Chapter 13:Accompanying Melodies 169
A chord sheet—no melody.
Working from a Melody
Sometimes you get the melody (in the form of a lead sheet) without chords. All
you have to go from is the melody—no chords, no bass line, no anything else.
A melody sheet—no chords.
What do you do now?
First, don’t panic. Second, remember back to Chapter 10, in which you learned
how to create a chord progression based on a melodic line. That is the skill
from which you need to draw now.
Take the melody you were given and go off by yourself for a half-hour or so.
Play the melody on the piano, and try to figure out what chords sound good
with that melody. If it’s a familiar song, the chords might come easily to you; if
you’ve never heard the song before, you have your work cut out for you. In any
case, apply the rules you learned back in Chapter 10, and write out your own
chord progression for this melody.
When you’re trying to figure out the chords behind a melody, there are
several different approaches you can take. The best approach, as you
learned in Chapter 10, is to try some common chord progressions. See
if I-IV-V fits the melody; if not, try I-ii-V, or I-vi-IV-V, or the “circle of fifths”
progression. Chances are, one of the common chord progressions will fit—or at
least come close.TipThe key thing here is that the chords you write are now your chords. Even if
they’re not quite the established chords for this melody, you can get away with
it by claiming that this is your unique harmonization. You’re at the piano, and
you’re in charge, so what you play must be right!
Now, if you’re playing along with other musicians—perhaps a bass player or a
guitarist—you don’t want to end up with three different sets of chords to this
single melody. If you’re playing in a group, put your heads together and work
out the chord progressions as a group. Heck, maybe one of you actually knows