Changing oom-pah to match melody

[Owen Anderson]

Another, perhaps basic, question inspired by trying to arrange for Anglo.

 

I'm working on an Anglo arrangement starting from a melody + guitar chords, and running into a measure that is giving me trouble. The bar is a-a-c'-c', accompanied by a Fmajor chord. I've arranged most of the song with straight forward oom-pahs, but here I'm finding that the normal pah (A/c) doesn't sound great against the c' in the 3rd count of the measure. I'm guessing this is because of the octave correspondence between the c and the c'. So I'm considering rearranging the oom-pah to put c on the 1st count, and F/A on the 3rd count of the measure. Off the bat this sounds somewhat better to me, but the 1st beat sounds "thin", since it's two high notes.

 

Is this... a thing? Is there a better solution?

Edited May 13, 2022 by Owen Anderson

[David Barnert]

How about leaving the c out of the “pah” and either just playing the A in the 2nd half of that beat or the A and the higher F (or Eb, if you can get away with it)?

 

Edited to add: I wouldn’t present the F chord with the C in the bass. Yes, it’s a thing (it’s called a 6/4 chord, because it has intervals of a 6th (A) and a 4th (F) above the bass note). But 6/4 chords are considered unstable, dissonant even, because of the 4th above the bass. 6/4 chords generally want to resolve to 5/3 chords (CFA -> CEG).

Edited May 13, 2022 by David Barnert

[Little John]

8 hours ago, David Barnert said:

... or the A and the higher F

 

That's what I would do; so you get all three notes of the F major chord with nothing missing and nothing duplicated.

 

8 hours ago, David Barnert said:

I wouldn’t present the F chord with the C in the bass. Yes, it’s a thing (it’s called a 6/4 chord, because it has intervals of a 6th (A) and a 4th (F) above the bass note).

 

I would, but only in specific circumstances. 6/4 is terminology used in baroque music, more usually called a second inversion nowadays. And 6/3 is a first inversion. Both useful, particularly to give a flowing bass line. So, for example, I would play Phil Cunningham's Miss Rowan Davies with chords

 

G, F#(6/3), Em, D(6/4), C, B(6/3), Am, D etc.

 

Equivalently, using (for example) D(f#) to represent a D major chord with F# as the lowest note,

 

G, D(f#), Em, G(d), C, G(b), Am, D etc.

 

[David Barnert]

9 minutes ago, Little John said:

6/4 is terminology used in baroque music

 

Much more than just baroque music. Every concerto for soloist and orchestra from the mid 18th century all the way through the 19th has a big 6/4 chord before the cadenza, and the cadenza ends in a trill on the dominant (5/3) chord, resolving the 6/4 that’s been hanging unresolved since the beginning of the cadenza. But you pretty much never hear them in modern popular or folk music, except (as you say) as a passing chord when a stepwise moving bass line requires it.

[Owen Anderson]

I wasn't actually proposing changing the tones of the chord, just the order of play. So I while I would be moving the c to the 1st beat, it would not be the lowest note of the chord. To make it an inverted chord, I think I would need to make the oom "C," instead of c. 

[David Barnert]

11 hours ago, Owen Anderson said:

So I while I would be moving the c to the 1st beat, it would not be the lowest note of the chord.

As you’ve already discovered, this is not an ideal solution.

On 5/12/2022 at 8:15 PM, Owen Anderson said:

...but the 1st beat sounds "thin", since it's two high notes.

 

[Mikefule]

There are many options including playing an "Oom oom" (2 bass notes) or a "pah pah" (2 pairs of notes).

 

Another option is a lacuna: play no accompaniment for a beat or even two

 

However, in the flow of a tune, playing an unusual inversion to "get you there" usually works.

 

You are thinking of a fraction of a second, a fleeting moment, in the tune.  There are 3 possible outcomes:

• It sounds right: good result.
• It sounds unexpected but does not clash: that adds interest and is a good result.
• It clashes: try something else.

Another consideration is that the suggested chord in your sheet music is not the only option.  If you're playing the notes A and C, how does A minor sound, in context?

[gcoover]

Or you can also briefly play octaves along with the melody, or maybe thirds, just a little interlude that sounds planned but is often due to not having the right notes in the right direction.

Edited July 16, 2022 by gcoover

[wunks]

On 5/12/2022 at 8:15 PM, Owen Anderson said:

Another, perhaps basic, question inspired by trying to arrange for Anglo.

 

I'm working on an Anglo arrangement starting from a melody + guitar chords, and running into a measure that is giving me trouble. 

So, what is the guitar doing?  If it sounds good try that, maybe deconstruct the chord a bit.  What kind of a tune is it?  

 

On 7/15/2022 at 6:48 AM, Mikefule said:

There are many options including playing an "Oom oom" (2 bass notes) or a "pah pah" (2 pairs of notes).

 

Try this sequence;  "oom pah, oom pah, oom oom oom pah!