What this post is about
Topics you will learn about
When my advanced piano students ask me about harmonizing and arranging techniques, they really want to know how to harmonize those melody notes that fall between the written chord symbols. We call those resulting harmonies passing chords. It is something jazz arrangers are very familiar with.
We can easily find many chords for the same melody tone, especially when we allow for chords that are outside the key. However, simply throwing them together randomly would likely not sound credible to our brain, which prefers structure.
One method to create smooth-sounding connections between chords is by using a chromatically descending bass line. In my solo piano arrangement, 'In A Sentimental Mood,' I often employ this technique. In fact, it inspired me to write this post and create a video that shows exactly how I did it so you can use it in your playing and arranging as well.
You can find my piano solo arrangement of 'In A Sentimental Mood' by clicking on the button below.