How to Choose Simple Chords That Support a Melody

Listen to the harmony and melody together. As your ear matures, you’ll begin to sense which chords support the melodic line and which ones obscure it. Often a melody will sound perfectly fine on its own, but certain pitch and/or rhythm combinations will start to sound awkward when supported by a conflicting harmony.

• Listen for the most important notes in the melody. These will be the notes that are held longer, accented, occur at the end of a phrase, or are repeated. Try writing basic chords where each important melodic pitch fits inside the chord. The melody will likely sound stable in these moments.
• Try writing basic chords where the most important melodic pitch sits outside the chord. The melody will likely sound tense in these moments. This could work well if the tension is purposeful.
• Passing tones, neighbor tones, or short pitches used to connect two pitches probably shouldn’t be fit inside a chord.

A simple four measure melody, for instance, could likely be accompanied by just 2 or 3 basic triads. You might harmonize a specific melody note using different chords and compare the sounds. Perhaps one chord will sound more tense than another; brighter or darker; more like a resolution or departure. Listening is a useful tool here, more useful than simply looking for chords that fit the melody based on name or theory alone.

• Listen carefully to how each chord change sounds. If you can’t tell the difference, there probably isn’t a strong reason to change chords.

If your chords sound like they are fighting against the melody…

• Are any bass notes clashing badly with melody notes?
• Are you changing chords too often or too little? Changing chords for every single melody pitch can feel busy and cluttered. Leaving a chord on for a very long time can feel like you’re losing forward motion, especially in sections of music that require some direction. The best harmonic rhythm will depend on the style of music, but changes usually sound natural when there’s a change in melodic emphasis or at the beginning of a new phrase, especially at cadences.
• If the melody has a busy rhythm, the chords probably shouldn’t either. Calmer chord progressions often work well in these instances.
• Try taking the chords away to listen to the melody by itself. Add the chords back in one at a time to figure out which one is the troublemaker.

You can easily experiment with harmonies on the keyboard or guitar, in a notation program, or a DAW.