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| How do you find the melody?? - Beginner Questions - Ukulele - Ukulele - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
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artcrocker Approved
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OK, so this is an embarrassing question, but I really have reached a frustration on this song. Have been trying to get "Those Were The Days" sounding good. Seems like it should be easy since there is a link to both the Tab and a Video playing the song, see below. The troublesome part starts when the tempo picks up "days my friend, thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance,,,,etc". The arrangement is good as per the video, but it is difficult to pick out the Melody notes on the tab to fit words to, from the little background notes. I suppose if one could align the tab with the real music then the timing would be there and the notes to accentuate would be more apparent. Maybe one needs to buy the sheet music along with having the tab. I suppose this will be impossible to really answer, unless there is a process for sorting out timing and melody. The obvious answer is that one just hears it. Tab to Song - http://home.arcor.de/crazydawg/ukulele/those_were_the_days.txt Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHQLlPLrSTw
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Will Approved 
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artcrocker wrote: OK, so this is an embarrassing question, but I really have reached a frustration on this song. Have been trying to get "Those Were The Days" sounding good. Seems like it should be easy since there is a link to both the Tab and a Video playing the song, see below. The troublesome part starts when the tempo picks up "days my friend, thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance,,,,etc". Art: I play strictly by ear, and I don't use tabulature, so I don't know if this will make any sense. Most, but not all, of the melody notes will be found within the chords that you play for a song. The chords used in most chord-lyric sheets may be called rhythm chords, and can simply be strummed. However, the melody notes may not all fall just inside the rhythm chords, so I have to play "fill" chords to get those other melody notes. The "fill" chords are nothing exotic, just the same I, IV, and V chords, and sometimes the equivalent minor chords. Some of the other "fill" chords are rhythm strums following a melody note that keeps the beat going. This way of playing chords to get the melody notes out is called chord-melody or chord solo style. It requires you to play a chord for every melody note, meaning much more frequent chord changes in between the basic rhythm chords; this method takes a lot of practice, but is very rewarding once you get the hang of it. Most tenor banjo players, some autoharp players, some uke players, and some guitar players play using this method. My first string instrument was the autoharp. The autoharp was originally designed to play chords. The only effective way to play melody on autoharp is to work the chord buttons and pick out the melody notes that are not muted by the chord bars. I eventually learned how to do melody picking on autoharp, but it took a few years before I was proficient. I later applied the technique to ukulele and guitar, and I practice new and familiar songs in this style all the time. After a lot of practice, I found that I could play the melody and chords of the entire song; that is, even if you hit more than the melody notes, the other "off" notes harmonize because you were playing a chord. To demonstrate how this works, on a uke tuned to GCEA, play a scale in the key of C. This could be done using use the I (C), IV (F), and V (G) chords: Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do C D E F G A B C 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 C G C F C F G C <--- PLAY THESE CHORDS, but as you go higher up the scale, target the higher strings. For the G ("Sol") melody note, you will need to fret an extra note on the 3rd fret of the E string that is not normally played in the C chord. In most cases, the melody note is found inside the chords you are playing; most of the time, the middle two (2nd and 3rd) string is used; occasionally, the 4th ("bass" - only if you tune with a low-G) string or high (1st) string is used. After a while, if you shorten your strum, you can and isolate the melody note while still fretting a chord for each note. This is what it sounds like: I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THE RAILROAD http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/song_player.php?mode=song_hifi&type=song_id&a=true&id=1066 Last edited on Fri Jan 25th, 2008 05:30 pm by Will ____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ A Bunch Of Coconuts http://abunchofcoconuts.com |
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neilg Approved
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artcrocker wrote: The answer is standard music notation. Absent that, you should listen to someone sing the song so you can isolate the melody. In the arrangement you posted, the artist doesn't play the melody exactly as sung, but it's very close. Here's one melody version I heard on a youtube video, from the part that goes, "those were the days".. Sorry, I have no idea how to make tab look like tab yet. The notes are just in order with no attempt at grouping.
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artcrocker Approved
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Thanks for replys on finding the melody, very helpful, again I know it should be a somewhat easy thing with a little work. I appreciate the observation that the video of the song was not following the melody all of the time. I think that is where I would get a little lost. It would be nice to print out Tab and put it to a musical staff to establish the timing. Guess I will look back thru some of the postings to find out the best way to do that. Seems like Richard suggested one of the softwares, Powertab? maybe.
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Goschi Approved 
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Hi artcrocker, thanks for your interest on my version of "Those were the days". I usually try to arrange my instrumental version by listening to the original song, then trying, practising, trying again until it is good enough for me. I do not work with tabs at all, so I can't really help you (as far as I understand your question). Have you ever seen one of the videos of the original version of Mary Hopkin? For example this one: http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=X5pkkAhETYg The synchronization (sound/pictures) is not very accurate, but maybe it helps to listen to the melody. Again, thanks for your interest, good luck with "Those were the days"... Peter ("Goschenhobel")
____________________ http://www.fourstrings.de http://de.youtube.com/Goschenhobel |
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TomHB Approved 
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Will's right. Take a basic chord progression, say from a "Jumpin' Jim" book, and all the notes of the melody can either be found within the chord, or very nearby. Combine strums with single or double notes in a pattern that keeps a nice beat going (I like to keep the strums on an even meter, with single/double notes in-between). Use whole chords as notes, or single/double notes. Lots of fun. Just play the normal chord progression, then search for the melody notes on the fretboard as you sing to yourself. You'll be surprised how it all comes together. I recently figured out a nice, but simple, chord solo for "Away in a Manger" from Jim's basic chords in one day. Also a nice version of Greensleeves that you can play with a wedgie/felt pick if you're not great at fingerstyle (which I am not, yet).
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artcrocker Approved
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Ok, since I have heard this before "The melody is mostly there in the chords" I will work a little harder at finding them. So that being the case, does it follow that when one puts those little "fill-in" notes in a song to add interest and sustain to Half-Notes. Does one get those also from the chord? Guess that kind of makes sense, never occurred to me before. Since I was having a little trouble picking out melody from fill-in in Goschi's "Those were the days", everything blended well, maybe that is why everything fit so well. Thanks again,
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neilg Approved
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artcrocker wrote: So that being the case, does it follow that when one puts those little "fill-in" notes in a song to add interest and sustain to Half-Notes. Does one get those also from the chord? Not necessarily. Without getting too technical, the filler notes are called many things: non-chord notes, passing tones, neighbor tones, turns, grace notes, suspensions, etc. They generally serve the purpose of pointing up or smoothing out the melody or the harmony without always being an integral part of either.
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Will Approved
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artcrocker wrote: Ok, since I have heard this before "The melody is mostly there in the chords" I will work a little harder at finding them. So that being the case, does it follow that when one puts those little "fill-in" notes in a song to add interest and sustain to Half-Notes. Does one get those also from the chord? Guess that kind of makes sense, never occurred to me before. Since I was having a little trouble picking out melody from fill-in in Goschi's "Those were the days", everything blended well, maybe that is why everything fit so well. On some songs or tunes, the melody jumps back and forth rapidly between two notes, I have often found that I can rapidly alternate between a chord and open strings (I relax my fret hand momentarily, then fret the other chord). In other words, sometimes the melody notes can be found just on an open strings without fretting a chord. This works better if you play in certain keys; i.e., close to the "default" tuning of your instrument (C for a ukulele, G for a guitar). Here's an example... on "Walk Right In," the second time the refrain is repeated, "... Daddy, let your mind roll on..." I alternate back and forth between the A7 (fretted) chord and open strings: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/song_player.php?mode=song_hifi&type=song_id&a=true&id=10641
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ A Bunch Of Coconuts http://abunchofcoconuts.com |
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| ezFolk Forums > Ukulele > Beginner Questions - Ukulele > How do you find the melody?? | |
