Harmony singing

no7

Hi Ken and all the guru on the forum,

  First of all, I have to say Ken's teaching had helped improving my singing way more than I could have imagined.  And the discussion forum is no less, which I'm very grateful to be part of the community.  

  I have a question about singing harmony.  It has always been a big mystery for me, and I hope you can point me a direction on how to approach it.  Thank you very much!

best,

Mark  

  

highmtn

no7,

Do you play guitar or piano?

Do you know what a major triad is?

A major triad is a three note chord, made up of the main note, and two more notes.  One would be an interval of a 3rd and the other would be an interval of a 5th from the base note.

When played or sung together you would form a major chord with these three notes.

Singing harmony is making chords from single voices singing together.

A major triad is just one simple example of a three-part harmony. 

Voices can make any chord you can make with any instrument.   You have to train your ear to hear the right notes and stay on your own part while others sing the other notes for the collective harmony.

I love to harmonize.  I'm often surprised that others may have a hard time with it.  If you just get used to it and spend a lot of time on it, it becomes natural for you, and you will "hear" parts in your head.  This makes it very easy to do.

Once you get the hang of it, you'll be on your way.

Bob

Kokonuht

Agreed with Bob. 

I personally LOVE harmonizing and I had no idea how to do it. Online websites / videos didn't help. I understood the whole major triad thing but I couldn't do it impromptu. I just kept listening to people singing harmony, tried to singalong to the harmonies and tried to harmonize every single song I heard. Of course it sounded horrible but you'll gradually get the hang of it.

Now when I hear most songs, I can "hear" the harmony and my vocal chords know which notes to hit

no7

thanks for all the info guys!

i agree its such a joy to be able to harmonize with friends.  i really love the interaction with other vocalist and satisfaction when it's done well.  It's a huge motivation to hear Kokonuht mentioned practice is the key.  i think i'm on the right track ) thanks Bob for giving such a in-depth explanation as usual!  

cheers,

mark

p.s. if you guys have any recommendation for a song/songs that helps you a lot in this regards, please share with us  

highmtn

Lots of songs by the Eagles, or the Beatles are good for this.

Also Billy Joels's "For the Longest Time" would be a good one.

 

Bob

no7

awesome, thanks for the recommendation, Bob!!