How to embellish your own melody arrangements

If you wish to add to your enjoyment and provide contrast to a single-note melody, try playing the melody in duet style.

All that is necessary is to add one note below the melody. Simple enough, provided that the added note is taken from the same chord.

Take, for example, this tune. Try it as a single-note melody:

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Now let’s add a note to each melody note, borrowing from the chord indicated in each measure. You may find a choice of two or even three notes to use, but let your ear decide which one to use. The result should sound like the familiar 2-part songs heard so frequently.

Use the same procedure for the following melody:

Let’s take another example, with just some of the harmony notes added:

In the first measure, at X, the note G could have been used as the duet, but instead, try using Bb and A. And in the 2nd measure, at X, A could have been used, but try E instead.

Those foreign notes actually are not part of the harmony, but provide a shortcut and a smoother progression for the duet part.

Let’s try one more on the duet subject:

Using the real harmony notes and a few foreign ones, we get:

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