The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano

The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano

If you watch any child approach a piano keyboard, it’s almost guaranteed that they’re going to do one thing.  They’ll reach out with one finger and start playing single notes.  It’s a natural instinct.  When you’re starting to learn how to play melodies on the piano, it’s always a simple one note melody line.

It’s not long until a piano student finds the one note melody unsatisfying and having the desire to play more professional sounding melodies.  Fortunately, it’s simpler than most beginning piano students often think it is to add a rich harmony to any melody.  You also have options which allow you add variety to any melody.  It’s also helpful to have an understanding of Major chords at a basic level.

It’s Where Melodies Come From

If there were only one reason to learn your Major keys of music (there isn’t), it would be to have the tools you need to play songs.  A Major scale (or key) of music is where melodies actually come from.

The key of C Major as an example:The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-key of c majorThe Major scale is also referred to as the diatonic scale.  Diatonic simply means “in the key’.  The sequence of notes in a melody are unpredictable and free to span in any direction or register on the keyboard.  The one constant is that the melody is mostly limited to the seven different notes of the key.  I say mostly limited because there can be a such thing as an accidental, which means the composer of the melody can choose an occasional melody note that’s outside the key.  But accidentals are few and far in between. The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-key of c major accidentals

What’s on Top and Understanding Intervals

The first step to creating professional sounding melodies is to understand the concept of intervals.  An interval is the distance between two notes.   For every two notes you have an interval that separates them.  The note that is on top is always the melody note. The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-c major first inversion keyshot

Otherwise the melody note would be buried underneath what would be considered as the wrong melody note.  The top note of any chord or series of notes that are played harmonically (in unison) rings out above the other notes because it has the highest pitch and it’s also what we’re inclined to listen for.

Using Thirds

Now that we understand what intervals are and that the melody note should be on top, let’s look at using 3rd intervals to harmonize a melody.  The easiest way to find 3rd intervals is to locate the melody note, skip the very next note in the key below it and play the note below it. The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-key of c major 3rds illustrationThirds are made to harmonize melodies and have a very nice sound to them.  These 3rd intervals are a combination of Major and minor 3rd  intervals.  The important thing to remember is that they’re made up of only the notes that are in the key.  They’re diatonic thirds.

Using Sixths

Sixth intervals can also be used to harmonize melodies.   Finding the 6th interval requires more effort but there is a trick to it.  From your melody note, count to the sixth note below it.  Just like 3rds, they’re diatonic intervals which mean 6ths are also members of the same key. The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-key of c major 6th illustration

(The trick I mentioned earlier is quite simple.  If you wish to find the 6th interval, all you have to do is locate the 3rd above the melody note.  You then play that note an octave lower. The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-key of c major finding a 6th from a 3rd illustration

Intervals of 3rds and 6ths are simply inversions of one another.  All you have to do to find one or the other is to just flip them around.

Using Triads

Using 3rd and 6th intervals to harmonize a melody is a good example of less being more.  But when you want more, more can be better.  What I’m talking about is harmonizing a melody using triads.

The triads I’m suggesting are Major triads that include the melody note.  In order to effectively understand use triads, you need to not only be thoroughly familiar with them, you should also know all inversions of them.

C Major triad in Root, 1st and 2nd inversion.The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-c major triad inversions

Notice that with each inversion, a different melody note is on top of each triad.

The following three triads that are represented here just happen to be the primary chords in the key of C Major. That’s a significant detail when covering melody harmonization because the primary chords will harmonize any melody note in a key of music.

c major triad-The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano

f major triad keyshot-The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano

The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-g major triadTake the three primary chords in the key of C Major and invert them.  Notice how they accommodate any melody in the key of C Major.The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-c major 1st inversionThe Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-g major triad root position

The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-c major triad 2nd inversion

The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-f major triad 1st inversion

The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-c major root position

f major second inversion-The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano

The Secret to Playing Professional Sounding Melodies on the Piano-g major triad second inversionAn effective way to play professional sounding  melodies on the piano is to combine all three strategies of melody harmonization that I’ve covered here.

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t be consistent with any one method of harmonizing a melody.  You don’t want all of your melodies to sound the same.  Mix and match them and let your ear be the final judge as how you use them and when.

Until next time.  Go Play!

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Greg Lee

Hi, my name is Greg Lee. I'm the creator of the Color Score Professional/Visual Chord Learning System. I love to share ideas and concepts about piano and keyboard playing in all styles of music. I believe the key to learning is having fun and making complicated things simple with visual tools and illustrations.

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