Guitar Harmony by Nigel Jones
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In this lesson we will be looking at ways in which to harmonise with other guitarists and musicians. First things first we need to get in the right mind set, when people think of guitar harmonisation they often think along the line of big duelling guitar solos: Thin Lizzy, The Darkness…etc. This sound is primarily one guitar playing the root note while the second guitar plays the same melodic line but a fifth or forth higher. For this lesson be thinking more along the lines of a tastefully arranged string quartet, as ever we will start by doing a little theory and then we will move on to a full piece for you to have a go at.

To start with we will be playing within key of C major, the notes of C Major are C D E F G A B it's a nice key to start or learn in because it uses all the natural notes i.e. no sharps or flats.

So what is harmony and how do we achieve it with two guitars?

To me harmony is when an ensemble plays together and the sound is not award or uncomfortable toward the ear, harmony can be achieved through the right choice of notes from the same key.

So how do we choose good notes from bad notes?

The way I try to find, choose notes when harmonising is from a under lining chord pattern, its much easer than it sound. For instance if you have a chord pattern in the key of C that runs C/// G/// Am/// F/// a good bass line would be the root notes? Then try to build notes from each of the chords on top, for instance the first guitar may cover the bass line, so the first note the first guitar will be playing C, the second guitar could play the third or the fifth note of the chord which would be an E or a G. Try not to fall in to the trap of playing both the notes at the same time, experiment try playing the first note on the first beat, then try playing the harmonised note E, G on the second, third or the forth beat of the bar.

Try to use minimal movement in guitar melody lines for instance, if the first guitar is playing C for a bar then G for a bar then A, and finally an F for a bar. With the second guitar use minimal movement start with an E as it's the third of C, then move to D for the second bar as it would be the fifth in the chord of G. In the third bar try using an E, and in the final bar try using F A C in an arpeggio, this way you have use minimal movement in the melody, but also implied the notes of the under lining chord pattern, try using different notes of the chords or indeed the C Major scale to add different tonal qualities to the piece. I have included some samples of this chord progression with different harmony ideas, have a go at them, and then try to create your own ideas.

>>Download midi

Finally I have included a full piece for you to have a go at, this piece was written for two of my student to teach them about harmony and composing for two guitars, hope you enjoy it, and learn from it.

If you like the sounds and ideas in this lesson check out the master at work, Gordon Giltrap is running a column in Acoustic Magazine, entitled Double Vision! It's well worth a look.

Thanks

Nigel Jones

>>Download midi