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Composing a Simple Chord Tone Melody

Chord tone melodies are pleasant to listen to; naturally harmonious and satisfying. A chord tone melody consists solely of the pitches contained in the underlying chords. This is what makes them pleasing to hear. Non-chord tones are pitches which are not in the chord but are in the scale. This article focuses on creating chord tone melodies. The article Adding Neighbor and Passing Tones to Your Melody explains how to incorporate non-chord tones.

We will look at a general approach to writing the melody and then work through three examples.

To compose a chord tone melody, follow these steps.

1. Set the time signature. The time signature shows what length of note gets the beat and how many beats occur in a measure. You will find more information on time signatures and tempos in the article Common Time Signatures and Tempos for Many Music Genres.
2. Set the key. The key you select will determine the scale, chords, and their position relative to each other.
3. Pick a chord progression. You can make your own chord progression or use one of the chord progressions from the chart in the article Common Chord Progressions.
4. Compose the melody. Using the pitches contained in the chord, compose a melody. Vary the length of note and/or the sequence to create interest and movement. Repetition also works well. Compose in units of 2, 4, or 8 measures. Then put those together to form a longer piece of music.

Example 1:

Here is an example. For this melody, the time signature will be 4/4 or common time. The key signature will be C major. The chord progression will be I, IV, V, I which in the case of the key of C major will be the C chord (C, E, G), the F major chord (F, A, C) and the G major chord (G, B, D). You can pick any of the three notes from each chord for use in the melody line above that chord. You can also use varying note lengths to create interest and movement for your piece. In this example, only quarter and half notes are used.

Example 2:

For this melody, the time signature will be 3/4. The key signature will be F major. The chord progression will be I, IV, vi, V, I which in the case of the key of F major will be the F chord (F, A, C), the Bb major chord (Bb, D, F), the D minor (D, F, A), and the C major chord (C, E, G). You can pick any of the three notes from each chord for use in the melody line above that chord. You can also use varying note lengths to create interest and movement for your piece. In this example, only eighth, quarter, half and dotted half notes are used.

Example 3:

In this example, the time signature will be 2/4. The key signature will be G major. The chord progression will be I, iv, ii, V, I which in the case of the key of G major will be the G chord (G, B, D), the E minor chord (E, G, B), the A minor chord (A, C, E), and the D major chord (D, F, A). In this example, eighth, quarter, half notes are used. This example also has a pick-up note in the beginning of the piece to start it.

Now that you have seen some examples of how to write a chord tone melody, try writing one of your own. This method of composing is a great way to get started and also a technique you can use over and over again throughout your composing career. When you are ready to try adding more notes from the scale of the key you are writing in, check out the article Adding Neighbor and Passing Tones to Your Melody.

Celia Webb, President of Pilinut Press, Inc., publishers of advanced readers for children and ESL students. Check out http://www.pilinutpress.com for more free articles on developing reading-related skills, word games and puzzles, and activity sheets for the company's entertaining and educational books.