Re: Harmonies

@Sealer 5553 wrote:

Lately I’ve been starting to experiment with harmonies in my compositions, with my new band. Though I’m trying to take the idea somewhere else than what I’ve heard until now. Instead of the generic 3rds and 5ths I’m trying to experiment with harmonies at 4th , 6th and 7th scale notes. The results are interesting.

4ths doesn’t sound very ear friendly, but they spice up the melody nicely (if you have a melody in your harmonies ofc.)

6ths have a similar sound to 3rds, but b6 is much less ear friendly in comparison to b3.

7ths have the most “dreamy” quality of all other harmony notes, they have a kind of “space” sound with them, which Ricks new arpeggio study demonstrates nicely.

Next step (apart from incorporating those qualities into my compositions/playing) would be playing a harmony note to a harmony note (a trick I used in my song before) which creates a chord with a certain tension – as it is being played on different guitars.

My few cents.

Hey Marcin! 🙂

Interesting observations here about harmonies in general. I agree with everything you’ve observed. Allow me to add some thoughts and/or elaborate on ideas that you stated:

Yes 3rds & 5ths are the most common harmony intervals. However, many interesting and unique ideas can still be developed when one is willing to move beyond the realm of parallel-voice motion. One of the coolest things about studying Baroque and Classical Music (not that I’ve studied extensively, but atleast the basics!) is all the outstanding Traditional Harmony that can be learned. For the sake of brevity (I know, you can all stop chuckling at me speaking on behalf of brevity, right?!? – lol!) 😀 I won’t try to explain too many of the details here, but one of the most obvious “voice-motions” that was used in Baroque music especially (J.S. Bach was an absolute genius at this!) was Contrary Motion. The simplest and most powerful example of this “harmony” technique is employed “right-off-the-bat” in the opening bars of J.S. Bach’s “Bouree in E minor” Clearly, the upper and lower voices work in opposite directions to one another pitch-wise, thus the name: Contrary Motion. Anyways, I just wanted to point out that a study and application of harmony would be incomplete when only considering the actual intervals used (although that is obviously VERY important also!) A study of “voice-motion” should also be considered.

Furthermore, your statements about 6ths are interesting also. You correctly noted that the 6ths are similar to thirds, but less “ear-pleasing.” I can see why you would note that, and I also agree, but only when two-voices are isolated out of context without regard to the surrounding voice-leading and voice-motion. However, I think it is important to note that the reason why 6th’s are similar to 3rds, is because 6ths ARE inverted-3rds! Realizing the inverse-relationship between 3rds & 6ths can really open up your harmony ideas and applications. Again, for the sake of brevity, I’ll try to refrain from a complete description, but the concepts related to “drop-voicings” as they pertain to chord-inversions (like “drop-2” or “drop 2 & 4”, etc.) can be applied to harmony ideas & applications, and it can certainly aid in the desired use of “voice-leading” (an invaluable technique in all forms of harmony, like “group vocal harmony” or even “solo-jazz-guitar arranging.” In fact 3rds & 6ths are NOT the only inverse/reciprocal intervals. A long time ago, I came up with (I’m sure SOMEONE else has thought of this so I am NOT trying to take credit! – lol!) 😉 a concept I called “The Rule of Nine (9),” and it simply went like this: Any two intervals that add up (sum) to nine (9) are inversions of one another!

Root and Octave

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> 1 + 8 = 9

2nd and 7th

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> 2 + 7 = 9

3rd and 6th

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> 3 + 6 = 9

4th and 5th

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> 4 + 5 = 9

So Marcin, I guess those are some of my ideas! So much for brevity, huh?!? (lol!) 😮 I think you brought up some excellent points about harmony, and I was just trying to add to and/or elaborate on some of what you had outlined!

Best of luck with your harmonizing! BTW, if you want to hear some simple yet effective applications of some of the harmony techniques and ideas that I outlined above, I would recommend listening to some Tom Scholz (Boston) or Brian May (Queen) for some great guitar harmonies in the context of 70’s-era “Classic Rock.” For heavier styles, I might recommend Iron Maiden, Queensryche, or even some OLD-Metallica Enjoy! 😀

~Bill Meehan~