Piano Resources
Compiled by U.B.Rasmussen
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Piano Resources Compiled by U.B.Rasmussen |
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Harmonising scales with chords - why would you do that ? Because, when you have figured out the tones in a melody with your right hand, it would be nice to know how to accompany it with left-hand chords. The table here shows which chords (left hand) go with which tones (right hand). Some chords are harmonious, others are slightly disharmonious - they create a feeling of suspense. When a "disharmonious" chord is followed by a harmonious chord it creates a feeling of relief.
Here is an example : See Fig. 19 where the table has been filled out for the C scale. The top row I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII corresponds to C, D, E, F, G, A, B. When right hand plays C, then left hand can harmonise with either of the chords in the column below, they are C Major (I), A minor (vim), or F Major (IV). They could be any type of chord, but if triads then they are C-E-G (I), A-C-E (vim), or F-A-C (IV). However, in the context of a song, one of them will sound more "right" than the others. The first combination is shown on the keyboard in Fig. 20: left-hand (  ) = C-E-G, and right-hand ( ) = C.Click on the keyboard in Fig. 20 below to see and hear an illustration where each tone in the scale is played with each of the 3 harmonising chords in the column underneath in Fig 19. Inversions are played and shown in the notes, in order to move the fingers the least. Only the left-hand is heard on the sound.
Now you know how to harmonise any tone in any scale with a chord. Try to use this information when harmonising songs. |
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Once you know how to harmonise the different tones in a scale (see Fig. 18 above), and which are the principal and relative minor chords for this particular scale (see Fig. 16), it is relatively easy to harmonise a song with chords. Example 1. The Lion sleeps Tonight Take a melody you know, and try to figure out how to play it with the right hand on the keyboard. Here an example of "The Lion sleeps Tonight". It is played as in the scale of D which has 2 sharps: F# and C#, (see circle of 5ths). However, it could as well be played in C, which has no sharps or flats (like this: C D E D E F E D C D E D C E D - G E D E G F E D C D E D C E D), but I think it sounds better in D. To harmonise the melody, the principal chords, tonic (I), subdominant (IV) and dominant (V) are the most harmonic and common to use. For the D scale, the I, IV and V7 chords are: D (D-F#-A), G (D-G-B = 3rd inversion), and A7 (C#-E-G-A = 2nd inversion). The inversions are chosen because the position of D is preserved in the first shift, and the position of G in the second shift, it is therefore easy to shift quickly. Listen to these three chords: Here the three chords are played with the melody. Note that the key signature is D Major scale:
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Example 2. Jamaica Farewell This song uses exactly the same keys and chords as example 1. If you can play one, you can easily play the other. Listen here to Jamaica Farewell, try play the melody with the right hand, then add the D, G and A7 chords with the left hand:
See or print all notes in a larger version. For reading the notes, see here an explanation of key signature, here for time signature, and here for note position on the ledgers and for the note value. |
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Example 3. House of the Rising Sun This version of the song is relatively easy to play, it is played in A minor which has no accidentals (sharps or flats), see circle of 5ths. See the principal and relative minor chords for this scale in Fig 17 (Am, CM, Dm, FM, E7). The following chords are used in the song below: Am, CM, DM, FM, EM and E7, so a few variations. In Fig. 23, the left hand plays the chords as inverted triads, this makes the least finger movements. The ties (arches) between the B-E keys in the 8th and 9th measure means that the keys should be played once and kept pressed down during the combined note beat (1/2 + 1/4 + 1/2, see note value).
Here a slightly different version with left hand primary chords. The chords are the same as above but 4 tones are played. The hand is moved for each chord to play the primary version.
See or print all notes in a larger version |
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Example 4. Amazing Grace Here is the basic version of the melody, played with the right hand in the scale of C:
The C scale is harmonized with the chords shown in Fig. 19, the principal chords are CM, FM, and GM or G7. If we add those chords with the left hand, the song sounds like this:
Now we will give it a bit of a "blues feeling" and add more tones, including some from the blues scale in Fig. 11, and we will spread the song over 2 octaves. We will use the left hand chords CM, C7, F7, G7, D7 and Am7b5, these are the principal and relative minor chords with some variations. Now it sounds like this:
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Example 5. The Elephants Lullaby This is a danish childrens song played in Bb Major. It is more difficult than the first four, as it has more chords and chord variations. The circle of 5ths shows that this scale has two flats, Bb and Eb. The principal chords (I, IV, V) are BbM, EbM, and F7, the relative minors (ii, iii, vi) are Cm, Dm, Gm, and the leading tone (vii°) is Adim (A°), see explanations in Fig. 15. (A° = F7 with the first tone skipped). Some chord variations have been introduced in this song to give it more "flavor". The chords played are: BbM, Gm, Cm7, F7, Cm, DM, Gm7, C7, Dm, F9, Bb7, EbM, G7, Ebm, Dm, and E°. The chord variations are shown in bold.
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It often sounds better and more professional to play melodic chords instead of block chords with the left hand, but it is also more difficult as it requires better hand coordination. Here, some of the songs from above are played with melodic left hand. Example 1. The Lion sleeps Tonight In Fig. 21 above, this piece was played in D with the D, G and A7 left hand chords. Here the same left hand chords are played in a melodic succession. To give it some "character", inversions have been used and some chords are spread over more than one octave.
See or print all notes in a larger version. |
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Example 2. Jamaica Farewell The same left hand chords as in Fig. 22 above are used here, they are D, G and A7, but the keys are played in a melodic succession instead of block chords.
See or print all notes in a larger version. |
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Example 3. House of the Rising Sun The same left hand 4-tone primary chords as in Fig. 24 above are used here, but the keys are played in a melodic succession.
See or print all notes in a larger version. |
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Example 4. Worried Man Blues. This song is played in G Major (see circle of 5ths for key signature). The left hand plays the principal G6 (GDE), D6 (DAB) and C6 (CGA) chords with the 3rd key left out, see Fig. 4 how a 6th chord looks like. A "blues style" rhythm is used for playing these left hand notes in a melodic succession.
See the notes. |
