Skip to main content
added 1152 characters in body
Source Link

If you simultaneously play the notes D, F and A, it very clearly sounds like a minor chord, D minor. If you play D, F and Bb, it sounds like a major chord, Bb major. Clearly like a sunny day, that's a major chord. If D is the lowest note, it's a first inversion Bb major. Calling it a minor chord would be very misleading. Well ok, how about D, F, A# ... but it still sounds like Bb major.

Edit. If the question wasn't really about simple triads but this D,Bb,C,F,A contraption, then I'd summarize it like this:

Harmony is a sum of its parts. All intervals contribute and work kind of stand-alone too, but the bass has special importance. So it's like a democratic vote, one man, one vote, but in the event of a tie, the chairman's vote decides. What we have in the D,Bb,C,F,A chord is: the Bb and F notes form a fourth, which points at Bb being a potential root. But D and A have a similar relationship and that points to D being a potential root. D-F says D minor, and Bb-D says Bb major. Who wins? Since the ingredients for both Dm and Bb interpretation are there, the bass note ultimately decides. If you voice the Bb as bass, then it sounds more like a Bb major chord. But if you swap octaves and put D in the bass, then it sounds slightly more like a D minor something. But it still doesn't sound the way augmented chords sound like. Augmented chords create a pressure or tension, expectation that at least one of the voices better take a step in some direction soon. That sort of feeling is not there in this D,Bb,C,F,A chord.

If you simultaneously play the notes D, F and A, it very clearly sounds like a minor chord, D minor. If you play D, F and Bb, it sounds like a major chord, Bb major. Clearly like a sunny day, that's a major chord. If D is the lowest note, it's a first inversion Bb major. Calling it a minor chord would be very misleading. Well ok, how about D, F, A# ... but it still sounds like Bb major.

If you simultaneously play the notes D, F and A, it very clearly sounds like a minor chord, D minor. If you play D, F and Bb, it sounds like a major chord, Bb major. Clearly like a sunny day, that's a major chord. If D is the lowest note, it's a first inversion Bb major. Calling it a minor chord would be very misleading. Well ok, how about D, F, A# ... but it still sounds like Bb major.

Edit. If the question wasn't really about simple triads but this D,Bb,C,F,A contraption, then I'd summarize it like this:

Harmony is a sum of its parts. All intervals contribute and work kind of stand-alone too, but the bass has special importance. So it's like a democratic vote, one man, one vote, but in the event of a tie, the chairman's vote decides. What we have in the D,Bb,C,F,A chord is: the Bb and F notes form a fourth, which points at Bb being a potential root. But D and A have a similar relationship and that points to D being a potential root. D-F says D minor, and Bb-D says Bb major. Who wins? Since the ingredients for both Dm and Bb interpretation are there, the bass note ultimately decides. If you voice the Bb as bass, then it sounds more like a Bb major chord. But if you swap octaves and put D in the bass, then it sounds slightly more like a D minor something. But it still doesn't sound the way augmented chords sound like. Augmented chords create a pressure or tension, expectation that at least one of the voices better take a step in some direction soon. That sort of feeling is not there in this D,Bb,C,F,A chord.

Source Link

If you simultaneously play the notes D, F and A, it very clearly sounds like a minor chord, D minor. If you play D, F and Bb, it sounds like a major chord, Bb major. Clearly like a sunny day, that's a major chord. If D is the lowest note, it's a first inversion Bb major. Calling it a minor chord would be very misleading. Well ok, how about D, F, A# ... but it still sounds like Bb major.