>> [MUSIC] For this video, we're going to be talking
about the melody notes that you
choose and whether or not
they belong to the chord that you're playing,
or they don't belong to the chord that you're playing.
Your melody note will either be
a chord tone or it will be a non-chord tone.
We're going to be working in G major.
[MUSIC] The most stable notes in this key are 1,
3, and 5 [MUSIC],
and then the unstable notes are 2,
[MUSIC] 4 [MUSIC] ,
6, [MUSIC] and 7 [MUSIC].
When you're trying to decide what to play,
you want to think about,
first of all, the note that you're singing.
Let's say we're singing
just the tonic note, the most stable note.
[MUSIC] Love.
I want to pick a chord in the key,
if it's going to be a chord tone,
I'll pick a chord in the key that contains that note.
One of the chords in the key of G that contains
that tonic note obviously is G. [MUSIC] Love.
Love sounds really stable.
Another chord in the key that also contains
that note is the four chord C. [MUSIC] Love,
and also the six minor [MUSIC] Love.
Just notice how different love felt
depending on the chord that I put around it.
[MUSIC] Love, love, love.
You want to accompany you keys,
so you want to think about surrounding your notes with
really interesting chords that also help you
tell your story and bring the emotion
that you're looking for into your song.
It's a great way for you singers who
feel like you're really
uncomfortable finding chords for your melodies,
just take your melody note and say,
alright, in this key,
what chords also contain
that note and it'll help you find
some really interesting chords that you might not come up
with if you were singing
along to someone else playing guitar,
or if you were just picking chords that
you already knew existed in the key.
I'm singing the tonic note,
it's stable to the key,
and it's also a chord tone for
all three of those chords, the one, the four,
and the six minor. [MUSIC] Love love love.
If we had a spectrum,
the most stable choice to make as a songwriter would be
a melody note that's stable to
the key and also a chord tone.
Next, we could pick something that is stable to the key,
but not in the chord
just to create a little more tension.
Again, I'm going to start with that tonic note,
it's really the most stable note in the key of G,
but that note is not in the five chord.
Let's see what happens when I play the D major chord
and sing this note [MUSIC] Love.
[MUSIC] Is a clash.
Love. You probably wouldn't want to hang out too much.
Another chord and a key that does not contain
that tonic note would be F sharp diminished [MUSIC] Love.
Also, the two minor doesn't have the G in it.
[MUSIC] Love. Still is
good though it sounds better than the other ones.
Then the last chord would be
the three minor also does not
include that G. [MUSIC] Love.
We play them all in order: D,
F sharp diminished, A minor, and B minor.
Love Love Love Love.
As Duke Ellington said,
"If it sounds good, it is good."
To my ear, a lot of those are
clashing I really did like the two minor.
Love. Maybe I don't want it to be that dissonance,
so I'm just going to make that choice.
Then finally, the third category,
the most unstable that
you can make something would be if it's
a non-chord tone and it also is not stable to the key.
Let me pick an unstable note and the key A,
which is two. [MUSIC] Love.
I'm going to sing that A which
is unstable to the key and it's
also not going to be in any of
the following chords that I'm going to play.
I'm going to play it against a B minor,
I'm going to play it against a G chord,
I'm going to play it against
a C chord and an E minor chord.
Love, Love, Love, Love.
That would be my favorite, the six minor,
that was really nice. Feels really tensed.
Love. Don't just rush
in and grab the first melody that comes to mind,
really take your time to really
think it through until you go,
that's the right one because you can end
up with such a beautiful melody.
There's a melody that really depends
on the chords to sound beautiful.
Then there's a melody who doesn't depend on the chords.
Not that it can't be enhanced by the chords,
but it really can stand alone.
Think about a melody that if a violinist and on
a street corner in New York City
and stood there and played.
We would give them the most dollars.
If you sat there playing One Note Samba,
just on violin, that is
a song that is definitely a dependent melody.
It's depending on the harmony and
the groove to really make it come alive.
Even Ed Sheeran, Shape of You, in the verses,
he has a lot of the same note repeating
and it really is not a very interesting melody,
but the groove and the way the harmonies are
moving around that make it really interesting.
But a melody that is independent of
a chord progression would be somewhere over the rainbow,
just such a grand beautiful
melody and you can really envision
that violinist on the corner playing that.
We're going to work with a lyric, I remember love.
I'm going to end that high note,
love, on the most stable note in the key.
I'm going to sing that on the G [MUSIC] I remember love.
Feels very stable.
Now I'm going to sing,
I remember love on that same note,
but now I'm going to change it to the four chord,
so that it's stable to the key and
it's also a chord tone.
[MUSIC] I remember love.
A lot of times, again,
if we're listening to a chord progression,
we might just go with that and
really not noticed that, boy,
that note love could feel so different
depending on what notes I put around that in harmony.
Next, I'm going to actually
bring in this six minor and see
what happens to love when I bring in that chord.
It's a chord tone, it's also stable to the key.
[MUSIC] I remember love. What happened there?
It's a little achy or a little
sadder because I played the six minor.
Let's see what else we can do.
I'm just going to think about
the chords in the key that contain that note,
and I'm going to also think about maybe chords outside
the key that contain that note just
so I can really flavour that.
I'm going to try that on the
two dominant seven and see how it feels.
[MUSIC] I remember love.
That tonic note is the seventh degree,
that's the seventh of that chord and notice
how bright and great love feels,
it feels like a Beatles song [MUSIC] I remember love,
does love remember me.
All you need is love. That two dominant seven chord
really brings out the brightness in that.
You can just try these combinations over and over again,
but I want to leave you with one last chord and just
see how nostalgic and bittersweet we
can make love feel when we go
to the sharp for diminished chord,
one of the chords that can break your soul [LAUGHTER]
Also add a four minor at the end.
[MUSIC] I remember love,
does love remember me.
Feel like I just wrote a Beatles song.
Isn't it interesting the same note
that is the most stable note and the key,
but when you pair it with a sharp four diminished chord,
it just feels so different.
You can think about chord tones and non-chord tones,
taking the note that you're playing and really trying to
think about what chord contains this note,
and try out as many combinations as you
want until you find just the right chord for your song.