Chords can be either hand but in modern music a lot of times the left hand sets the chord to which a melody line is played on the right hand. Alternatively if you are doing a walking bass or other bass emphasized piece, the right hand can switch to chords while the bass line is played with the left hand. And then there are some who play moving parts with both hands.

Harmony can be resonant or dissonant. Resonant harmonies are made up of 3 or more notes which are pleasing to the ear, dissonant chords will sound out of place or conflicting, setting up tension in the song. Harmony for the most part is just the other notes in a chord. There is a fundamental root note, say C. E & G would be the 3rd and 5th harmony notes of the chord. If you add a B then you have a 7th harmony note. Any notes relation to the root (except for inversions) is generally a harmonized note. Melody is the series of notes played against a chord to which you sing lyrics or play a lead guitar or piano lead. Generally the melody is in the key of the root note. Not always however and that is the magic of music. You can play melodies not in the key of the song that can also work, which is more advanced.

I think he may be referring to the harmony that is created along with a melody line. eg another melody either an interval above or below the melody and has the same rhythms the melody. (ie melody harmony not chord harmony)

Ah. Well then in that case, the harmony is the 2nd or 3rd note that sounds with the melody note to create a chordal harmony with the fundamental note of the melody (not necessarily the root note).

Go and buy any album from the Eagles. Or explore them on You tube 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44A9iDQNrss   <<<< superb example of harmony starting in verse 2 & choruses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6yyWKzPBCM

Those guys have a firm grasp of chords, melody and harmony. (as do many other bands, but they come to mind first for me when thinking about this topic) 

The tune the lead singer is singing.... is 99% of the time also called the melody. As the other singers join the song they are singing the harmony. 

For any given melody as in any of the Eagle's tunes, there are multiple harmony notes that will work. Basically, a harmony note to the melody goes back to chord structure. 

If the lead singer is singing a C note in the key of C major,  with two other back ground vocalists, they could sing an E and a G and you would have what is called 3 part harmony and they would be singing a C major chord.....C-E-G. 


To me the Eagles are one of the more interesting vocal groups in the way they weave the harmonies into their music. 

droddey


Look for the documentary "How Music Works" and you'll get an excellent answer to all those questions. It's a BBC documentary which hasn't been released for sale or rent, so it's on YouTube apparently without issues from the BBC to remove it. There are separate sections on rhythm, melody, bass, and harmony. They are all quite good, entertaining and educational. The host, Howard Goodall, has a number of BBC documentaries on music that are quite good.

+1 to this. I just started watching it (thanks to your recommendation) and it's really interesting. 4 hours of YouTube to watch there mate. Get into it and it'll answer all these questions and more!

Great topic!!!!

All of us can relate to this on simple and deep levels.

Sometimes I start a song with chords:  The vocal melodies 'harmonize' to the chords.

But beatz and chords can seemingly 'trigger' soul-vibes that form a melody (for me).

Counterpoints, counters, counter-rhythms, counter-vocs, and counter-delays:

These counter-'melodies' oft satisfy my soul's desire for attention.

So in great songs: blue-grass hymns for example: there are bass and treble clefts, chords, harmonies, and melodies

... often working with, clashing against, and/or communicating multiple vibes 'together' in unison.

The trick is NOT to make it all consonant ... but allow the clashing dissonance to humanize the conversations.

Great topic!!!!

All of us can relate to this on simple and deep levels.

I agree, and I've enjoyed all the replies too.

My son keeps playing me modern jazz with chordless ensembles. What I find interesting about that is you create the chord progression but in the end no one actually plays any chords. Two or more monophonic instruments plus drums is a good combo. Bass and sax are often the two monophonic sounds. It is really great because the chord progression is implied or felt rather than actually heard. Vocals, sax and drums and bass is also a good combination.

I like applying Jazz knowledge into electronic music. It's good to construct piece even in that style and use all monophonic instruments only. You can have quite a few in the ensemble. Of course two or monophonic sounds at once is going to set up chords but you can avoid that with care.

In the Jazzy chordless ensembles the parts are also well spaced.  Baas at the very bottom end and the vocals or sax high up. Drums are like right across the spectrum. Now all this is an engineering dream. Mixing and processing monophonic sounds will always have a clearer mix with lots of separation. Kraftwerk were masters of keeping things very monophonic for me. What was great about them was after lengthy periods of monophonic sounds suddenly a chord would come in and it would sound like heaven. But then the chords would go again.

A lot of the music we make have lots of chords present and I think it is important to be mindful about how many chords are present at any point of time in the mix. Do they all need to be there at all is a healthy question to ask. Is one track playing a chord enough? Tracks with chords on them can be lower in level compared to other. Maximum illusion, minimum voltage applies with them to a certain degree. Classical music is full of chordal sounds. Chords sound good when whole orchestral sections are playing them.

+1 on the Eagles for harmony.  Their surround-sound version of "Seven Bridges Road" that came on the Hell Freezes Over DVD is amazing.  The Eagles bring a super-tight 3-part harmony, just like many country and Tejano acts.

I hear what you're saying, about having a hard time distinguishing harmony from melody.  Sometimes it's like the word "irony".  I can't explain it, but I know it when I hear it.

For examples of harmony:
1. "If I Fell" - Beatles.  The lower line is the melody, and the higher line is the harmony.
2. "Drive My Car" - Beatles.  Now the higher line is the melody, lower line the harmony.

If someone were to hear these records for the first time, and you asked them sing them back to you, the vast majority of the time people will automatically sing the melody.  I have no idea why that is, or how it works.  However, I have seen this happen time and time again, whether it's in a cover band or church choir.  People gravitate toward the melody.  Some people will sing the harmony, if you sing it loudly enough, and close enough to them, so they can pick it out.  Stop singing the harmony, and they'll revert back to the melody.

Isn't harmony what Voices do or different instruments together rather than chords that add toward the overall melody?

I could be wrong!