Hi everyone,

I prefer playing pop music by ear and can usually hit the right melody notes. My problem is, I am unsure of what chords to play as the accompaniment. Any suggestions? Or, any good books to recommend? I have Grade 6 ABRSM in both theory and practical.

Thanks.

I'm not really good at playing by ear but if I want to play a melody, I find the key I am playing then for the chord, I and V are the most common follow by IV ii vi. I chord is usually the first and last chord.

Here's the most common progression.

I-IV-V7
II-V-I (major and minor)
I-IV-I
I-vi-ii-V7
I-vi-IV-V7

How do I know which chord to play? I try them all and my ear tell me which one sound good.

A good book: Music theory made easy by David Harp,
http://tinyurl.com/27zgzq

Serge

You're going at it backwards. The chords
first, then improvisation with the r.h.
For example, using the sheet music,
nail the chords down with practice until
they're second nature. When you play
chords, you should aim for limited movement.
That is, instead of playing D F A C,
G B D F, play D F A C, D F G B, which is
the same thing with the G chord in 2nd
inversion instead of in root position.
Note how much easier this is to play,
which makes the musical effect smoother.
Most adjacent chords on sht. music can
be played in this fashion.

Once you get the l.h. established you can
start improvising with the r.h. Now you're
trying to do it backwards, which
only a very advanced player can do.

I think the notion that 2, 3, and 6 are allways minor arises from the scale of chords taught in theory choruses. If you play the C scale using triads made with all white notes, the 2, 3, and 6 will be minor.

But Pop song writers don't obey the rules. I suspect that in Pop music there are as many major chords in the 2, 3, and 6 positions as there are minors.

Back on subject; for ear training, it might be helpful to practice improvising (playing melody) using a chord chart that shows only chord changes.

Below is a link to a chart of "All of Me" charted, using the Nashville number system. Numbers are Araibic, rather than case sensitive Roman numbers. Minors are indicated with a minus sign.

http://texas-trax.com/all-of-me.htm

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Here. I'll have a shot at this....because I think I know what you mean about finding the melody note....I think one of the simplest ways to approach finding the 'right chord' to match the melody is to think in terms of a basic triad....say C-E-G-...so your melody note might fit in the 1st-3rd or 5th position of a triad...so an 'E' melody [ most simplistically] can be the 3rd of a C chord...the 1st of an E chord or the 5th of an A chord...of course there are always the minor modes too....and then the chords get extended and the opportunities go on...
maybe that helps?

rada
www.pianopassions.com

1) A pop song generally has only one key (without modulations) - but not always!

2) The chord of a key (major or minor or blues) are seventh but they can be resume at three chords (I-IV-V)

3) A note or tone of a melody can be or a note of the chord in which it is on or not a tone of the chord.
In the second case the note can be or a delaying note or an "appoggiatura" (I do not know how it is said in english - perhaps "leaning note").

So, for example, if you want to find the first chord of Yesterday by the Beatles you can see that the first note is a G.
Now in F major key (the main key of this great song) G can be harmonized with Gmin, E min7b5 or C7 if we consider it belongs to a chord.
But trying on of these three chords you hear that the sound is wrong.
So the G is a delay of the fundamental tone of F major.

This is just a little example and a melody has many other rules (Passing, turning, leaning notes)