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, sobe it.

Don't necessarily settle for a song's original key. You may wantto move down a few steps to take advantage of the guitar's richtimbres, 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 5ROAD1636.WAV (for Windows)ROAD1636.AIF (for Macintosh)

PHOTO: ANDY ELLIS