harmonizing crap
 

My friend wrote a little riff and wanted me to harmonize it, I'm relatively new to theory, but I thought I took a good approach, apparently not.

I noticed his melody was in C minor. So I thought I would Harmonize it in Eb Major, because they have the same notes.

C Minor: C D Eb F G G# Bb C
Eb Major: Eb F G G# Bb C D Eb

So I went through his riff and every time I saw a C, I would play an Eb. D an F, Eb a G....and so on. Well this sounded like shit. can anyone explain the proper way to do this?

What do you mean "sounded like shit", that should be properly harmonized in thirds.

well, it sounded kinda bad to me, perhaps because I downtune and all the notes are a step lower, maybe I lost something in translation....But still, some notes sounded pretty goo, but others were just dissonant sounding, and not in the good way.

Harmonies in 3rds sound badass. Try going up one interval, 4ths are sick and have a dark hollow sound to em.

can I swith back and fourth between thirds and fourths in one melody?

Totally dude! I actually have a riff where my harmony line bounces between 3rds, 4ths, and 5ths. Experiment with them, each have their own unique sound to em. The more you familiarize yourself with the sounds the easier and quicker you'll be able to find (and implement) the sound you're looking for when composing.

Cool. I've really just started getting into this type of stuff. But I'll give all that a try soon.

It's still harmonized mostly in those thirds...it turns out I was a half-step off on two notes...but I put two fifths in there to give a sense of resolve.

use 3´s and 4´s mixed together, it makes the melody sound more ... better. :homer:

Those keys use Ab not G#, but whichever...try it in 6ths. That means play the Eb below his C, not above his C.