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ChristopherSchlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,368
ChristopherSchlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,368
05/07/2015 1:34 pm
Originally Posted by: icebreaker1588I wanted to layer the melody that I made.[/quote]
You have 2 basic options here.

1. Harmonize the existing melody.
2. Create a secondary, counter melody that compliments the primary melodic line.

Or you can create a composite of both options.
Originally Posted by: icebreaker1588Is there a way for me to use the same major pattern but in a different key that sounds more bassy, but would compliment the higher pitched major c scale i'm using?

Using the same major scale (in any pattern) means to use the same key. And typically this is precisely what you want to do: keep all the material happening at the same time in the same key.

And the term to describe this is harmony. :) You want to harmonize the melody in a lower register.
[QUOTE=icebreaker1588]Or do I need to go back down the neck and find the same notes in the melody just in a lower octave than the first?

Yes, that's one way to do it. Playing exactly the same note letters, or a better way to think of it is, playing the same scale degrees an octave lower is called doubling the melody at a harmony of an octave below.

Or you can use triadic harmony to play different scale degrees, but from the same scale to create an interesting harmony.

I cover creating harmony guitar parts in these tutorials.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1965
https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2000
https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2014

And for a more complete conceptual understanding of how harmony works have a look at my tutorial on the basics of music theory. Harmony, and specifically triadic harmony, forms the basis of how we build scales into chords, chord progressions and harmonize melodies in music.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=495

Hope this helps. Please ask more if necessary. Best of success!
Christopher Schlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor

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