Thank you for your interest in the song, I Need The Every Hour.
This breakdown lesson will focus on how the Hymn, I Need Thee Every Hour, can be harmonized and accompanied on the piano.
I want to believe that you are already familiar with the melody, so, I’ll jump right into its harmonization using the traditional approach.
The Traditional Approach To Harmonizing I Need Thee Every Hour
Harmonization is interesting because when the song is played, you still hear the melody.
Additionally, you’ll also hear full-sounding chords behind every melody note. In this segment, I’m going to show you how to harmonize the Hymn song, I Need Thee like a classically trained player.
Attention: Although this is for beginners, it is not for the very basic beginner. It’s for those who are fairly grounded in major, minor, diminished, augmented, and dominant chords.
A Breakdown Of The Verse
I:
…need:
…thee:
…e:
…-very:
…hour:
Most:
…gra:
…-a:
…a:
…cious:
…Lord:
No:
…ten:
…-der:
…voice:
…like:
…thine:
Can:
…pea:
…-e
…-eace:
…a:
…fford:
Attention: I hope you are enjoying this short lesson. How does that sound? Good? Alright, let’s harmonize the chorus!
A Breakdown Of The Chorus
I:
…need:
…thee:
…oh:
…I:
…need:
…thee:
…E:
…-very:
…hour:
…I:
…need:
…thee:
Oh:
…bless:
…me:
…now:
…my:
…sa:
…vior:
I:
…come:
…to:
…thee:
A Traditional Accompaniment To I Need Thee Every Hour
We’re going to be accompanying the song, I Need Thee just like a classically trained musician would.
So, we’ll be using very basic chords to create accompaniment that can be played behind an instrument or voice.
A Breakdown Of The Verse
I:
…need Thee every:
…hour:
Most:
…gracious:
…Lord:
…No:
…tender:
…voice like:
…thine:
…can:
…peace:
…a:
…fford:
A Breakdown Of The Chorus
I:
…need thee, O I:
…need Thee:
Every hour I:
…need thee:
O:
…bless me:
…now, my:
…savior:
…I:
…come:
…to:
…thee:
Final Thoughts
This is just one of the many ways to approach the Hymn, I Need Thee Every Hour and I wrote this blog post with you in mind and I hope you found it helpful.
On behalf of my mentor and role-model, Jermaine Griggs, I want to thank you for investing your time in going through this lesson and I want to encourage you to practice this approach in as many keys as possible — until, eventually, you can effortlessly play it in all twelve keys.
I’ll see you in the next lesson.
