I thought I’d give Justin’s idea of working out some melodies a try.
Started about as simple as it gets with Happy Birthday!
Confused already though.
The chords start on G with HAPPY and then change to D on the word YOU
So… Thought I’d use pattern 2 of the G major scale and I’ve tabbed out the first Line of melody that I thought was correct.
Unfortunately where the the chord should change to D I end up on a B note which surely isn’t right and isn’t contained with the D chord.
So… I tried pattern 3 which seems to have solved the problem.
With this pattern I end up on the note F# where the word changes to YOU
F# is in the D chord and sounds ok also I end up on the note G when the melody resolves back to the G chord.
So I guess that’s all good but my question is this:
Does every melody have to be worked out like this to fit the chords?
What if I liked the initial melody on pattern 2? What chords would I be able to use over this melody?
Can’t seem to find anything chords that work over the note B in the scale of G.
Would be great to get some clarification on this.
I don’t quite understand what your asking.
Pattern 2 and pattern 3 of the G major scale have exactly
the same notes. All the patterns have the same notes.
So it doesn’t make sense that you are ending up on different
notes.
On the top line you are starting on G playing G G A G C B
On the second line your are are starting on D and playing D D E D
C #F
So you’re not playi g in the same key
Thanks for the reply Stitch
I see what you’re saying and I guess there was no need to change patterns.
But how can I play a melody in 2 separate places using the same scale and pattern but be in a different key?
How would I know what key it was if not G major?
I presume my first example would be in G major?
I just grabbed my guitar and went though what you tabbed out.
The second line is starting on the 5th
interval of G the note D. Which is in both the G chord and G scale.
J.W.C. was answering when I was typing and is correct you first
line is in the key of C.
The only difference between the key C and G is the note F in C
and F# in G
That’s great
Thanks for the replies guys.
That’s quite an eye opener for me.
I naturally thought if a melody started on the note G it would be in the key of G major.
Is there a system for working out the chords that fit over a melody or is it simply a matter of trying things out?
I’d say it’s a bit of both. If you know the notes of the melody you can often figure out the key (and probable chords) by looking at the sharps and flats (or lack of sharps and flats). But there’s nothing like your ear to tell you what is correct or not.
The Happy Birthday melody starting on note G contains no sharps or flats. That automatically makes me think “probably key of C.”
