The trick behind writing good vocal harmonies.

[8mileshigh]

Been searching but most topics I found were about harmonisers.

 

So anyway, I've been trying my best to write songs in guitarpro and since we've got 3 capable singers in our band I'd thought I'd try to write some nice vocal harmonies while I'm at it. But it isn't going as swiftly as i'd like.

 

I'm a very big fan of the beatles and the byrds and I was wondering how these guys did it. Anyone got any good information? How do you guys do it? what do I have to take in to account when a certain chord comes up? etc.

 

Thanks!

[Chicken Monkey]

I've never found a great resource for learning this, but there should be a book about it. With that in mind, here's a very simple breakdown of what I've gleaned.

 

First, I see a distinction between background vocals and harmony vocals. Background vocals are more tied to the harmonic foundation of the song, i.e., two voices singing notes from the chord while a lead sings the melody. This can be ooh/ahh, or call and response, or both.

 

Harmony vocals follow the melody. As a starting point, I have one person singing the melody, and have one person find the note a third above (4 frets up) and a 4th below (5 frets down). This would give you a major chord. Each voice moves roughly with the melody, up when it goes up, down when it goes down. When something sounds sour, change the offending note.

 

There are exceptions to all these rules, but that's the shorthand version that I operate with.

[ryan7585]

practice, intuition

 

plus what the monkey said.

[magicdog]

Monkey has said it very well - practice it loads...!

 

I have spent the last 15 years singing backing vocals (I played bass in the band) and now my compadres call me 'Eventide' as my ear has got so good at instantly hearing loads of vocal harmonies that fit over a main vocal.

 

It makes recording much more simple.

 

HTH

[thepalpitations]

I couldn't tell you exactly how to write a compelling harmony part, but the best advice I can give is to just start singing harmony . . . all the time. When I'm listening to the radio in the car I'm always singing harmony - usually just simple intervals like thirds and fifths. Do this for long enough and eventually you'll start hearing the harmonic opportunities in your own work.

[King_For_A_Day]

Having a fantastic harmony singer like David Crosby in the band helps, too.

[KennethNishimot]

You're all wrong.

 

http://blog.pandora.com/archives/podcast/2006/11/this_is_my_firs.html

 

Listen to this and all will soon be revealed.

[jerrye]

You're on the right track when you mention chords. The vocal harmonies tend to follow the chords, as I see it. Learn how to play triads (the 3-note version of the chords). Find the melody notes which overlay the first chord. Is the melody note the same as one of the notes in the triad? If so, try singing one of the other two notes of the triad, as a starting point. If it sounds good, note the interval between the melody note and the harmony note.

 

Use this approach for each chord underlying vocals to be harmonized.

 

Then address the melody notes played between each chord. Use the interval, found above, over each melody note. Does it sound good? If not, try 1/2 step up. Does it sound good? If not, try 1/2 step down.

 

Good luck,

Jerry

[liko]

 

Been searching but most topics I found were about harmonisers. So anyway, I've been trying my best to write songs in guitarpro and since we've got 3 capable singers in our band I'd thought I'd try to write some nice vocal harmonies while I'm at it. But it isn't going as swiftly as i'd like. I'm a very big fan of the beatles and the byrds and I was wondering how these guys did it. Anyone got any good information? How do you guys do it? what do I have to take in to account when a certain chord comes up? etc. Thanks!

 

 

First off, learn the harmonized major and minor scales. I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi- and i--III-iv-v-VI-VII. The majority of your song, especially a contemporary song, will center around some progression of the harmonized chords. Then, learn suspensions and other unresolved chords; the human voice, being infinitely tuneable, can "lock" such a chord more accurately than the "well-tempered" approximations, and as such they have the potential to produce harmonic overtones that people like hearing.

 

Largely, the chord progression of guitars etc. harmonizes the lead singer's melody. Your backup singers should thus largely follow notes in the accompaniment chords; it will produce a natural harmony. That's a good starting point; you can then find alternate notes. As far as chord voicings, generally there's a descant (above the lead) and a harmony (below the lead). If the lead goes up into the stratosphere, lose the descant and use a second harmony instead. Between these two, the third and fifth of the harmonized chord should be covered.

 

Some words to the wise:

* Study chords as a movement of voices. Inversions and other tricks make the movement of voices far less drastic than simply moving between uninverted chords. For instance, moving between IV and I can be accomplished by moving the third and fifth to the fourth and sixth and leaving the root unchanged, instead of moving all three voices up a full fourth.

* In most contemporary songs involving instruments, make sure to resolve the lines; don't end a phrase on a suspended, second, sixth or seventh chord. However, this rule can be bent or even broken in some cases.

* Not every note in the melody has to be fully harmonized into a triad; consider resolving to a power chord (fourth or fifth and octave) or resolving two voices to unison. The change in number of seperate notes gets the audience's attention.

* When descending, fourths and fifths should converge or expand, not move parallel. It sounds "weak" to move a fourth or fifth in parallel. Fourths can expand to fifths, but generally fifths should become fourths or thirds instead of expanding to sixths (a minor third inverted becomes a major sixth, so you'll keep the same general sound).

* A corollary; if there's only one harmonizing line, generally keep it on the third to avoid parallel fourths or fifths.

[blue2blue]

 

You're all wrong. http://blog.pandora.com/archives/podcast/2006/11/this_is_my_firs.html Listen to this and all will soon be revealed.

 

Kenneths's snarkiness notwithstanding, that Pandora backgrounder on harmony is pretty good, basic info. While it was apparently written for a general, not-necessarily musician audience, I found it pretty helpful, since I had almost no formal knowledge of how vocal harmonies are typically constructed. (Not to say I didn't have a practical understanding.)

 

It was nice to have it all laid out in brief with audio examples.

 

And one important thing it did for me -- it made me stop worrying so much about precisely what I was singing and more about what it sounded like.

 

And, for me, that was the way forward.

 

Once I stopped focusing on the background voices as discrete elements (like Ray Charles' Raylettes with their call-and-response backups) and started concentrating on the relationship of the harmony voice with the lead vocal (more in the fashion of ensemble harmony singing), and really trying to wrap my head around the sound of the moving intervals, things started dropping more intuitively into place.

[jerrye]

Liko,

That's a great explanation, thanks! I've studied some music theory, but not harmony. I've used my ear and the theory to write harmonies. Your rules are much more schooled than mine, and I like such explanations.

 

What's interesting is that my ear was smart enough to tell me essentially,

"don't end a phrase on a suspended, second, sixth or seventh chord."

 

I'm stealing this for the future. My bandmates don't know how sing or write harmony.

 

Jerry

[thepalpitations]

 

You're all wrong. http://blog.pandora.com/archives/podcast/2006/11/this_is_my_firs.html Listen to this and all will soon be revealed.

 

 

Thanks for posting this. Like Blue, I knew most of this information from practical use but it was interesting to hear it broken down so specifically.