Can anyone recommend the easiest way to obtain appropriate chords for tunes? Is there a program out there whereby you pop in the ABC and the program recommends chords? My ABC player doesn’t have that function.
Thanks
As a guitarist, I can say that if there is something out there, it is unlikely to be particularly good for celtic music. In my experience, music programs based on western music theory tend to work in “major” and “minor”, and don’t know anything about modes.
I have seen a few sequencers that can suggest chords, but these tend to produce jazz/rock style chording.
It’s not that hard to do the chords yourself anyway. Most tunes are in D or G or modes thereof. A strategy for deriving chords:
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Work out what the “key note” (tonic) is. This is usually the last note of the A part, and you will know when you have it right if you can play a drone on this note for most of the tune. The key note will genrally be a D, G, E or A unless the tune is in A or C or some other key.
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Decide what the modality is. Generally, it will be either “major” sounding (most tunes), Dorian (“minor sounding”) or Mixolydian (like old joe clark etc).
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You now know the tune is one of these: G major, D major, E Dorian, A Dorian, G Mixolydian or D Mixolydian.
4a. If it is in G major, your three main chords will be G, C and D7
4b. If in D major, three main chords are D, G and A7.
4c. If in E Dorian, 2 main chords are Em and D
4d. If in A Dorian, 2 main chords are Am and G
4e. If in G mixolydian, 2 main chords are G and F
4f. If in D mixolydian, 2 main chords are D and C
Play through the tune with someone taking the melody. First time through, just play the root chord (the one on the key note) all the way through and note where it doesn’t fit. Then try the other chords in these places to work out which one will fit.
In some cases, you may ultimately need to throw in a chord outside the main 2 or 3 (usually a minor chord), but stick with the basics first.
PS There is nothing to say you can’t use the root chord all the way through if it fits, even with the occasional clash. It produces a great driving effect in some tunes.
PPS Sometimes the B part will be in a different modality or key note, so you may need to tackle both parts separately.
Hope this helps!
ABCMUS does what you want. You can find the program at http://www.norbeck.nu/abcmus/.
Its CyberBacker function even allows you to set the level of strangeness. It can get pretty strange, but you might find it a good tool for generating ideas quickly.
Well Jumbuk, I’d love to agree with you seeing as you’re an experienced “guitarist” an’ all that, but the reason I cannot express my agreance is set out in this topic
here - “Guitar in ITM”
Omigod, not the dreaded “does guitar have a place in ITM” topic!
I’m not going to enter the debate, partly because there are plenty that know more about both guitar and ITM than me. I’ll just note that:
(1) Irrespective of what people say, there will be guitarists that play ITM, either solo or as backup, and
(2) I personally love what Tony McManus, Dennis Cahill, Artie McGlynn and a few others do. I don’t mind that they all use ideas from other genres, even Jazz and rock.
It’s a fine line though
I am so relieved that I had not agreed with you yet.
(Retreats with dignity intact)
Jumbuk - Thanks for the ideas. It’s really pretty weird b/c I’ve been playing the guitar WAY longer than the flute. I’m a decent player and a strong point is the right hand. I can do the rythem(sp??) stuff pretty good. And the basic chords are absolutely no problem for me. The problem has come in the area of figuring out what chords to play for a given tune. I’ve spent hours noodling away at some favorite tunes and nothing sounds good. To my detriment, I find music theory painfully boring, so it’s difficult to stick with it. But I’ve read your ideas before regarding getting to the tunes tone, getting the key and then knowing what chords tend to fit with said key. I just haven’t had good luck with it so far. So, while I continue to try and “learn by ear” so to speak, I want to have a cheat sheet.
By the way thanks everyone for NOT suggesting that I forget the generic soulless chords offered by a machine in favor of the intuitive process of learning by ear. I get that idea, but just as one could be actively learning tunes by ear and still using dots, one can be active in learning to accompany by ear and still benefit from the ABC Chord function.
Ajay - Thank you as well. I have ABC music but I’m wondering if I don’t have a fancy enough version. I notice that the version I do have has a tab for “Chords.” However, if the chords aren’t included in the original ABC it won’t c-r-e-a-t-e the chords for me, which is really what I want. Anyway, I’ll check it out.
Thanks again.
Sorry if I was giving you info you already have. If you are already a guitarist, you might like to try heading in the direction of more modal sounding accompaniment. You basically try to play chords lacking in thirds, with lots of doubled-up notes. Many guitarists use DADGAD or other open tunings to get this sound, but you can do quite a bit in standard tuning. It works particularly well with tunes in E or A Dorian.
Here are a few chords I like to use:
[Chords written in order from 6th (low E) string up to 1st (high E)]
“E5” (use in place of Em): 079900
C6 (substitute for Em): 879900
Bm7 (substitute for D): 707700
Am7 (another substitute for Em): 505500
C6 (another substitute for Em): 807980
These are all for E Dorian tunes (try with The Butterfly, Rights of Man, Cooley’s Reel etc). The progression E5 / C6 / Bm7 will be instantly recognisable (also Am7 / Bm7 / E5). You need to be careful not to overdo the C - it sounds wonderful in a progression, but not so good as a main chord.
For A Dorian, try:
“A5” (substitute for Am): 507x50 (use your LH thumb)
G6: 3x5430
FMaj7 (substitute for Am): 103210
Try this with Rakes of Kildare or Junior Crehan’s reel. As with the C in E Dorian, you have to be sparing in using the F.
In G major, try this simple variation on the basic G chord:
G6: 3x0033
You can get away with just this chord right through the A parts of some tunes. If you just use the top 3 or 4 strings, it sounds good with a arpeggiated pattern, and you can use this variation for a “D” chord:
D: xx0032
Better stop now before I get kicked off the Flute forum!
Jeff,
There should be a GO button on the Chords tab. This creates chords.
Cheers
At risk of being accused of a second commercial posting in too short a time period… I do have the http://www.sassafrassgrove.com/ChordBook/NEMOFOTMADChordBook.html Chords for over 190 tunes in the Celtic and Old-time traditions
Thanks Jumbuck; All that was helpful to my new accompanist.
I checked out your book - am I right in saying it doesn’t have the melodies? That makes it a bit hard to know where you are up to in a tune!
Yes, just the chords, in measures though… I found it terrifically frustrating that so few tunes in notation included the chords, so I made the chord book especially for those who play accompaniment.
Ajay - Yeah, thanks. I found the CHORDS tab and then the GO button, so that got me going. As a prototype I’ve been using the Kilmovee Jig (AKA, Pauline O’Neils). It’s in G major. Even when I use a “strangeness” of 01 it seems to offer too many chords. The switches between Em and G are too busy sounding for me.
I also noticed that a G modal chord (using DADGAD) fits much better to my ear than a standard G chord. I don’t know if this is completely subjective or what. I’m wondering what other guitarists think about using the ABC program’s recommendations for chords.
The book is a good thing accept it costs money. I’d rather figure out how to come up with my own chords, although I certainly appreciate it when people include chords with their ABC music.
p.s. is there a Irish backing musicians forum anywere outthere? I know this is off topic.
I’ve been working on getting those sweet bubbly type of rolls Jack Coen does on the A and B notes. Hows that?
That’s what I was suggesting earlier. Capo DADGAD to 5 and play as though you are in D.
If you don’t want to retune, try the standard tuning modal G 3x0033. There are some good runs in the bass from G through D (with a F# on the E string via your thumb) and Em. From memory, I think this is one of those tunes that sound good if you stick close to a single chord with some variations.
Is there a trad accompaniment forum somewhere? I don’t know, but I would be interested as well if there is one.
Added later: If you need a resource for DADGAD, there are plenty on the web. This one has a downloadable pdf chord chart with no less than 82 variations on a plain old D chord! http://home.hccnet.nl/h.speek/dadgad/dadgad.pdf