Things You'll Need:
- Staff paper
- Piano, electric keyboard, or guitar
- Basic knowledge of music theory and aural skills (i.e., the ability to transcribe and transpose a tune)
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Step 1
Using the piano or keyboard to help guide your ear, write down the melody of the song on the staff paper. Use any major key you like.
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Step 2
Transpose the melody into C major. Rewrite it on a new piece of staff paper.
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Step 3
Play through the melody a few times to figure out its “harmonic rhythm”—how often the harmony changes. For most songs, the harmony changes once every measure, but if it is a slower or more complex melody it might change more often than that. Trust your ear.
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Step 4
Make a mark on the staff paper where each harmonic change takes place. Study the notes between each mark carefully.
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Step 5
Most melodies use only three or four chords. The most common chords are the tonic (I), the dominant (V), the subdominant (IV), and the submediant (VI). In the key of C major, these chords are C major (with the notes C-E-G), G major (G-B-D and sometimes F), F major (F-A-C), and A minor (A-C-E), respectively.
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Step 6
By listening to the tune and studying the notes in each measure (especially the notes that fall on the strong beats), you should be able to figure out which of the above chords fit with each harmonic change. Then, simply plug in the right chord in the appropriate place.
