Music Theory from ZeroMusic Theory
Chapter 18About 2 minAll chapters

Chord tones and everything else

The notes of the sounding chord are the most stable choices. Every other note depends on where you put it.

Part four is about melody. First question: which notes actually fit? The answer is simple — the notes of the chord that is currently sounding are the hardest ones to get wrong.

Parts one to three built the foundation. Now for the line that runs across the top of it. The first question is almost always "which notes am I allowed to use?"

The chord's own notes are the safe landing

While a C chord is sounding, singing C, E or G will not go badly wrong — the accompaniment is already playing them. Whenever you get stuck, returning to a chord tone lands. Even so, the same chord tone sounds different depending on the beat, the length and the register you put it in.

The notes of a C chord. They are the same notes the accompaniment plays, so none of them can be wrong.Buttons and keys in the diagrams play sound. Check your volume first.
In plain wordsChord tone

A note belonging to the chord currently sounding. It is the most stable landing point for a melody.

What about the rest of the key?

The key contains notes that are not in the chord — over a C chord, those are D, F, A and B. They are not "wrong" notes. Used as passing notes they give the melody movement. Held for a long time, they float away from the harmony.

The notes of the key that are not in the C chord. Play them in order: usable, but none of them settles.Buttons and keys in the diagrams play sound. Check your volume first.

Placement beats note choice

What matters is where a note lands, not which note it is. A chord tone on a strong beat (the downbeat from chapter four) sounds settled. A non-chord tone on a weak beat just passes through, and passing through sounds natural.

  • A melody over C, F, G, C

    C | F | G | C

A generated melody. It lands on chord tones at the strong beats and uses other notes to join them up.Buttons and keys in the diagrams play sound. Check your volume first.

Generate, then look at the piano roll and check which notes fall on the strong beats.

Generate over C, F, G, C
The one thing to remember

Chord tones on strong beats sound settled; other notes create movement. Placement matters more than which note.

Quick review

Everything here is answerable from this chapter. Pick an option and the answer appears straight away.

  1. Question 1

    While a C chord is sounding, which note sounds most stable?

  2. Question 2

    What sounds settled on a strong beat?