Color Notes

In order to make melodies more interesting, overtime, composers found that delaying the arrival of the chord note, would create some surprise and embellish the chord note. They did this by first going to a non-chord note a second above or below the chord note and then going to the chord tone.

Now these notes have acquired names like appogiaturas, anticipations, suspensions, over time. However, I think that these terms would confuse everybody coming in contact with them for the first time. So instead, were going to call them color notes, use a very simple logic. They're either going to be above or below the chord note, either by a whole step or a half step.

The good news is that everybody has heard color notes and the kind of melodic words that they create. Let's look at color notes coming from above the note first. Click here to listen to the notes of the chord by themselves. Click here to listen to color notes from above the note moving to the chord note.

The most famous present example of color notes in a melody is "Landslide" performed by the Dixie Chicks. Click here to listen to the beginning of the chorus melody. The melody is the chord in second inversion, with a color note embellishing the chord note. Here's the melody without the color notes. Here's the melody with the color notes.

Now, when using color notes, you don't need to use them on every chord note. As a matter of fact, they're more effective when using them on only one note of the chord or two notes, skipping a chord tone in between. We'll start with color notes going to the 1 or root of the chord. Let's listen to the chord by itself first. This is a chord in first inversion. Now, let's add the color note listen to this example of a color note. This is a very popular one. We have a chord in first inversion. Before we get to the 1 of the chord, we go to the note above and then come down to the chord note.

In this next example, were going to use a color note on the third of the chord. First, let's listen to the chord by itself. Click here. Then, listen to this example. This is another popular one. The most famous example of this particular use of a color note is "When I Fall in Love" made famous by Nat King Cole. Now this color note has a particular quality in relation to the chord. It's the note that's responsible for creating sus chords. When you see Gsus or Csus,it really means G or C suspension. The F in the C chord or the C in the chord is the suspension.

This color note, going to the third of the chord is very popular in the creation of melodies. Click here to listen to just the color note going to the third. Click here to listen to another very popular use of this color note, going to the third and then going to down a chord in second suspension. A lot of songs have been written using this melodic word using this color note.

Next, we'll listen to color notes going to the fifth of the chord. Click to listen to one example. Now color notes going to the fifth of the chord can also be thought of as the sixth in sixth chords, which we'll cover later. Sixth chord are very important in pop melody writing because they outline important notes of the pentatonic scale and the pentatonic scale is responsible for a lot of music in pop music. So, in the 6th chords section we'll find that there are 24 variations in which this color note plays part. And as you listen to them, you'll recognize that many of them have become part of a lot of melodies. Sixth chords area great source to mine for melody.

Combining the use of scale segments and color notes, I'll outline some of the more famous color notes going to the 5th of the chord. Click here to listen to the most famous example. This was originally made famous by Chopin and later used in various pop songs. And here is a chord scale, going to a color note and then winding down on the 5th of the chord. This is basically outlining a pentatonic scale. In the sections that follow, I'll present what I call chord scales and 6th chords, and these will outline the best patterns based on the pentatonic scales.

Another very common use of color notes, which is used in the blues a lot, is taking a third, making a scale segment out of that third, and putting a note in between the last 2 notes. The notes in between regular notes in a scale are called chromatic notes. So, in the case of C, D, E you would put a D# between the D and the E. Click here to listen. If we did the same thing between E and G, we'd have E, F, G and we would put a note between F and G, an F#. Click here to listen. The D# and the F# are color notes.

Last but not least, there two melodic words that have arisen from using color notes in the last, that have become gotten an identity all their own. They are this one and this one. Many songs make use of both of these.

Color notes are very important for the creating of expressive and beautiful melodies. For the best use of color notes from above, try to space them apart by using chord intervals or a scale segments. Click here to listen to color note to chord tone, chord tone, chord tone. Chord note, chord note color note to chord note. Click here to listen.

Color notes from below the Chord Note.

Used less often, these are sometimes used in combination with the color note from above the chord note. Also, most of the time, they're chromatic. What that means is that they're not a natural part of the scale, but are a note in between. Click here to listen to an example with the 5th of the chord. As you can see, this is the 6th variation of a chord in second inversion. As we approach the G, we first go to note the below the G, the F# (F sharp). Now in the scale of C, the natural note would have been F. But using the notes a half step below seems to sound better when using color notes coming in from below the chord, so we used the F#. The symbol # is called a sharp.

Click here to listen to another example of a color note from below, this time using the root. In this example, the B goes to the C and then to the G. The B is not a chromatic note, but creating a natural semitone in the scale, B going to C.

Putting it all together

Click here to listen to a melody, all on the C chord, that shows color notes coming from below. They have a purple color to differentiate them from the chord tone. This melody is based on thirds and fourths in the chord going down.

This example is exactly like the one above, except in this one, the color notes are coming from above. Also, thirds and fourths coming down.