Nathaniel School of Music

Find Every Chord That Fits Any Melody Note

To harmonise any melody note, list every chord that contains that note (for C: C major, C minor, A minor, Ab major, F major and F minor), then choose between them using diatonic, seventh, borrowed or fully chromatic options.

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Intermediate · 22 min

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Key points

This lesson by Jason Zac of Nathaniel School of Music shows a simple way to harmonise almost any melody: start from one note and branch out to every chord that contains it. He calls this idea Chord Trees. It suits pianists, guitarists, singers and producers who want to move beyond the same few progressions and understand how melody and chords fit together.

Melodies, scales and landing notes

Melodies are usually built by picking notes from a scale, such as A major (A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#) or G harmonic minor (G, A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F#). But a melody does not have to come from a scale at all.

When harmonising, you do not need a chord for every note. Focus on the landing notes, the important notes where the melody rests or where key words fall. In Hey Jude by the Beatles, for example, the chord change supports the word Jude rather than every syllable.

Building a chord tree from one note

Think of the melody note as the trunk and each chord containing it as a branch. With triads, any note can be the root, the third or the fifth of a chord. Taking C as the example:

That gives six triads for one note. The same works for G: G major and G minor (root), Eb major and E minor (third), and C major and C minor (fifth).

Doing this for all 12 notes is a lot to remember, so Jason encourages writing the trees down by hand. The free Chord Trees app from the school lays the same information out for you.

Choosing between the branches

Once you have the branches, you decide what kind of harmony you want. Good harmonisation still respects voice leading, cadences, and tension and resolution.

Random or chromatic choices

Pick any chord that contains each note, ignoring the scale. For the melody G, B, E, D, one random result was E minor, G# minor, C# minor and G minor. Each chord genuinely contains its melody note, so it works, even if it sounds unfamiliar. Some combinations sound otherworldly, the kind of colour a film composer such as Hans Zimmer might use for a space or superhero story.

Diatonic (pop) choices

Limit yourself to chords from one key. In A major, the melody notes and chords come only from A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, giving chords such as G# diminished, C# minor and D major. This is the sound of most pop songwriting.

Sevenths and extended options

Add seventh chords, such as D major seventh in A major, and each chord gains a fourth branch note. You can also borrow chords like D minor or F major into A major, or try a tritone substitution. A chord tree can include any chord type: Bb7 (Bb D F Ab) harmonises Ab as its seventh, and F major seventh (F A C E) can harmonise E.

Modal choices

A simple tune like Twinkle Twinkle in C can be harmonised in an Ionian way with the I, IV and V chords, or in an Aeolian way that brings in minor chords such as A minor. Mixolydian and Locrian give other flavours.

How to practise

  1. Choose a short melody and mark its landing notes, about four to start.
  2. Write out the six triads that contain each landing note.
  3. Play a familiar diatonic version first, then deliberately try something new: a seventh, a borrowed chord or a random chromatic choice.
  4. Play the progression as arpeggios and listen for what works.
  5. Reverse the process: take an unusual progression and sing or play a new melody over it.

Questions about this lesson

What chords contain the note C?

With triads, C is in C major and C minor as the root, A minor and Ab major as the third, and F major and F minor as the perfect fifth. That gives six basic chords that can harmonise C.

Do I need to stay in one scale to harmonise a melody?

No. Any chord that contains the melody note will fit it, so you can choose chords from outside the key. Staying diatonic gives a familiar pop sound, while chromatic choices sound more unusual or cinematic.

Which melody notes should get chords?

Focus on the landing notes, the important notes where the melody rests or where key words fall. In Hey Jude, for example, the word Jude is a landing note that gets harmonised.

How can seventh chords help with harmonising?

A seventh chord has four notes, so each one gives a melody note an extra possible role. For example, Bb7 can harmonise Ab because Ab is its seventh.

Practise it

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