How can I add two middle voices if I have a bass and vocal melody?

Question

I am writing a song and have the bassline and vocal melody how I want them to sound and would like to add two additional voices to the arrangement. Could someone give me a few tips or some help on how to achieve this. The chord progression is Cm / Eb / Bb / Ab and then it goes to Gm just at the end before going into the chorus.

Here is just the verse section which I am working on. Please note that both the bass and vocals are actually one octave lower than notated. I am a baritone so would sing this melody one octave below where it is notated.

Answer 1

The most straightforward approach is to build the inner parts around chord tones. I would start by adding whole notes (which is to say, notes that last the duration of the chord) to build a harmonic framework. Additional notes can be added as neighbor and passing tones once the basic framework is in place.

So the first step I'm suggesting would look like this:

X: 1
T: Adding voices
T: Step 1: Whole-note chord tones
K: Eb major
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
%%score V1 | (V2 V3)
V:V1 clef=treble
V:V2 clef=bass
V:V3 clef=bass
[V:V1] z2 GG/2c/2- cB GE/2F/2- | FG- GG/2c/2 cB GE/2F/2- |
[V:V2] [CE]8 | [B,E]8 |
[V:V3] C,2 z C,/2C,/2 z C,3 | E,2 z E,/2E,/2 z E,3 |

The second step might look like Laurence's second example: just change the whole notes to half notes.

Answer 2

You want to add two actual VOICES - i.e. humans singing? Or are you using 'voices' as a purely musical term? What instruments would be playing these 'voices'?

Either way, I don't think we're aiming for a textbook SATB harmonisation here. You've got a vocal melody, you've got the sort of bass line that would suit a bass guitar. You could add a rhythmic accompaniment. You could add sustained notes. Or a combination of the two. Here's three suggestions. The last one brings in a bit of imitation, and follows the principle of one part being busy while the other sustains.

Hope they give you some ideas!