Harmonizing all chromatic notes over one chord, 5 and 1dim subs?

[SammieWammie]

I need help with something my guitar teacher explained to me for use in chord melody/chord solos, about the ability to harmonize any chromatic note over one chord (so you could essentially do a chromatic run over one chord with a chord underneath each note). Well say in F as it's a handy key to go on the high string from F to the octave, going up the drop 2 inversions of the chord you get a 1 3 5 7 on the top, then with other F major voicings you can get a 1 2 3 5 6 7 on top, quite a nice sounding run if you play then in order, going up the scale almost but all in F. Then using the diminished voicings of the 5th of F, C7b9 (C#dim) going up the inversions the notes on top in relation to the F are 2 4 b6 7. This still works over an F chord, solo style at least. So that's almost a harmonized chromatic scale over F but it's missing the b2 b3 #4/b5 b7. Now what I want to know is how to get the rest of the chromatic scale harmonized. My teacher explained V subs, playing the C#dim over/with/transitioning between that and the F chord over the F chord which I understand. He then also explained i diminished subs, which I promptly forgot as I was thinking about the V subs. That was something else that allowed harmonized chromatic runs, but I forgot what it was so I've got no idea how to use it. Can somebody explain it, the theory and how to use it? Also I know how to use the V subs for major and minor (sounds really nice in a minor key) but that only gets some notes harmonized, also would you do it over a dominant chord? Does it work to use the 5th of a dominant chord how I explained before, because the dominant chord already is a 5th? I think. Well I just tried it and it sounded very interesting but I like to know the theory behind what I'm playing. Could somebody help me out with this? I think the whole substitution is using diminished chords as the subs, which give different notes on top but I need to understand the theory behind it to play it, well know what I'm playing so then I can improvise with it, help somebody?

Cheers

[JohnW400]

Fma7 , mostly drop 2.

E A C F (2211) Fma7/E
Eb A D F# (1232) Ebo7(ma7)
F A E G (3253) Fma9
E A# D# G# (2344) F#13 as a chromatic passing chord (3 of the 4)
F C E A (3555) Fma7
F# C# D# A# (4646) F#6
F C E B (3557) Fma7#11
G D F C (5768) Gmi11 (or F6/9/G)
F E A C# (X8X9 10 9) Fma7#5
A F G D (7 10 8 10) F 6/9/A
B E G# D# (999 11) Ema7/B
A F G E (X 12 X 10 8 12) Fma9/A

This reminded me a Bako's voicing thread.

Diminished, 7th chords, chromatic neighbors. Good excercise.

[JensL]

Don't forget to use the enter button, it's the second largest on the keyboard and makes long posts a lot easier to read thus a bigger chance of getting answers to everything you ask

Originally Posted by SammieWammie

I need help with something my guitar teacher explained to me for use in chord melody/chord solos, about the ability to harmonize any chromatic note over one chord

So something like this:

Melody note - chord.
F -F6
F# - C7
G - Fmaj7(9)
G# - C7(b13) or Bdim
A - Fmaj7
Bb - C7
B - Bdim
C - Fmaj7
Db - C7(b9)
D - F6
D# - C7(#9)
E - Fmaj7

You have more options, but I just tried to keep it a bit simple.

For the most part I agree with what JohnW400 wrote, but in a few places I'd choose different chords.

Originally Posted by SammieWammie

My teacher explained V subs, playing the C#dim over/with/transitioning between that and the F chord over the F chord which I understand. He then also explained i diminished subs, which I promptly forgot as I was thinking about the V subs.

I can only guess but in my example I am using two functions to harmonize the notes not included in the Fmaj7 sound: The Dominant (ie. C7) and The subdominant #IV dim (B diminished).

You need the #IV to harmonize the B and it is also often used for the G# and the E in the scale. If you want to "hear it in action" Check out the standard "If I should loose you" That makes use of it.

Originally Posted by SammieWammie

Does it work to use the 5th of a dominant chord how I explained before, because the dominant chord already is a 5th?

Yes. A G7 will resolve to a C7 no problem, the harmonization of the mixolydain scale would look a bit different but it still works. Think of tunes like "If I were a bell", "Take the A train". They both have a dominant of the dominant and then the dominant before going to the I.

Hope this helps a bit.
Jens

[bako]

A low string version. Probably not exactly what your teacher had in mind but fun.

FMa7------------------F#7----------------------FMa6/9-----------------F#9-----------------------FMa7b5----------------C9------------
A-E-F-X-X-X----------A#-E-F#-X-X-X----------F-D-G-X-X-X----------A#-E-G#-X-X-X----------B-F-A-X-X-X----------C-D-Bb-X-X-X
5-7-3-X-X-X----------6---7-4---X-X-X---------1--5-5-X-X-X----------6---7--6--X-X-X----------7-8-7--X-X-X----------8-5-8--X--X-X

F#sus---------------------FMa7------------------D#m------------------------G9---------------------C7#9---------------------F#9--------------
X-C#-F#-B-X-X----------X-E-F-C-X-X----------X-D#-G#-C#-X-X----------B-F-A-D-X-X----------C-E-Bb-D#-X-X----------C#-G#-A#-E-X-X
X-4---4--4--X-X----------X-7-4-5-X-X----------X-6---6---6---X-X----------7-8-7-7-X-X-----------8-7--8-8---X-X-----------9---11-8---9-X-X

FMa(add 9)
C--G-A--F-X-X
8-10-7-10-X-X

[fep]

Originally Posted by JensL

So something like this:

Melody note - chord.
F -F6
F# - C#7
G - Fmaj7(9)
G# - C7(b13) or Bdim
A - Fmaj7
Bb - C7
B - Bdim
C - Fmaj7
Db - C7(b9)
D - F6
D# - C7(#9)
E - Fmaj7

You have more options, but I just tried to keep it a bit simple.

For the most part I agree with what JohnW400 wrote, but in a few places I'd choose different chords.

Jens

That works well except I'm struggling with understanding; F# - C#7

How about Edim7, or B7b9 or C9#11

[JensL]

Yeah sorry that was a typo. I started with F#7 and thought it would be more clear to call it C7...

I fixed it in my post..

Thanks,
Jens