Play Smart: How to Connect the Chord Tones

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Most music has melodies and improvised solos that are closely related to the notes in the chords. For instance, if the chord being played is an F^maj7 chord, at that moment the melody will most likely use tones that exist in the chord: F, A, C and E.

While many other tones can be used to “fill in space”, to create tension, or increase interest in the melody, it’s important to understand that chord notes often form the basis of the melody and improvisation.

We can practice using chord notes by learning how to play chord tones from individual chords as the chords pass by. This relies on our ability to quickly spell those chords, which means to look at a chord symbol (C^maj7) and identify what notes are in it (C–E–G–B). This in turn relies on the knowledge of major scales and of chord formulas.

Let’s try this technique with a typical chord progression in C.

Example Chord Progression

Listen:

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Playing the Roots of the Chords

The chord symbols tell us all we need to know. Let’s start by playing the roots of the chords, in a melodic way (on a high string or fret). This should be easy since the roots of the chords are identified in the name itself.

Listen:

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Playing the Thirds of the Chords

Now we’ll have to spell the thirds of each chord in order to play them. We can do this by using the root of the chord, thinking about the major scale for that root, and then asking ourselves if the chord calls for a major third or a minor third. Since this chord progression is all in the key of C, we can also just count up from the root of each chord to the next tone a diatonic third away from the root—the note two notes higher in the C scale from the root of the chord in question.

Listen:

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Play the Fifths of the Chords

Repeat this process for the fifths. This isn’t very hard because they’ll all be perfect fifths, as there are no chords in the progression with an altered fifth. You can even visualize this by using the root notes and playing the note a perfect fifth above every time.

Listen:

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Play the Sevenths of the Chords

Finally, play all of the sevenths of the chords. The sevenths will be either a half step below the root of the chord for a major seventh chord, or a whole step below the chord for any other chord.

Listen:

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Putting it All Together

By combining the chord tones with other notes from the scale, you can create a melody that targets the notes that appear in the chords. This will help you to play with more confidence and clarity.

Listen:

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Backing Track

This backing track follows the chords used in the exercise in the key of C.

Note: the track has double the harmonic rhythm as the exercise (each chord sounds for two measures). This is intended to make it easier to play along with.

Listen:

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Key Exercises

Practice playing roots, 3^rds, 5^ths and 7^ths over the chord progression above.
Try combining several of these together.
Try approaching the notes with another note in the scale.
Write an interesting melody using any combination of chord tones for each chord.
Play this melody using the backing track.

This lesson is continued in Play Smart: How to Connect the Chord Tones.