Harmony
- Definition
- Harmony is the combination of simultaneous pitches, most often heard as chords, that supports a song's melody and shapes its emotional color.
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Songwriting stage
- writing
In practice
When a songwriter picks chords to go underneath a melody, they are making harmonic choices. Harmony works alongside melody and rhythm as one of the three basic building blocks of music: where melody is the single line a listener hums, harmony is the backdrop of pitches sounding together that gives that line context, tension, and resolution. A single melody note can feel bright, sad, or unsettled depending on which chord is played beneath it.
Beginning songwriters usually start by learning a handful of chords in a key and experimenting with how different orders and combinations change the feeling of a phrase. Moving from a major chord to a minor chord, or adding an unexpected chord before returning home, are both harmonic decisions. Over time, understanding harmony lets a writer intentionally steer a song's mood rather than relying on guesswork.
Example
In a simple verse, a writer sets the lyric 'waiting by the window, watching for the sign' over a I - vi - IV - V progression in the key of C major, letting the shift to the vi chord (A minor) add a touch of wistfulness before the V chord pulls the phrase forward into the next line.