Want To Learn How To Harmonize? Start Here

If you’re not a natural harmonizer, it can feel super difficult to learn how to harmonize. You might feel yourself always ending up on the main melody again anyways or singing notes that are dissonant and don’t work together with the music. So let’s break harmonizing down and look at some of the best practices to learn harmonizing.

What Is Harmonizing

Whenever you’re not singing the main melody, but rather an alternative melody that goes together with the main melody and the music - that’s harmonizing. That means you have to make sure that the notes you’re singing don’t just fit with the melody, but that they also work together with the chords (the music) as well!

Types Of Harmonies

Parallel Harmony

This is when the shape and rhythm of the harmony matches the melody. When the melody is going up, so is the harmony. When the melody is going down, the harmony is going down too. They move together in the same direction.

Counter Harmony

When singing a counter harmony, you’re going in the opposite direction of the melody. These kinds of harmonies are a lot more difficult to create, so I definitely don’t recommend starting here.

Pedal Tone Harmony

This is when you’re staying on the same note (maybe up or down by one note, but mostly on the same note), while the melody moves up and down. This is a great way to start learning how to harmonize as it will teach you how to stick to your notes without all of a sudden ending up singing someone else’s part.

How To Get Started

The best way to start learning how to harmonize is by singing harmonies that already exist. This will make it a lot less overwhelming and more like you’re just learning another melody. But it will also train your ears to hear a specific line in your song that you otherwise wouldn’t have paid attention to. It also helps you stay on track without reverting back to the melody because you can hear someone else on the recording singing your harmony.

Once you feel good about that, start creating your own harmonies to songs you already know really well. Start by finding notes a third or 4th higher from the melody - that’s usually the easiest way to get started.

Now please note that some songs are easier to harmonize to than others - even within songs certain sections are easier or more difficult to harmonize to. So if you’re feeling yourself getting stuck anywhere, try a different song.

The Role Of Music Theory

While you don’t need to know any music theory to learn how to harmonize - you can do it all by ear - it can be very helpful to know some music theory as it will teach you which songs go together and which ones don’t. So I definitely recommend learning about chords and scales if you’re serious about learning how to harmonize

You’re Only Ever A Half Step Away

Because harmonies are built on scales and chords that means that whenever you’re hitting a “wrong” note, you’re only a half step away from the note that works. So don’t beat yourself up over singing the wrong notes. Keep trying and just move your note a half step higher or lower and you’ll have a harmony that works with the melody.

🎧 Check out the full episode plus examples on harmonizing here:

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