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

2nd and 7th

3rd and 6th

4th and 5th

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~

@Bill 5556 wrote:

Thin Lizzy have some fantastic harmonies in their songs 🙂

Bill,

WOW 😮 How the HELL did I forget them?!? I knew I’d leave out someone important! Anyways, thanks for pointing them out. You are correct, in that Thin Lizzy reigned-supreme with their guitar-harmonies! Bravo! 😀

~Bill Meehan~:cool:

@Sealer 5564 wrote:

Hey Bill, I actually found the concept of contrary motion on some songs of Nevermore, and I think it is very inspiring how interesting the melody sounds, when it is being split up into 2 different melodies that DON’T follow the same pattern.

Hey Marcin! 🙂

Yes! You “hit the nail-on-the-head” bro! 😉 Even though I’m not intimately familiar with Nevermore, I’ve certainly heard enough to recognize the classical & baroque influence! Therefore, the contrary motion you heard makes a lot of sense! 😎

I know I mentioned some more “typical” guitar-type-harmony examples yesterday. However, I should mention that if you’re looking to break-out into some more “bizarre-avante garde” sounding ideas, you might want to check out Steve Vai’s VERY early-career solo-LP’s called “Flexible” and “Leftovers.” These were written/recorded during Steve’s tenure with Frank Zappa, and Zappa’s twisted sense of harmony (and humor!) is highly evident in Steve’s playing/writing/arranging throughout! GREAT STUFF! 😀

P.S. You’ve been forewarned….this stuff gets VERY BIZARRE at times! 😮 (lol!)

Check it out!

~Bill Meehan~ 😎

@Sealer 5567 wrote:

I think “Attitude Song” was on either Flexible or Leftovers and it contains some of the funniest Harmonies I’ve ever heard in my life:) . Simply brilliant. I haven’t heard much of Frank Zappas music, but he’s a major influence to plenty of guitarists I know about, so I’m definitely gonna check out his stuff.

Marcin,

I forget the exact name of the song, but it’s on one of those Vai LP’s and I think it’s called “Something Died in Here.” You wanna talk about BIZARRE! WOW! 😮

Also, I just thought of another GREAT rock record with OUTSTANDING BIZARRE sense of harmony: Pony Express Record by Shudder To Think. Very Cool! 😎 VERY WEIRD! 😮 There’s NOT really a lot of “Guitar Solos,” but there’s some very interesting rhythms & chords & melodies that create a very disturbing harmonic soundscape! 😀

~Bill Meehan~