Glad it helps!

Originally Posted by: faith83

It's a song I'm writing. It has an echo/overlap for about a measure between the end of the last line and the beginning of the first. Neither chord alone works, nor does any combo nor does any other chord in the key. It seems to want the chords to overlap as well as the melody.

[p]If you can identify which notes of the chords the vocal melody (and, or harmony) implies, then you can find some practical combination of those notes that helps form a chord to play.

For example, if you are using the V chord as the foundation of a cadence (V>I), then you start with the idea of the note E as the bass, but add upper structure chord tones as desired from either chord. Higher notes can be from the melody or merely ornamental notes.

So, E (1st) & G# (M3), then adding for example a D & an F# from the D major chord gets you an E9 or Eadd9 both of which work great as a V chord.

|--2------7------2-----|

|--3------7------0-----|

|--1------7------1-----|

|--2------6------2-----|

|----------7------------|

|------------------------|

Quite often a dom11 chord works in those places though, like I mentioned in my previous post.

Or if you prefer the sound of the D in the bass as a plagal cadence (IV>I), then you start with that as a foundation & add notes from the E chord as upper structure ornamental notes.

So, D (1st) & F# (M3) & A(5), then adding for example an E or G# from the E major chord gets you a D add 9 or D6add#11 or Dadd#11.

|--4------4-------------|

|--3------5-----9------|

|--2------4-----9------|

|--0------4-----7------|

|----------5-----5------|

|------------------------|

Often using a 3rd inversion chord leads to a 1st inversion root chord: E/D (V4/2) moving to A/C# (I6).

|--4---5------------|

|--5---2------------|

|--4---2------------|

|-------2------------|

|--5---4------------|

|---------------------|

Point being, sometimes it helps a great deal to know what the next chord is to determine which voicing to use.

Hope that helps!