Quote:

How do songwriters come up with the vocal harmonies? They are just the salt, the frosting, the ketchup. (maybe you can think of some non-food analogies)

But I just can't to seem to envision them.

I have my words and melody, verse-chorus structure, chord progression, ritards, crescendos etc, but I need to be able to think up some vocal harmonies, because when I listen to songs, I love them so much.

Is it a matter of getting background singers to improvise, or is there an accepted method, a typical way to devise them?

Are there any musicians out there who can give me some guidance on this?

Kerkenat



I like your use of the term "ENVISION" regarding a sound phenomenon. But it works in the sense of conceptualizing something that is abstract.

When I have a hard time conceptualizing the abstract, I go to the nearest concrete example. BIAB's harmonist has already predefined just about every possible way to build a harmony. If you already have a melody, take some time to play and learn. Generate each of the harmony options with your melody, and take note of the results. After you get familiar with the possibilities, you'll begin to notice which types of harmonies are used in commercial songs

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ey71h8ep047758h/AAC12jNM0Hz9Q8zsh5iDeqNHa?dl=0