Harmonizing a Lead Video

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i like music

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By: Guest More than a year ago

i'm not a guitar pro but i'm interested to become one. i didn't know that every string in a guitar scale has corresponding note. wish i could learn that.

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Harmonizing a Lead

Steve Rieck: One of the questions a lot of beginner and intermediate guitar players have is how do you create a harmony lead or harmonize lead. Bands like the Allman Brothers, 38 Special, Boston, Queen, and the Ace has definitely put lead guitar parts together that were in harmony and it creates a big stereo effect and there is really two ways to go about doing it. The first way is to just playing the key that your tunes are actually in, it's sort of hope for the best. That's a real random shaky way to do it at best, what's you really should do is start to understand how the scales fit the chords, that's kind of a secret. So if I were to play something in the key of a minor, just a basic chord progression so we could build a lead on top of it. This is a minor chord to an F major 7 chord, to a D major chord and back to an F major 7 chord. So what I am going to do is create a lead that would fit over that chord progression and the first guitar lead will sound like this. So again, slowly. So the notes there are at the first phrase starts in the a minor chord, I am playing B, C, E, G and then bending an eight would be. Bringing it back on to A, G, A, E, of course this is all taped up in the beginning. But that phrase alternately fits over the a minor chord. It sort of outlines the notes of an a minor scale and of course that's the most important thing to understand is the key or the scale your are playing and so this podcast is assuming that you have a bit of that down. The next phrase is over the F major 7 chord and I will play it and at the point it jumps into the D major chord and bend the C to a D. So over the F chord, the F major is something like E, F, A, C, E, C, A and then when I hit the D chord, I bend the C to the D and then hit the 14th fret on the first string and release the bend and came down to the A of the tenth fret. Now what I want to talk about is the fact that the first phrase really fits the notes of the a minor chord, that's fits the F chord and when I hit this that outlines the D chord in a nice way because I bend that C to the D and I actually hit a note that sound of the key, F#. If you now listen that D major chord there is an F# in there. So I sort of targeted that note and laid it on the A, that's in the F major 7 chord. So anyway that's a simple lead that you could play over that chord progression. Now let's talk about the ways that you might harmonize that. The first concept to get down is the thought of playing something that's upper third in harmony and so that's simply means if I were to play an A note in one of the guitar parts. I might be playing it up higher on fret but for purposes of explaining, play A at the second fret of the third string. So I were to count up three notes and they are A, B, C; C would be a third above A and so if I were to play maybe something started on C in guitar one it would be C, D, E. E would be a third above C. So you just alphabetically counting up three letters; A to B to C, A and C together or C to D to E and so on. So anyway this first phrase -- let's look at those first one it's B, C, E, G and what would happen there if I were to take notes up to third, B would be -- would start on D, C would be E, E would go to G, G would go to B. So we get B upper third, C upper third, E upper third, G upper third, so it sound like this. The first phrase is instead of being B, like that. Now the bend I did would be like this. I am bending the 13th fret C up a whole step, coming back to the C and then landing on A. Now I want to talk about this A for a second. If I were to look at the note that I ended the phrase on, in the first guitar part. Now it would be an E and a third above E would be G, right. Try to think about it is I am ending on an A, why? Because I am ending up on an F major 7 chord. This is where I gets beyond just playing the thirds. So the first concept is just think upper third in the scale. You sort of have an automatic harmony. Now the second thing you have to be careful of is are all the notes of each guitar part really working with the chords; the underline chord progression that's going on and in this case, if I were to go, that G right there would actually be nine or second on the F chord. It would actually probably sound good but what I want to do in this case is hit something a little more direct on that F chord which is an A right here at the 14th fret. So this is the first situation here where we are actually hitting a note, there is not a third way from the notes, it's a fourth way E, F, G, A. So the first phrase, and the second phrase. Now the next phrase that happens on the first guitar part, I showed you before E, F, A, C, E, C, A. Now if I were to take upper third from that I would get G, A, C, E, G, E, C. And again what I am going to do rather than playing the G on the F chord here, I am going to go ahead and reach up and grab the A, which is the fourth above the E that the other phrase is picking on so. So again, if I play it strictly in thirds would be. But since this is on the F chord I am going to go all the way up to the A which is in the F chord. Now I want to point out, take a second I am point out that the G actually wouldn't sound bad on the F, it's actually a ninth, it's kind of a cool note but in this case, I want to just really strictly stay within the chord. So all of that so far the a minor to the F chord and all the leads involved are all diatonic, meaning all within the a minor scale. All diatonic to a minor and so the next chord that comes up being D major, it actually steps a little bit out of the key. It has a F# in it, F# is not in the key of a minor. So anyway, we have to be worry about F#, but when we think of the leads that are going to be played over this D major chord. If I were to look at the first guitar part, what happens in the D chord? I am bending C to D and now what I am going to do on the second guitar part when I come out at that phrase. I am going to start on E here at the 17th fret and bend up a whole step. That's going to bend all the way up to F# or being just like that F# note. If I were just thinking, if I were really thinking about the d minor but I were just thinking of the key of a minor, I would sort of just think bend up a half step. That would be more in the key of a minor. But of course, that wouldn't fit the G chord all we have to be careful of that F#, so just step out of a key a little bit there. And then the last phrase -- the very last phrase is kind of that release bend there. So you bend up on the first part, grabbing the F# at the 14th fret and landing on the tenth fret of the second string, which is A on the F major 7. So the second guitar part, we do that and bend it up to F#, playing the A, upper third from the other note and then landing on the C, as the end of the phrase. It's again is upper third from the A. So the thing about that just kind of recap -- the first concept is know the scale, know the key you are playing in and then simply think upper third from the note that the lower guitar is playing. Now the second concept is that, you can take that information but then you have to be careful of what chord you are playing over. So that just of course, sort of sums up the concepts here. Now what I want to do now is just let you hear what the first guitar would sound like the whole thing and here is the second lead. Now it might take a second, let you hear what they would sound like together. Okay, so now that you heard with the leads sound like together and harmony over the chords and you can hear how they really fit the chords well. There is another concept which is a little bit simpler. Once you have established to get a harmony lead that works above the other lead, like the higher of the two. In that case, that's our higher of the two harmonies. What if we were to take that entire phrase and actually bring it down in octave. So we get and of course all this is tapped out in the beginning that two. So that would be the higher harmony down in octave. So let's hear what that would sound like against the original harmony and that's the basics on harmonizing a lead guitar part. Giles Martin: Hi! I am

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Steve Rieck: One of the questions a lot of beginner and intermediate guitar players have is how do you create a harmony lead or harmonize lead. Bands like the Allman Brothers, 38 Special, Boston, Queen, and the Ace has definitely put lead guitar parts together that were in harmony and it creates a big stereo effect and there is really two ways to go about doing it. The first way is to just playing the key that your tunes are actually in, it's sort of hope for the best. That's a real random shaky way to do it at best, what's you really should do is start to understand how the scales fit the chords, that's kind of a secret.

So if I were to play something in the key of a minor, just a basic chord progression so we could build a lead on top of it. This is a minor chord to an F major 7 chord, to a D major chord and back to an F major 7 chord. So what I am going to do is create a lead that would fit over that chord progression and the first guitar lead will sound like this. So again, slowly. So the notes there are at the first phrase starts in the a minor chord, I am playing B, C, E, G and then bending an eight would be. Bringing it back on to A, G, A, E, of course this is all taped up in the beginning. But that phrase alternately fits over the a minor chord. It sort of outlines the notes of an a minor scale and of course that's the most important thing to understand is the key or the scale your are playing and so this podcast is assuming that you have a bit of that down.

The next phrase is over the F major 7 chord and I will play it and at the point it jumps into the D major chord and bend the C to a D. So over the F chord, the F major is something like E, F, A, C, E, C, A and then when I hit the D chord, I bend the C to the D and then hit the 14th fret on the first string and release the bend and came down to the A of the tenth fret. Now what I want to talk about is the fact that the first phrase really fits the notes of the a minor chord, that's fits the F chord and when I hit this that outlines the D chord in a nice way because I bend that C to the D and I actually hit a note that sound of the key, F#. If you now listen that D major chord there is an F# in there. So I sort of targeted that note and laid it on the A, that's in the F major 7 chord.

So anyway that's a simple lead that you could play over that chord progression. Now let's talk about the ways that you might harmonize that. The first concept to get down is the thought of playing something that's upper third in harmony and so that's simply means if I were to play an A note in one of the guitar parts. I might be playing it up higher on fret but for purposes of explaining, play A at the second fret of the third string. So I were to count up three notes and they are A, B, C; C would be a third above A and so if I were to play maybe something started on C in guitar one it would be C, D, E. E would be a third above C.

So you just alphabetically counting up three letters; A to B to C, A and C together or C to D to E and so on. So anyway this first phrase -- let's look at those first one it's B, C, E, G and what would happen there if I were to take notes up to third, B would be -- would start on D, C would be E, E would go to G, G would go to B. So we get B upper third, C upper third, E upper third, G upper third, so it sound like this. The first phrase is instead of being B, like that. Now the bend I did would be like this. I am bending the 13th fret C up a whole step, coming back to the C and then landing on A.

Now I want to talk about this A for a second. If I were to look at the note that I ended the phrase on, in the first guitar part. Now it would be an E and a third above E would be G, right. Try to think about it is I am ending on an A, why? Because I am ending up on an F major 7 chord. This is where I gets beyond just playing the thirds. So the first concept is just think upper third in the scale. You sort of have an automatic harmony. Now the second thing you have to be careful of is are all the notes of each guitar part really working with the chords; the underline chord progression that's going on and in this case, if I were to go, that G right there would actually be nine or second on the F chord. It would actually probably sound good but what I want to do in this case is hit something a little more direct on that F chord which is an A right here at the 14th fret.

So this is the first situation here where we are actually hitting a note, there is not a third way from the notes, it's a fourth way E, F, G, A. So the first phrase, and the second phrase. Now the next phrase that happens on the first guitar part, I showed you before E, F, A, C, E, C, A. Now if I were to take upper third from that I would get G, A, C, E, G, E, C. And again what I am going to do rather than playing the G on the F chord here, I am going to go ahead and reach up and grab the A, which is the fourth above the E that the other phrase is picking on so. So again, if I play it strictly in thirds would be. But since this is on the F chord I am going to go all the way up to the A which is in the F chord.

Now I want to point out, take a second I am point out that the G actually wouldn't sound bad on the F, it's actually a ninth, it's kind of a cool note but in this case, I want to just really strictly stay within the chord. So all of that so far the a minor to the F chord and all the leads involved are all diatonic, meaning all within the a minor scale. All diatonic to a minor and so the next chord that comes up being D major, it actually steps a little bit out of the key. It has a F# in it, F# is not in the key of a minor.

So anyway, we have to be worry about F#, but when we think of the leads that are going to be played over this D major chord. If I were to look at the first guitar part, what happens in the D chord? I am bending C to D and now what I am going to do on the second guitar part when I come out at that phrase. I am going to start on E here at the 17th fret and bend up a whole step. That's going to bend all the way up to F# or being just like that F# note.

If I were just thinking, if I were really thinking about the d minor but I were just thinking of the key of a minor, I would sort of just think bend up a half step. That would be more in the key of a minor. But of course, that wouldn't fit the G chord all we have to be careful of that F#, so just step out of a key a little bit there. And then the last phrase -- the very last phrase is kind of that release bend there. So you bend up on the first part, grabbing the F# at the 14th fret and landing on the tenth fret of the second string, which is A on the F major 7. So the second guitar part, we do that and bend it up to F#, playing the A, upper third from the other note and then landing on the C, as the end of the phrase. It's again is upper third from the A.

So the thing about that just kind of recap -- the first concept is know the scale, know the key you are playing in and then simply think upper third from the note that the lower guitar is playing. Now the second concept is that, you can take that information but then you have to be careful of what chord you are playing over. So that just of course, sort of sums up the concepts here.

Now what I want to do now is just let you hear what the first guitar would sound like the whole thing and here is the second lead. Now it might take a second, let you hear what they would sound like together. Okay, so now that you heard with the leads sound like together and harmony over the chords and you can hear how they really fit the chords well.

There is another concept which is a little bit simpler. Once you have established to get a harmony lead that works above the other lead, like the higher of the two. In that case, that's our higher of the two harmonies. What if we were to take that entire phrase and actually bring it down in octave. So we get and of course all this is tapped out in the beginning that two. So that would be the higher harmony down in octave. So let's hear what that would sound like against the original harmony and that's the basics on harmonizing a lead guitar part.

Giles Martin: Hi! I am

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