The Lorimer Legacy - Balance
A soloist must properly balance the roles between accompaniment and melody in any composition. A distinctive melody creates a clean and clear sound.
Most often, but not always, the melody is the top voice in a musical passage. Think of the choral voices of bass; tenor, alto and soprano. The soprano voice is where the melody most often exists but, as we’ll see other lower voices sometimes carry the melody and must be balanced appropriately.
So how do you bring one note out over another? It’s much easier than you might think. As you play the chord, think of flexing the finger that’s playing the top note farther into your hand than the other fingers.
To be able to add balance to your passages you’ll need a good right hand position and and an awareness of the finger’s range of motion. To enable the most efficient movement all fingers should move between the extended and flexed positions
To bring one note out louder than another the guitarist then needs to simply throw the melody finger farther into the hand, slightly farther than the flexed position. This ‘extra’ range creates more volume and depth to the desired voice.
If a guitarist plays with a shortened range of motion balance can only be achieved by apply more tension to one finger. So lets start by learning to balance the top note of a chord.
Extended Position
Flexed Position
First Step - Balancing a Chord
Even when there is no melodic voice, it’s important to bring out the top note of any harmony. Doing so will allow for all of the voices to be heard.
Here’s the sound of a C chord, first where the top note is played equally with the accompaniment. Notice the dull sound and lack of clarity in the voices. The chord immediately following is balanced, with the top note being loudest. Notice how much clearer the second chord sounds.
First, making sure that your nails are smooth, play the first chord above by flexing all fingers with equal force. Then play the second and think of pulling the A finger back farther. Listen, play, repeat. Adjust just how far you need to pull the finger to get the top note to stand out. Try until you can match the balance of the C chord in the above audio example.
Second Step - Melody in Top Voice of Chords in Pavana #3 by Luis Milan
Now, apply this concept of balance to a melody with harmonic accompaniment. Here are a few measures from Lius Milan’s Pavana No 3. First, I’ll play all notes equally. Listen to how unclear the phrase sounds. Now I’ll play the same phrase, bringing out the melody, which is played by the a finger. If you’d like to try it as you pluck each chord, ‘pull’ the a finger more towards the palm of your hand.
Study in Bm, Fernando Sor - Melody and Accompaniment
Often our music consists of melodies played in the context of arpeggios. A good example is Fernando Sor’s Study in Bm. I’ll bring out the melody, which is on the 1st and 3rd beat of each measure (stems up in the score). Notice how consistently the accompaniment is played at one, quiet level, leaving no confusion at which voice I want the audience to hear. Learning to play the accompaniment at a consistently low volume level will go a long way in balancing your sound.

Bringing out secondary voices can make the music more layered and interesting. In my second playing, in addition to the emphasizing the melody, I’ll draw attention to the pedal point, F#, that begins in measure 1 and moves up a 1/2 step, and back to the F# at the end of the phrase. Pressing this note slightly can give the phrase a bit more tension.
Opus 60, No 4 by Fernando Sor - Melody and Balance in Accompaniment
Recall earlier when I stated that any harmony or chord sounds better balanced, whether the top note is a melody or not? Here’s an example in the Fernando Sor study Opus 60, No 14, where the accompaniment’s top note should be brought out more than the lower note of the accompaniment, but not as much as the melody notes (stems up).
Here I bring out the melody note (with my a finger) the loudest, followed by the top note of the accompaniment (played by the m finger). Try to match my sound in the recording below.
Study No 25 by Ferdinad Carulli - Melody Juxtaposed in Varied Textures
The next manner in which balance should be studied is when the melody weaves through the accompaniment. The challenge in this case is to keep the melody volume consistent throughout, with or without the texture of the harmony.
Here’s a passage from Ferdinand Carulli’s Study No 25 from his Method for Guitar. The melody is in the top voice. Notice that the melody is both accompanied and unaccompanied. Balancing the melody with a chord or passage of varied density and placement is a greater challenge. Listen to my recording below and notice the clear distinction of the melody over the a one or two note accompaniment. Also, notice that when a passage is balanced the other moving voices can still be heard clearly, as is the case with the bass notes (stems down) in measures 8, 10, 13-15, and 17.
After you’ve worked on balancing the above exercises, try to play this piece while bringing out the melody.
Melody on a Lower String with Accompaniment on Upper String
One of the most difficult tasks is to balance a chord whose melody is played on a lower, closed string. In the following example, play both chords. Bringing out the G note in both requires you to balance first with the a finger, and then with the m. Try to make these two notes sound the same.
Phase II, Secondary Skills - Balance
If you are a Rosewood Member you can access my chapter on Balance in Phase II, Secondary Skills. There you will be given a six week course on balance that will fully integrate this skill, and it only takes a few minutes a day.