How many different ways can you harmonize a major scale? In other words, which chords will sound good to accompany a major scale on the ukulele? Are they diatonic chords, i.e. chords with notes in the same major scale? Or not? Here are extracts (excerpts) from my forthcoming book of progressive studies of harmonized scale exercises for fingerstyle high G ukulele.
Why practice scales
Is this a rhetorical question? Practising playing the notes of any scale on the ukulele will help you with the following:
- navigate the ukulele fretboard
- improve finger coordination and dexterity
- prepare for improvisation and soloing (through the addition of neighbor notes, passing notes)
- recognize notes through the mapping and placement of notes
How many ways are there to play a one octave major scale on the ukulele? For the C major scale, there are twelve.
Harmonizing the scales
But playing the notes in a scale is boring, you complain.
It isn’t boring if you can duet with someone else who accompanies you with chords. Or if you can play the scales with the chords, as in a “chord melody arrangement.”
Which chords will sound good with which notes? There are many ways to harmonize a scale. Below is just one way, with three obvious chords corresponding to the I, IV, and V of the major scale. You can add more chords, of course.
Chord melody arrangements of harmonized C major scale
Which chords accompany a major scale? This question got me thinking.
While teaching Ukulele Riffs & More, an 8-week course in Zoom, I began writing full-blown ukulele pieces to prepare and support the playing of chord melody arrangements, a fancy name for instrumental solos.
The 12 Progressive Studies for Fingerstyle Chord Melody for high G ukulele is the first of four books in a new Ukulele Exercise Series. Each exercise is one page in length with sixteenth notes. To make it easier for more players, I began to write new exercises which I have not yet offered or published, except as excerpts or bonus additions in the remaining three books.
Variations on a theme
Below is an extract of one such exercise, the first of five sections (rehearsal marks A to F). I call writing music an activity of “musical mosaic” for it truly feels like I’m choosing and cutting the pieces to make something new. Scroll to the bottom of this webpage to play the video recording of the entire five section piece.
Play it with a swing
How many ways can you “milk” a piece?
Take the same harmonized C major scale exercise and play it with a swing, as shown below.
Add additional notes
Another way to “milk” or make use out of a piece is to add notes, such as below. Notice that some existing notes were changed to fit better.
Harmonized ascending C major scale
Can you apply the “play with a swing” and with “added eighth notes” to another harmonized major scale exercise? Try this one shown below.
Next steps
As you can see, writing such harmonized exercises can easily fill another book. Here is the start of a new table of contents for these new pieces which prelude the existing 12 Progressive Studies:
- Ascending scale
- Descending scale
- Ascending and descending scale
- One harmonization
- Second harmonization
- Different meters: 4/4, 2/2, 3/4, 6/8
- Different rhythms: regular, with a swing, others
- Transpose the above into another key
- Other types of scales: minor, modal, exotic …
Practice suggestions
Explore the twelve different ways to play an one octave C major scale.
Use thumb and index finger or thumb, index and middle fingers to fingerpick. Do not immediately use all four fingers (pima).
Practice slowly to produce good tones from each note.
Increase the tempo.
More information
Get access to the sheet music, notification of new work, and table of contents of this Daily Music Writing Project.
