It’s interesting to me that while a guitar might have 6 strings, the majority of guitarists find using more than one at a time a real feat. In this lesson I touch on some simple techniques to spice up a single note melody.
For this lesson I’ve chosen to use a simple pop tune for an example -The Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Otherside”. I decided to go with this tune for several reasons: (a) to demonstrate that guitar chord soloing is applicable to something other than jazz, and (b) because, let’s face it, this melody could use a bit of spice. (not that there’s anything wrong with that…)
Here’s the basic transcription I came up with for the first verse:
And (reluctantly) here’s a TAB version for the lazy:
Now here is the same melody with a very simple accompaniment:
And here’s the tab for that:
What I Did
The first step to take when trying to embellish a melody chorally (to construct a chord solo) is to figure out what the correct notes are for the given time frame in which a particular chord is sounding. These correct notes are called chord tones. If you’re still a bit fuzzy on what chord tones are, or how to find them, then please consult my two lessons:
“Playing the ‘Right’ Notes” - http://intellectualmusician.com/oakleaf/chordtones
“Building Chordtones” - http://intellectualmusician.com/oakleaf/chordtones2
With this information at hand, now go through and spell out each chord as a 7th Chord using the harmonic progression as your guide.
A -7 = A, C, E, G
F Maj7 = F, A, C, E
C Maj7 = C, E, G, B
G 7 = G, B, D, F
With this information in hand it becomes very simple to fill in correct notes below the melody. I often use the analogy of the melody being a curtain rod and we as a guitarist are just simply hanging chords off of it like curtains. For this example I kept things extremely simple, using only one note at a time for my accompaniment.
Towards the end however, I made things a little more interesting by slightly altering the melody to take away some of the repetition inherent in the piece, as well as adding a non-chordtone (that which is not a chordtone). Non-chordtones are the flavor in music; as everyone is forced to use the same chord tones no matter who they are or what style they play, a non-chordtone can really give the a piece the flavor it needs to listen-able, yet alone interesting.
However, when using non-chord tones one must take great care, as they often run a fine line between flavorful and just plain wrong. In this case I have decided to go with the diatonic (in the key of A natural minor) non-chordtone “B” which is being used in a stepwise manner to approach another chordtone. This is the most typical, and recommended way of dealing with these notes, although it is common practice, and sometimes even desirable to stray from diatonic pitch from time to time, but in this instance it would have been out of character with the rest of the piece, which is strictly diatonic.
So I will be the first to admit that this article as been more of a teaser than an in depth look at the possibilities associated with melodic accompaniment, chord soloing, and harmonic embellishment, but I hope that at very least it has helped to get some gears turning inside your head as to the possibilities.
more articles by Tyler Oakleaf
- Notes of Fretboard Diagram
- Like our lessons? Take a poster!
- The Big Picture
- Chord Soloing & Chordal Embelishment 1
- Good Things…
- “Making It” In Music
- Practice Progression
