I’ve been trying to figure out some celtic tunes and I’m having difficulty figuring out which chord or chords to select for each measure. I’m fairly familiar with determining the key from the sharps or flats and how to harmonize the scale. Any hints on how best to find chords to play along with the melody would be very helpful.
As a heads up I’m trying to figure out Egan’s Polka in D.
Thanks!! Tony
Figuring out chords from sheet music
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Hi Tony Egan’s Polka AKA The Kerry Polka is traditionally played on the Tenor Banjo.
This may help you figure out the melody.
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Hey @PickerTony, have you seen the Hymn Studies lessons? Ben goes over interpreting chords from an SATB score in this segment:
https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/hymn-study-i-surrender-all-mandolin-intermediate/video/assessing-the-song
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Do you have a copy of the melody? This would be a good subject for a theory video. I would love to take a stab at this.
Mr g
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Hello @PickerTony
Looking at the link Ben posted, it is all played in D!
You either play the D throughout which could be boring.
Or you could play
D D D2 D
D5 D5 D2 D (and repeating the whole pattern).