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Reharmonization Without the Theory
5 minute read
Reharmonization is adding to or changing the existing chords of a song to make it your own. This article will be about how to come up with your own reharmonizations based not around rules or extensive music theory, but your own ear.
Scale Degree
One way I decide what chord to use is by thinking about what scale degree I want the melody to be in relation to the chord. Different scale degrees have different levels of tension against the chord.
These are the first three chords of the standard “Days Of Wine and Roses” with the original harmony. We’ll be reharmonizing the D7alt (D7 with ♯9♭13).
Let’s first explore a reharmonization with less tension.
We see that the melody note is D. Chord tones have less tension, so we could pick a chord that would make D a chord tone. Above I’ve reharmonized the D7alt to a G-7 chord. D is the fifth degree of G-7 and a chord tone. Play the D above the G-7 chord and notice how consonant it sounds.
Above is another reharmonization. This time we’ve reharmonized it to C-7 so that D is the second degree. Play the D over the C-7 and notice how it is slightly more dissonant.
This is the most dissonant reharmonization out of the three. We’ve reharmonized the D7alt to an A♭7. In this case the D becomes a ♯11. Play the D over the A♭7 and notice how it sounds more dissonant than the other two reharmonizations we’ve done. This is because not only is the D not a chord tone, but it is also an alteration (refer to Common Alterations for common alterations to chords).
Chord Type
Something else I factor into when deciding the reharmonization is the chord type. The chord type also changes the level of tension. Let’s go back to the reharmonization where we change the D7alt to a C-7. We’ve decided that we want to make the root C, and now we can decide on the chord type. To my ears, CMaj7 and C-7 both sound similar in terms of dissonance. C7 sounds slightly more dissonant, and C-7♭5 sounds the most dissonant.
Dominant 7ths and half-diminished 7ths are both dissonant chords by nature, but in this case C-7♭5 sounds more dissonant because of the melody note (D). If the note was, for example, E♭ instead, then C7 would sound more dissonant.
Above are two reharmonizations of a melody from the standard “Stella By Starlight” that ends in E♭. Notice how here the C7 sounds more dissonant than the C-7♭5. The dissonance of the chord type you choose varies depending on the melody note.
Root Movement
By root movement, I mean that you can decide which chord based on the root of the previous one. V to I movement and root movement up or down a half-step create the strongest resolutions (right now I’m talking purely about the root, not the type of chord). Whole-step root movement or root movement in thirds are less strong. Root movement across a tritone (up or down an augmented fourth) creates a nice dissonance and sounds jazzy. There are a lot of different root movements you can try, but these are the ones that I go to first. Note that stronger resolution doesn’t mean better root movement. As always, context matters, and you’re trying to create more interesting performances with a variety of different sounds.
Let’s revisit “Days of Wine and Roses” and that D7alt chord.
In the above reharmonization we’re seeing a root movement of V to I. A fifth down from E♭ is A♭. First, just play the chords for E♭7♯11 and A♭7 and listen to the strength of the resolution. Then, play the whole thing with the melody on top and listen for the resolution between E♭7♯11 and A♭7.
Notice how we’ve arrived at the same chord we did from earlier when thinking in terms of scale degree! We can reach the same chords regardless of which system of thinking about reharmonizing we choose to use.
You can use the concepts from the Chord Type section to decide which chord type to use.
Above is a root movement of a third from I to III. Once again, first just play the chords E♭7♯11 and G-7, and then play the whole thing with the melody on top while listening for the resolution from E♭7♯11 to G-7. As you can hear, this resolution isn’t as strong. I call this side to side chord movement because it doesn’t feel like it’s moving the chord progression forward in a particular direction.
Bassline
Another way of deciding reharmonizations is to create a bassline first and then decide on the type of chord from the note on the bassline. It’s similar to the scale degree + chord type approach.
Final Note
Remember that when doing reharmonizations, pay attention to context. If you’ve played a lot of chords with high dissonance, maybe round it out with some lower dissonance chords as high dissonance to low dissonance is another form of resolution (unless you’re going for a very dissonant sound).
Also, remember that reharmonization isn’t just substituting chords, but also adding new ones.
This is Too Much
If this is all too much, then just add a dominant 7th chord a 5th or a half-step up. 99% of the time it’ll sound good.
E7 and A7 are the added chords.
Written on June 1st , 2020 by Chris Cheung