I get a lot of email questions relating to things I teach in my various courses, and/or just things guitarists are working on in their own musical world. I just got an email from Christopher in the U.K. asking how to figure out appropriate chords for a melody.

Here’s what I told him:

Thanks for writing, and thanks for studying with me! I haven’t yet put the 12WeekGuitarCourse.com lessons in a for-sale package, but thank you for your encouragement. Many others are asking as well, so maybe I should…

Yes, by looking at the melody, you should be able to determine a reasonable chord progression.

The first decision is “What key is the song.”

Once you know the key, you should understand (maybe you know this, or maybe you have yet to learn it) the chord scale for that key.

For example, for a song in the key of C major, the appropriate/most common chords in the song would include some or all of the following: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bm7b5, and C. That’s the chord scale for C major.

Keep in mind that these chords are often referred to by their Roman Numeral (which matches their scale step). C is your I chord, Dm is ii, Em is iii, F is IV, G is V, Am is vi, Bm7b5 is vii, and then you’re back to the I chord. Notice the major chords use capital (uppercase) Roman numerals, and the minor chords lower case.

Most songs include a I, IV, and V chord.

Some common chord progressions:

I-IV-V
I-iii-IV-V
I-vi-ii-V
I-IV-vi-V

Analyzing the melody measure by measure and looking for chord tones in the melody can also help you determine what chord to play. For example, if the first measure of a song in C major has the notes C, E, and G, you know you should be playing a C chord. If the second measure seems to lean toward the note A, or the notes A and C, or A, C, and E, you should be playing an Am chord.

Do you know what notes make up each chord? You should…

Maybe you would benefit from books on music theory, chord progressions, scales, etc., such as these:

My course Shut Up ‘n’ Play Yer Guitar would help you understand all of the above: ShutUpNPlayYerGuitar.com

Or my book 101 Guitar Tips: Stuff All The Pros Know And Use will help you understand much more detail on what I’ve just explained

101 Guitar Tips

I hope this helps a bit!

Keep on learnin’!

Adam
ShutUpNPlayYerGuitar.com
12WeekGuitarCourse.com
LogicalLeadGuitar.com