What is the difference between a pianist and a guitarist? A pianist can play an instrumental arrangement of a song, sounding full and complete without needing anyone else to play along with them.
Most guitar players can’t. At least those who cannot play chord/melody style, that is.
Chord/melody is where you play both the chords and melody of a tune at the same time, on one guitar. It is considered to be one of the more difficult ways to play, however as you are about to find out, it doesn’t have to be.
The problem is, most guitar players approach this way of playing without any kind of strategy or method in place. Of course it’s difficult if you are just trying to force an arrangement into your fingers, without any real idea of how to go about it, hoping for the best.
As a result, many mistakes are made. Mistakes I am going to reveal to you over 2 articles.
In todays article I will walk you through 3 very common mistakes made when guitar players try to play the chords and melody of a song at the same time. In part 2, I will show you a further 4 crippling mistakes made in the world of chord/melody.
I will cover each mistake in detail, giving you action steps to take so you can avoid making these mistakes yourself.
So get ready, because chord/melody playing is about to become a whole lot easier for you!
1. Trying To Do Too Much In Your Arrangements
It’s very easy to get lost in the detail of an arrangement. I refer to this as the “can’t see the forest for the trees” syndrome. While the forest is the whole arrangement, the trees are the details in which one can get lost and lose sight of the overall song.
Before you know it, you are up to your neck in the arrangement, forgetting what it is you were trying to do in the first place because you are simply trying to do too much.
Believe it or not, your ears have the ability to fill in parts that are not exactly in an arrangement, but instead being implied and/or suggested by what is being played.
This is a kind of aural illusion if you like. As a result you don’t need to include everything, all the time, in your arrangements regarding the chords, and bass parts. It’s not to say leave these things out altogether of course, however an arrangement can feel and sound “clunky” at times when trying to do everything.
One more point here, including all parts, all the time, doesn’t really leave you anywhere to go in regard to dynamics and the building of a tune. Like anything, you need light and shade, contrast if you will, to hook the listener in on an emotional level.
What To Do To Avoid Making This Mistake:
• Start at the beginning, and not the end.
This simply means to have the melody and perhaps the root notes of the chords that are happening at the time as a starting point. Not only does this in itself sound full and complete, it is also a great framework from which to continue arranging your song from.
You can learn all about this and other approaches with the
creating acoustic instrumental arrangements of songs ebook/audio.
2. Not Knowing How Chords Are Constructed, And Having A Limited Vocabulary Of Chords On Guitar
While it is most certainly possible to create chord/melody arrangements from only bar chords and open chords, you will have far greater possibilities and much more sophisticated sounding arrangements if your chord vocabulary extends beyond these common shapes.
With a healthy chord vocabulary under your fingers, you’ll be able to harmonise melodies wherever they fall on the guitar. You will find there are many blind spots on the fretboard if you only know open and bar chords.
Understanding how chords work and what notes they consist of will also help you to harmonise melodies on a much higher level. A little knowledge applied, can go a long way in making the arrangement of a chord/melody piece on your guitar that much easier to do!
What To Do To Avoid Making This Mistake:
• Commit to expanding your chord vocabulary to include more than the basic open and bar chords. Without doing this, you have a very incomplete picture of chords and harmony on your guitar, whatever it is you are doing.
• When learning chord shapes, always look to see how they relate to each other. This will help greatly in visualising them on the fretboard. It also makes memorising chords very easy, and in turn easy to use in your arrangements.
You can start expanding your chord vocabulary here with these
advanced sounding, easy to play chord shapes for guitar
• Invest some time into learning the basics of music theory (chords, keys etc). Not only will it help you to arrange chord/melody pieces, but it will be of huge help to all areas of your guitar playing.
3. Not Having The Melody And The Chords Of The Song Memorised, On An Intimate Level
As obvious as this point may seem for the most part, many players fail to really learn and internalise both the melody and the chords to the song they are wanting to arrange.
The melody, which is the most important part, can get lost in the arrangement, or not be stated very well, as a result. It should go without saying that if you are to create a chord/melody arrangement of a song, then you need to know both the chords and melody in isolation, on an intimate level.
However many players get lost in the detail and lose sight of this. You need to know how the melody and chords relate to each other in order to have a foundation from which to build your arrangement.
What To Do To Avoid Making This Mistake:
• If there are lyrics to the song you are arranging, learn them. If there are no lyrics, then hum the melody. Do this as you play the chords to the song only. This will allow you to hear how both the chords and the melody relate and interact with each other, as well as helping you internalise the melody.
• Learn the melody and the chords in multiple positions over the neck of the guitar. Don’t be limited to just one way of playing them. Having both the chords and melody accessible to you wherever you are on the fretboard, will help you create chord/melody arrangements with much greater ease!
• Memorise the song. Be able to play your arrangement without having to look at a piece of paper. You will perform the tune so much better this way. A lot of memorising can be done away from the guitar too, by visualising the chords and melody in your mind and on the fretboard.
rnIn part 2 of this article, I will address 4 more critical mistakes players make when creating chord/melody arrangements on guitar. In the meantime, you can start by avoiding the mistakes we have covered today, and taking some or all of the action steps associated with each.
Learn how to master the art of playing both
melody and chords at the same time on guitar