Fred Sokolow chord melody class

  1. NDO
    NDO
    Decided I’m gonna sign up for my first online class (first class of any kind actually)…
    It’s a March 7 zoom class on chord melody posted on the Techniques forum. It has a couple of songs I really want to learn and it’s a technique I want to learn so figured it’s worth a shot. Looks like Sheila already signed up, thought I would see who else is going to give it a go.
  2. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    I do enjoy listening to chord melody but I am not currently headed in that direction. But I think you could do it - your chording looks pretty effortless in your videos. Have at it!
  3. NDO
    NDO
    To get my brain in the right frame of mind for this I’m making up a little chord melody intro for Desperado since I was learning to play it this week. It sounds pretty cool!
    Of course when I say “making it up” I’m not really making anything up, just sounding out something close to the piano version on the recording.
  4. NDO
    NDO
    Well the class was very educational! It was hard to keep up since we covered at least seven or eight songs in 90 minutes, but I already got the video to re-watch, and the tabs were really not difficult. The only real challenge is that he uses a lot of different chord voicings to best accentuate the melody, so I’m having to learn some new versions of chords which is a plus.
  5. Sue Rieter
    Sue Rieter
    I think not being able to keep up in a class, especially a video class that is not as interactive, is a common and regular thing, to be expected almost. When we go to a class, it is to learn something new, so to be able to do it almost instantaneously (7 or 8 songs in an hour and a half!) would be unusual. Now comes the practice! (Can't wait to hear what you learned, as I think this kind of playing might be right up your alley!)
  6. NDO
    NDO
    I’m definitely going to start incorporating it into more of my covers. The first one I post will probably be the Desperado intro I came up with, as soon as I get a little more smooth on the rest of the song memorization. I’m at that point where I can play through the song all the way but have an occasional stutter remembering a chord or a word… which means as soon as the camera starts I can guarantee a few mistakes
  7. Southern Man
    Southern Man
    Don,

    Now that you have finished the class, can you post a clear, concise definition of chord melody? I've listened to some of it, and have some intuitive understanding, but not a real definitional understanding.

    I "think" I'm in Henry's cap, in that I've enjoyed listening, but not sure it is a kind of playing that calls to me, but I may just not know enough.
  8. NDO
    NDO
    To me it’s pretty much just playing a melody with at least one chord (instead of all single notes) in each measure or each time there’s a chord change in the rhythm part. It essentially sounds similar to having one instrument playing rhythm/chords while another solos with the melody. It’s what my ear wants to hear during intros, outtros and solos, not needed during vocals because the vocals carry the melody line. Some of the melody notes in chord melody are played as part of a chord and some are played in between chords. The chord voicing that are selected are typically chosen so the highest note played is the note needed for the melody. Sometimes this is done by playing a chord version with that note, other times they might be a three finger chord on the bottom strings and then a color note added on the e string.
  9. NDO
    NDO
    I was going to wait till I could record the whole song but here’s just the intro of Desperado in chord melody style, as best I could sound it out.

    https://youtube.com/shorts/qPTzWT8dH7A?feature=share

  10. NDO
    NDO
    So here’s the whole song, with a bunch of glitches since I’ve only been working on it a week. But you can at least see the difference between the chord melody style at the intro and outtro vs rhythm chords through the song itself.

    https://youtu.be/E14WNn5N78U

  11. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    Doing fine there, Don!
  12. Sue Rieter
    Sue Rieter
    It's sounding real good, Don. I do like that song.

    Henry, do you think Don's chord melody intro and outro sound a bit like some of the techniques that Matt is teaching? Like inserting a chord strum here and there between vocal phrases and such when playing the melody, and even the doublestops, which are like "mini chords".
  13. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    I'm not sure that it is, Sue. Don is using chords as an integral part of the melody (in the intro and outie). I think Matt was using chords as a kind of punctuation to the melody.

    I don't really know what I am talking about though.
  14. Stacey Morris
    Stacey Morris
    Good job, Don.
  15. Southern Man
    Southern Man
    Sounds good Don.

    I am still sort of confused about the definition, because every time I think I've got it, somebody posts something like Hank and I'm not 100% sure I see the difference.

    But I think this is the key part of Don's explanation: The chord voicing that are selected are typically chosen so the highest note played is the note needed for the melody.
Results 1 to 15 of 15