Learn to add Parallel 3rds to your tool box of piano arranging techniques

 Here is a transcript of the video, in case you would like to follow along:

Good morning, this is Duane and today I’d like to talk about piano arranging techniques – and a simple one is the use of parallel 3rds under the melody of a song. Parallel 3rds are a wonderful way to make a melody sound fuller.  You know what a 3rd is, it’s an interval of a 3rd based on any scale. In other words that’s a 3rd, that’s a Major 3rd, that’s a Minor 3rd. That’s a Minor 3rd, but they’re all 3rds.

That’s a 3rd, that’s a 3rd, that’s a 3rd. It can be a black key and a white key, but those are 3rds. What you can do is take a melody like this. That’s a song called “You Are Too Beautiful.”  Instead of just playing a single note like I did then, you can put a 3rd into the melody like this.

I’ll do a little higher there so you can maybe hear a little better. My left hand is using  an easy chording pattern. Now, this right here, you can’t use the 3rd there. You just play a single note and then you can get back to it as soon as it is possible.

Now this melody, look at what it does. It goes right up the C chord, so it forms a C chord. When you see that coming, then use the whole chord. Again, a 3rd is simply an interval of a 3rd under the melody, not above the melody.

You could do it above the melody. There was a famous pianist that did that, but you have to be good because you have to make the melody standout. Usually, the highest note stands out, the top note, but I wouldn’t advocate doing that when you’re getting started.

That’s one arranging technique to harmonize a melody and you can use it on a zillion different songs. Let me play a little. Oops, that didn’t work. So you can’t use 3rds all the time but you can use them a lot of times to harmonize a melody.

My little tip for today, if you enjoy these little short tips, come on over to playpiano.com and sign up for our free newsletter. We’ll see you there. Bye, bye for now.

Here is the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUjrt44z1pE&feature=youtu.b

__________________________________________________________________