When humming a melody from, for example, a piano piece. It doesn’t have one single note, but several playing at the same time. Why can I hum a melody that sounds like the piece?
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Most music is a combination of chords and a melody. You’re most likely just humming the melody. On a piano the chords are usually played with the left hand on the lower notes, while the melody is usually played with the right hand on the higher notes. On a guitar you’re usually playing the chords on the guitar and then singing the melody. Often a band will have 2 guitarists, where one is playing “rhytm” which is the chords, and another can play the melody or a solo. The bass player is typically playing notes based on the chords, instead of strumming the entire chord at once, like the rhytm guitarist.
The melody is usually made up from notes from the scale of the key of the song. The key of a song, is the note that the song rests on. It might be the beginning and/or end chord of the chord sequence.
A scale is a list of notes that harmonise together based on the root note. There are many different types of scales. Most commonly the Major and Minor scale, that each have a different feel to them.
When someone is playing a solo they are typically playing notes from a scale in the key of the song, which makes them able of jumping quickly between notes that all fit with the song. Musicians will practice scales and know them instinctively, to how how melodies are made up and play along with songs they don’t know yet.
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