Improvising and harmonizing twin leads.

[Illuminatixvx]

Alright, first of all, I have no idea how to harmonize leads. Does it always have to follow the Iron Maiden formula? I was wondering how it was done on the older Opeth albums. What is the most important thing about writing twin melodies? What kind of notes should I use to write them?

And as for improvising: I understand that you take the notes of the chord you are playing over for your leads/solos. I just wanted to verify that you could use any note in a chord (the root or other melody notes) along with any notes in the scale to do this. And finally, I was wondering if it is important to always be playing a note from the chord you are soloing over when you are soloing in a measure. For example, you start off playing some of the melody notes but you move away from them into others notes and so on.

Thanks to anyone who answers…

 

[Leper_/-\ffinity]

Well, I come up with one melody, and then for second guitar, I just play around in the same key/scale in the same style until I hear something I like (while listening back to the first one).

 

[the alumnus]

the iron maiden formula of using thirds to harmonize is one method, but not the only way. its definetly the most common. thirds are good because they retain the strength of the original melody line. there are other ways, depending on the effect you wish to create.
slayer used fourths in the beginning of south of heaven. the intro to the song ride the lightning has interesting mix of 3rds, 4ths, and octaves. be creative.

 

[Leper_/-\ffinity]

Yeah, Ive tried being very formulaic with it before, and it always sounds really cliched and boring, so I just mess around and improvise over the first lead, and eventually Ill either hear something, or come up with a better first lead.

 

[Ravenous Enemy]

For riffs 3rds and 5ths work best. If you're on your own, find a line you like, then play the harmony line at the same time - itl probably be slower etc but you can hear how it will roughly sound. Once you've got the two lines you can record them separately or whatever. Another good thing to do is harmonise in 3rds say, then harmonise over the same line in a combination of 4ths and 5ths, for instance. Those are quite formulaic so another option is to play a line and then come up with a totally different one that happens to fit. That's what I do anyway.
With improvising, try not to be constrained by anything that's going on underneath - play an F# in C major if you want, just don't hold a note that doesn't fit with a chord for too long. Rav

 

[Illuminatixvx]

I usually just messed around with my twin melodies until I found something that sounded decent. I guess that was the best method after all.

Using thirds seems to work fine, too. I haven’t tried fourths or fifths yet, but I will have to give it a try.

As for improvising: I am getting better at it.

Thanks to everyone who responded.

 

[Indiooo]

Minor 2nds sound great.

 

[Ravenous Enemy]

yes but we're talking about HARMONY !

 

[sumairetsu]

yes but we're talking about HARMONY !

So, what's wrong with using minor 2nds? It's still a harmony.

Hey, have you tried using the harmonies below the melody you've written?

 

[Ravenous Enemy]

shut up :| !

Yes harmonies below the melody are useful to but it's just basically an inversion of the harmony above.

 

[Indiooo]

Yes, with minor 2nds you're still harmonizing.... Dissonance is a vague concept. lol

But yeah, it sounds like shit.

 

[Deliverance666]

This may be stupid, but what's the Iron Maiden formula? I'd like to know

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

Well, there's the "thirds" below technique you are mentioning. My theory book says that "sixths" below with the same melody is also a common technique. If you're just harmonizing the same melody at a different interval, just play around with different intervals until you find something you like the sound of. Like if you were going for a dissonant sound, maybe some diminished intervals or fourths.

 

[the alumnus]

This may be stupid, but what's the Iron Maiden formula? I'd like to know

step 1)write a catchy melody
step 2)have the second guitar harmonize each note of the melody a third above the original.

done.

 

[Deliverance666]

Ah thanks.

 

[SevenString]

Old Racer-X (when Bruce Boulliet was in the band) and Cacophony are great examples of bands that used my preferred way of harmonizing.

I basically come up with a solo, but my solos are usually based on specific patterns made up of shifting modes. The scales will fall in the key of the song, and will be adjusted to major, minor, or some exotic variation, depending on the mood. So If I intend to harmonize, I know that I have to come up with a solo that I can repeat at will.

Now, if I can do this, I can also easily play the exact same parts, only transposed up a 3rd, down a 4th, or whatever is required. Because I know how to play the 7 major modes, up and down the neck, harmonizing becomes second nature.

As a simple example, because I can play a 3 note per string complex pattern in Am at the 5th fret, I can also play that exact same pattern in Cmaj at the 8th fret, thereby automatically creating a musical sounding harmony.

Harmonizing arpeggios is a little bit of a different beast, although similar principals can apply.

This may be beyond what your asking for, but the old shrapnel players are kings of this because they know how to play those repeatable patterns.

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

Cacophony uses a lot of taking putting two different melodies together that work. I believe that's called Counterpoint. Espeicially in the title track for Speed Metal Symphony.

 

[SevenString]

true, but they also did lots of great harmony work.

 

[harrvester]

dude my lead guitarist harmonizes his leads all the time if it helps goto www.harrvester.tk