How To Put A Medley Together ?

[pf400]

Merry Christmas Day. I have learned 20 Christmas songs fingerstyle and plan to put them all together in one medley, maybe more. Of course they are in various keys. Any advice on how to string them all together ? C and G being the most common keys. I tend to play almost all of them at slow/medium tempo.

[Craig Wilson]

I'm no help with the medley.
Just thought I'd say Merry Christmas from another Ottawan.

[drjond56]

In context: I am not a professional arranger, but I have done many of my own arrangements including medleys. I am a fingerstylist--I do not sing. I have some basic rules I follow, and for this discussion I will use Christmas examples.

1. I keep the medleys of manageable length. Usually two but never more than three tunes.

2. Some of the carol lyrics have two different tunes. Away in a Manger has Mueller and Cradle. You can put those in the same key and play back to back as a medley. O Little Town of Bethlehem has St Louis and Forest Green.

3. Sometimes I mix tunes which involve the related major and minor keys. I might have a G major tune followed by E minor followed by another G major. C major and A minor would work the same.

4. Your question on moving from one key to the next involves modulation. That can get into complicated theory. My rule of thumb is that I use the V7 chord of the target key as my final transition chord. So lets say that I am in the key of C going to G (It Came Upon going to First Noel). The arrangement I have of It Came uses C, F, and G progression. So I would end the tune on a C and then could modulate over 2 measures: 2 beats of C (I or root chord) 2 beats of F (IV chord) 2 beats of C and then two beats of D7 (V7 chord of the target key of G)--then start playing First Noel in the key of G. There are many formulae for doing modulations (ii-V7-I comes to mind). You can search the internet for more complete explanations than what I have given.

5. Don't forget about introductions and endings. There are various ways to tag these on to make the arrangement interesting. You can always use the last phrase of a tune as an intro. Sometimes for an ending I repeat the last phrase at half tempo. Etc, etc. Experiment.

Again, I am NOT a professional, but my stuff seems to work for me and folks who (infrequently) hear me play in public.

Good luck.

Jon D

[Robin, Wales]

There are no rules for key changes in a tune "set" or medley. There are some changes that work well for dance tunes like D, Em, G but you can get away with many others, even a one tone step can add energy. Dance tune sets are all in the same rhythm, but you will be switching rhythm as well as key. It would be worth simply experimenting with different combinations and seeing what works.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by pf400

Merry Christmas Day. I have learned 20 Christmas songs fingerstyle and plan to put them all together in one medley, maybe more. Of course they are in various keys. Any advice on how to string them all together ? C and G being the most common keys. I tend to play almost all of them at slow/medium tempo.

My suggestion:


Arrange the pieces (not all twenty in one go hopefully) one after the other but each separate. Perhaps some overlap between pieces if a smooth
and short transition given the keys, moods and tempos allows that.

I did a short medly of some of my compositions that were on one of my CDs but did not do it as ambitiously as I think you have in mind doing
but just did short fade outs between a part of each tune keeping the last tune a longer excerpt as a way to end things.

https://dcoombsguitar.com/Guitar%20M...tOutMedley.mp3

[Bob from Brooklyn]

Listen to side 2 of Abbey Road.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Just keep them all short.

[pf400]

Thanks all. Hey Rick your guitar sounds very close to mine (Martin GCPA4). I like the idea of fading out of one tune and into another.

[TBman]

I had done a very simple medley below. Maybe group your tunes by tempo?

[frankmcr]

The important thing in putting together a medley is to make sure all the songs are thematically related.

For example:

Do You Wanna Dance
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
Do You Know the Way to San Jose

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

The important thing in putting together a medley is to make sure all the songs are thematically related.

That is an option as is a diverse assortment.

[The Bard Rocks]

I prefer to not have more than 3 tunes in a medley and don't want too many of them in a set. A little goes a long way. Usually, I like them to stay in the same key and meter; it transitions easier that way, with less shock to the listener. But these are rules made to be broken.

Charlie Poole had a couple of medleys with way too many different melodies in them. And they worked: these were compendiums of well-known songs of the time and the audience got involved with figuring out their names before he went to the next one. To be less confusing both to the band and the those listening, he stayed in G and kept the same speed and meter.