3 Reasons why you shouldn’t Overplay a Song

As an instrument player in a band, what is your role? Is it to outshine all of your band mates? Is it to play your scales and arpeggios everywhere? Or is it to support the band? Well, The right answer is that you should play according to what the situation needs you to play. If there is a prominent vocal melody line going on, do not overcrowd the music with a lot of notes and instead support the vocalist with a sweet and short chordal based melody line. For another example, if the music that is playing is instrumental and mostly chords on the background, then you have the space to include your solos and explore different scale shapes based on the chords. Band is a team game and to understand it better, here are few reasons why you should not over-play a song.

1. Every instrument is filling up a certain frequency in the song in the song

We will start with drummers, they are the metronome of the song, the provide you the rhythm and as a bandmate you have to respect that rhythm and play something that goes on with that and not anything that you feel like. The bass covers the low range of the frequency bands. Now as a pianist and a guitarist, you have to decide what each one of you wants to do in terms of contributing to the song. Do you want to occupy the middle section or the high section or you want to harmonize with each other. Better you project your sound in a frequency unique to your instrument, better will be your output and as well your sound as a band.

2. Song can only have One Focal Point

As a band, when you cover a song or make your own compositions, you decide on the focal point of a song or in a part of the song? Do we need a guitar solo here or should there be more voices harmonising? Anyways, whatever is the decision, as a band your job is to make that focal point shine through in the song and be heard and understood by the listening crowd that this is what you are trying to portray in the song. In cases like this, as a backing instrumentalist, you have to play as minimal but meaningful towards the common goal, that is to make the song as soothing as you can.

3. Ask yourself, is it really required?

The final question that you should constantly ask is if it is really required in that song? If you are playing a lot of notes, do they actually play a role in the song? How can you just play enough so that other instruments can be heard alongside you. Yes, it does some experience but there are certainly some tutorials on the net and you can take help of those in understanding, how you should contribute to the band. As a band, you have to know, where are the parts where you have the liberty to explore and the parts you have to strictly follow what has been planned. Playing in a band isn’t an essay writing where you can improvise your content , it is a movie where you have to direct every part of it very carefully. Also, do check out the video given on the link which will help you understand better how to not overplay certain parts - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Rdzi2srkc

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Connecting Melody Line and Rhythm Chords

What is the relationship between the melody line and the rhythm chords?

Mix It Up

Don't just use chord tones (meaning, notes that are in the chord you're playing at the moment) and don't just use non-chord tones. Non-chord tones will give your melody a sense of momentum and tension, while chord tones will give your melody a sense of stability and release. Of the chord tones, roots and fifths have the most stability, while thirds and sevenths strike a nice balance. 

Too much of either is no good: too much tension and momentum, and you run the risk of your melody running out of control, which ultimately feels chaotic. Too much stability, and your melody will sound dull and boring.

Voice Leading

This basically means that your melody shouldn't jump around too much---a few big intervals are fine and can be really dramatic, but most of the time, your melody should stick to stringing together notes that are near each other. Otherwise it's hard for the listener's ear to keep up.

For example, say you're playing the A-D-E chord progression you mentioned. C# is the third of the A chord, and D is the root of the D chord (obviously). So a melody that plays the C# and then the D is employing voice leading.

Choosing Chords

So you have the opposite challenge: to pick chords to fit a melody. As before, there's no one right way to go about this, but again, here are some guidelines:

• Identify the notes in the melody that feel more stable as opposed to those that feel as though they have momentum and movement and use those to help inform your chord choices.
• Identify the few notes with the most drama. These probably shouldn't be chord tones, but might resolve to chord tones.
• Chord progressions have their own momentum and stability. I chords are stable; V chords have momentum. You resolve a V (or V7) chord to its corresponding I chord. Unless you absolutely know what you're doing, make sure your V chords resolve or the song will leave your listeners feeling unsettled.

Example: "Eleanor Rigby"

"Eleanor Rigby"---"Rig" and "by" are both chord tones, and the melody lands on "by" like a rock. That note is the root of the chord, and it provides a lot of stability for the melody, which is good because the next line is...

"Picks up the rice in a church where a wedding has been"---"Rice" and "church" aren't chord tones, and they have a lot of momentum. This line is almost like a roller coaster: "Picks up the" is the initial ascent, followed by a briefly held point of tension on "rice", then a quick fall, a quick rise, and then another briefly held point of tension on "church", another fall, etc. It ends on "been", which is a chord tone for the next chord (the IV chord). Stability and release after the tension and drama of the roller coaster. Paul knew what he was doing.

Summary

These are only techniques and ideas on how you could come up with fitting tunes and chords. However, ultimately you need to be happy with the music created - simple or complex. 

BlueTimbre is a Music Company with Music Education spaces, Jam Room and Recording studio located in India. BlueTimbre provides complete end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running structured businesses, music curriculum development, music education and performance.

Source: 

https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/2595/what-is-the-relationship-between-the-melody-line-and-the-rhythm-chords