easy harmonization question - from the ashgrove

[Mr_T]

this will be a 2 second question for most people..

I've attached the bridge from traditonal 'from the ashgrove'. Just trying to pencil the chords, based on the bass line.

For the 8 bars, I have the following, but as full chords they're not sounding too comfortable.. G/D/F# half dim/D7/G/a-/a-7/D7

Am assuming this is an easy one.. working on limited knowledge.

Tom

edit: This was a badly written post - basically I'd be very grateful if anyone can confirm if the chords I've inferred from the bassline look right. I've removed that .png as it's appeared badly - should be possible to view PDF/midi files still. thanks very much. Tom

[Color of Music]

There will be some substituted chords which I will put in parentheses.

It's clear the piece is in G:

G-C(Am)-D7/F# ... G

I'm actually hearing a prolongation. [I'll get to that later]

G-C(Am): C and Am share the same function because of the relationship (Relative Major/minor)

Am-D7 [D7/F#]: the melody leads to a C natural (or a flatted seventh which is part of all dominant chords. ie: C-E-G-Bb; D-F#-A-C [C# is the leading tone in D, so flatten (Lower) it, it becomes natural]

The "/F#" part is probably what you meant although the F#dim triad is apart of D7. And it means that while the pianist is playing the chord (D-F#-A-C (natural)), the bass player (or left hand in solo piano) is playing something other than the root note. D7/F# means the left hand is playing the F#.

Then, of course, G.

However, upon hearing the tune, I feel that prolongation will make it sound better. Prolongation is just what it says: stretching the distance between tonics.

G-Gmaj7-Cmaj7-C6(Am7) / D9sus-D7-GMaj9-G /

Em9-Em-CMaj7-C6(Am7) / D9sus-D7b9-GMaj9-G /

I'll take that back. If you want to use the F#m7b5, you can. In my prolongation, I did:

Something that goes unnoticed when analyzing larger chords: [b]the smaller chords that make them up.)

That D7b9, I used or even a D9, contains an F#dim7 and F#m7b5. Look:

D-F#-A-C-Eb = F#dim7 + D; D-F#-A-C-E = F#m7b5 + D

Of course. we could break this down to its simple triads: Adim/D, Am/D (Normally, this is how you see 11ths and 13ths notated in pop/rock music.)

Back to prolongation:

Yes, I used extensions and color tones, but instead of four chords, there are 16 and you can see and hear the melodic structure within the harmony.

As for your chords being "wrong," they aren't. They only "sound" wrong, but could be more "right" then if they actually did sound right. You'll learn this when it comes to improvisation. To which the rule is: You're only a semitone away (above or below) from sounding right - ahem - I should say better.