Starting a Basic Chord-Melody Vocabulary.

Chord-melody playing is about solving problems: how to find the best (or hippest, or most challenging, or simplest, or most swinging-est) way of playing the chords in a tune while making sure the correct melody note is on top. Often, all youll need is a basic inversion of the chord, though youll have to be equally prepared to use substitutions, alterations, and a host of reharmonization tricks to come up with a cool arrangement. Though many players put the melody note in the middle register or bass, when beginning chord-melody, its best to think of the top E and B strings as your melody strings, and the bottom E and A strings as your bass. The Absolute Basics 1. Play the chord that is written in the chart, finding an inversion of that chord that has the melody note on the B or E string. It is preferable (though not essential) to have the root of the chord as the lowest note in the inversion. 2. If the melody note is not a note in the basic chord, then add an extension: 9, 11, or 13. (If theres suddenly too many notes in your chord, the note first to drop is usually the 5th see the Note on Extensions). 3. If the melody note is not diatonic to the basic chord at all, then make the chord an alteration: b5, #5, b9, #9, #11th, b13th etc. 4. If you just cant seem to make the melody note fit with the chord, or else it just sounds pony, then consider using one of the many reharmonizations -substituting the written chord and putting another in its place. Things to Consider

Ballads are best to start with as you can play them in free time and it sounds romantic instead of just off-tempo. You dont need to find a chord for each individual melody note. Usually an arrangement sounds better as a combination of single and chordal playing. Relentlessly using chords can sound a bit clunking. Listen to the bass line youre making as well as the melody. Does it follow its own logic? Could reharmonization make the bass line stronger? Once youve grasped the basics of chord-melody playing, adding walking bass lines is the next big challenge. Don't be a slave to the chart. If you don't like what's on it, change it. Your ears are the ultimate arbiter of what sounds good.

What follows is a series of basic chords that will work when playing chord melodies, arranged according to chord type and function within a diatonic scale. All are four-note chords whose melody note is on the top E or B strings, and whose root is in the bass (though some chords dont have a root, at all).

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To use the chords, simply work out what the tune requires of you. Lets take the first four bars of Fly Me to the Moon as an example. The chord in the first bar is Am7, with a C in the melody. Looking at p.12 Amin with C on top gives me three choices. Ill choose the middle one, then play the next three notes (b, a, g) as single notes. The next bar has Dmin7 with an F on top. Theres two options on the bottom of p.5, and Im going to choose the first, then play the next three notes singly (g, a, c), before moving into the next bar, a G7 with a B on top, examples of which can be found on p.12 (Id go for the first option again, thus keeping it all in the same octave range.) There are three more notes in this bar (a, g, f), resolving to Cmajor7 in the fourth bar with an E in the melody. Examples of this type of chord can be found on p.3. Id go for the first one. There are of course a ton of limitations to this chord-finder. First, all the examples are in C, and if you cant transpose, youll find it tricky. Second, I havent tackled diminished chords, or provided examples of altered chords when the melody isnt being obligingly diatonic. If theres even the slightest bit of interest, Ill include them in part 2. That said, simply using it a couple times and seeing how it works should provide fairly clear examples of what you need to do and how to do it. All of the chords are easily reached no impossible or macho stretches and most are simple inversions of 7th chords, or the more frequently used extensions (9th, 11th, 13th). Some chords (like the minor7b5s) will be chords you rarely use. Many require barres, but I havent drawn them on, so youll have to work out the fingerings for those ones yourself (it shouldnt tax you too much.) At the bottom of each section is a note on the most commonly used substitutions, with the omission of the flat-five (or tritone) substitution, which can be used on any chord in whatever situation. A Note on Extensions. Adding extensions to chords can leave you with way too many notes in the chord. Here are some rules for dropping some of them: When playing a 9th, you can lose the 1. When playing a 13th, you can lose the 5th. When playing a #11th, you can lose the 5th. When playing a 6th, you can lose the 7th. When playing an 11th, you can lose either the 5ths or the 3rd.

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I Chord
C major with C on top

Cmaj7

Cmaj7

C6

C6/9

C major with D on top

Cmaj9

C6/9

Cmaj9

Cmaj9 (no 3rd)

C major with E on top

Cmaj7

Cmaj7

C6

C6

C major with F on top

Cmaj7add11

C6add11

Cmaj7add11

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C major with G on top

Cmaj7

C6

C6/9 C major with A on top

Cmaj7

C6

Cmaj6/9

C6

C major with B on top

Cmaj7

Cmaj7

Cmaj7

Cmaj7

Common Substitutions for the I Chord Chords I, iii, and VI can be used interchangeably. Use V#9 in place of I

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ii Chord
D minor with C on top

Dmin7

Dmin7

Dmin7

Dmin7

D minor with D on top

Dmin7

Dmin7

Dmin7

D minor with E on top

Dmin9

Dmin9 (no root)

Dmin9 (no root)

Dmin9

D minor with F on top

Dmin7

Dmin7

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D minor 7 with G on top

Dmin11

Dmin9add11

Dmin11

Dmin11

D minor with A on top

Dmin7

Dmin7

Dmin9 (no root)

Dmin7add11 (no root)

D minor with B on top

Dmin6

Dmin6add11

Dmin6

Common Substitutions for the ii Chord Use ii and IV interchangeably (ie. replace Dmin7 with Fmaj7). In a ii-V progression, change the ii chord to a dominant chord (ie, Dmin7-G7 becomes D7-G7). This creates a V of V as D7 would be the V chord in the key of G. In a ii-V progression, the ii chord can become a min7b5 chord (ie, Dmin7-G7 becomes Dmin7b5-G7). As long as the 5th (A) is not the top note, you may flat the 5 in any of the above D minor chords.

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iii Chord
E minor with C on top

Emin7#5 (play bottom E open)

Emin7#5

Emin7#5add11

Emin7#5

E minor with D on top

Emin7

Emin7

Emin7

Emin7

E minor with E on top

Emin7

Emin7

Emin7

Emin7 (play top E open)

E minor with F on top

Emin7b9

Emin7b9

Emin7b9

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E minor with G on top

Emin7

Emin7

Emin7

E minor with A on top

Emin11

Emin9add11

Emin11

Emin11

E minor with B on top

Emin7

Emin7

Emin9 (no root)

Emin7add11(no root)

Common Substitutions for the iii Chord I, iii, and vi can be used interchangeably (eg, all Emin7s with C on top are in effect C majors).

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IV Chord
F major with C on top

Fmaj7

F 6/9 (no root)

F6

Fmaj9

F major with D on top

F6

Fmaj 9/6 (no root)

F6

F major with E on top

Fmaj7

Fmaj7

Fmaj7

Fmaj7

F major with F on top

Fmaj7

Fmaj

F6

Fmaj7

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F major with G on top

Fmaj9

Fmaj9

Fmaj9 (no 3rd)

F 6/9

F major with A on top

Fmaj7

Fmaj7

Fmaj7

F major with B on top

Fmaj7b5

Fmaj7b5

Fmaj7b5 (play top B open)

Fmaj7b5

Common Substitutions for the IV Chord ii and IV can be used interchangeably.

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V Chord
G Dominant with C on top

G11

G11 G Dominant with D on top

G7

G7

G9

G7

G Dominant with E on top

G13

G9add13

G13 (play top E open)

G Dominant with F on top

G7 (play middle 3 strings open)

G7

G7

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G Dominant with G on top

G7

G13

G7

G6

G Dominant with A on top

G9

G7#5add9

G6/9 (no root)

G9 (no root)

G Dominant with B on top

G7

G7

G7

Common Substitutions for the V chord V and vii can be used interchangeably. As a diminished chord is similar to a V chord with a flat nine, play diminished whose root a one step higher than the V chord, ie play G#diminished for G7.

Add colour tones and alterations such as, b5, #5, b9, #9, #11, sus., sus.b9, etc.

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vi Chord
A minor with C on top

Amin

Amin7

Amin7

A minor with D on top

Amin11

Amin11 (no root)

Amin11

A minor with E on top

Amin7

Amin7

Amin7 (play top E open)

A minor with F on top

Amin7#5

Amin7#5

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A minor with G on top

Amin7

Amin7

Amin7

Amin7

A minor with A on top

Amin7

Amin7 A minor with B on top

Amin9

Amin9

Amin9 (no root, or play A open)

Common Substitutions for the vi Chord I, iii and vi can be used interchangeably. vi chords may be converted to Dominant 7th chords, adding colour tones and alterations.

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vii Chord
B minor7b5 with C on top

Bmin7b5b9

Bmin7b5b9 B minor7b5 with D on top

Bmin7b5

Bmin7b5 B minor7b5 with E on top

Bmin7b5add11 (play top E open) Bmin11b5

(play top E open) Bmin11b5 (play bottom A open)

Bmin11b5

B minor7b5 with F on top

Bmin7b5

Bmin7b5

Bmin7b5

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B minor7b5 with G on top

Bmin7b5addG

Bminb5addG B minor7b5 with A on top

Bmin7b5

Bmin7b5 B minor7b5 with B on top

Common Substitutions for the vii Chord Substitute vii for V.

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