mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 09/21/2020:  15:09:36

Here’s a method I devised for finding and playing melodies in multiple tunings on the banjo. This discussion seems to come up often on BHO.

Let’s begin by saying all songs are in a particulars scale, for example, Ionian, Aeolian, Dorian, Mixolydian and Modal, and also in one of the 24 possible keys, 12 major and 12 minor that is, wew!. The scale or mode of a song along with the rhythm determines it’s emotional feel and the key that it is played in is found by its singer to be the most favorable for his or her’s individual vocal range. (BTW instrumentals are put in the best key to exploit the physical layout of the instrument in hand.)
Melodies to songs basically just mix up the the notes of the scale pattern that they are in.
We take a basic major scale song built on Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti which we will rename those syllables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and map out the order that those interval numbers are sung in. In writing a melody there are no rules that say you must have C as the lowest note or C the highest note, for example if you’re in the key of C the width of the melody total numbers use can be very small, take a look at Mary Had a Little Lamb versus the Star-Spangled Banner. Their vocal range are polar opposites.

Notice that songs begin or end on either 1 3 or 5 99% of the time and if the chords to the tune are known they will suggest the following: lots of 1 3 5 during the I chord, lots of 1 4 6 during the IV chord and lots of 2 5 7 during the V chord.

The PDF shown has some of the most common banjo tunings listed and shows where the melody intervals are located. The color system is my own little invention with red being low pitch notes, black being median notes and blue being high pitch notes. By looking at the example songs provided you can see right away by the colors that some songs stay within the common one octave median black area where others go low (red) or high (blue).
At the top of the PDF is a picture of a piano keyboard with the location of the colored melody numbers given in the key of C. IMO the piano is the best visualization reference for all music theory. Of course a lot of people won’t have a piano but a small electronic version can be easily bought for around $120 at Target, Amazon, etc., the best brands being Yamaha and Casio. Virtual pianos can also be found on the internet and of course apps. On the piano you can play any song in any key because of the number of notes available are very large but on the banjo there is only about one octave normally available between the lowest open string and the highest open string not counting the drone. So for ease of playing getting the right open tuning has to be considered for each song in order for the melody to lay out nicely on the fingerboard in the first position.

Colored Melodies

Master Theory

NealR - Posted - 09/21/2020:  15:40:32

I always enjoy your post on music theory.

Thanks

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 09/21/2020:  17:29:30

quote:

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Originally posted by NealR

I always enjoy your post on music theory.



Thanks

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Hopefully we'll get a lot of questions and "put this puppy to bed", here's a thread from years ago.

banjohangout.org/archive/256125/1

Fathand - Posted - 09/22/2020:  15:42:09

I always get lost quickly on you music theory posts.

My method is there are 12 notes in a chromatic scale. I hunt and peck through them until it sounds like the song to me. Then I ask my wife who has a better ear than I do and she will often correct me.
Seriously, I am glad there is someone here trying to teach us advanced theory but it quickly flies over my head.