Questions tagged [chord-voicings]
For questions on how to arrange the necessary chord tones among an instrument or ensemble. Some questions may also require the voice-leading tag.
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Cannot understand this four-way close voicing example, is there a typo?
While reading up on four-way close voicing (part of Evan Rogers' Big Band Arranging series), I have encountered something I cannot quite understand, so maybe there is a typo in the article?
The ...
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How should I see these beamed notes?
the excerpt in the picture is four-part drop 2.
I do not know what to make of the beamed notes under Cmaj7?
The first stack of notes seems to suggest Cmaj7 alright, but 2nd and 3rd stack of notes seem ...
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How do you differentiate approach note from target note?
I am trying to get a grasp on differentiating approach notes from target notes in five-part solis voicing.
But definition of target notes seems to include tensions.
Then ambiguity is certainly ...
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How to find chords that imply a certain melody
While playing around with chord voicings, I came across something I particularly liked - an AbM7:
e --x--
B --4--
G --5--
D --5--
A --x--
E --4--
While fiddling around some more, I came across a ...
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For chord voicing, why can I not use 5 and b13 at the same time?
above is a picture of chord scales for primary dominant from the book I am reading.
Chord scale is just a scalar information of notes acceptable for making a chord.
The author says 5 and b13 cannot be ...
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What do you call a Cadd9 that also includes the 8th?
The other day I stumbled onto a chord I played between Bb and Dm. It is a Cadd9 but I also played the upper C, so the 8th.
So it's C E G C D.
The 8th is important to how it plays with various bass ...
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how do you find Roman Numerals out of voicings?
the author says "In measure 2, V7/IV has b9 in the lead, ...".
I guess then 1st chord of measure 2 is G-7, 2nd chord is 2nd inversion of I7 (V7/IV).
But this is a lot of guess work (to me),
...
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In quartal voicings, what makes a voicing minor, vague and dissonant?
As I was reading through a book, there was this line that went
"some vertical voicings are clearly minor, some are vague, and others pungently dissonant."
I was wondering, which notes make ...
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Do guitar players use the thumb to fret two notes when playing chords and/or riffs?
I’ve been revisiting an old chord book (Sal Salvador Chordal Enrichment & Chord Substitution ©1985) and on page 45 I found this:
It’s a nice chord but the first fingering is impossible. The ...
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How would you notate the chord G# F B E as a substitute for a G7 chord leading to C?
An example of this sort of sound seems to happen at the very beginning of Joao Gilberto's Aguarela do Brasil. And I have been using it a lot in my guitar playing recently. But I don't know what to ...
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Can multiple instruments make a chord?
This seems in line with the definition of chord
"three or more musical tones sounded simultaneously"
But do people commonly refer to a chord coming from multiple instruments? Then any set of ...
user94172
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Specific chord confusion: why the C# in Eb7 b9 13?
needing the expert help on the forum as I simply can't understand this. Following a vid, the player mentions he plays Eb7 9b 13 chord. The melody note is C, and he plays 1-3 (Eb, G) in left hand. What ...
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Adding a fourth chord in a 2-5-1 chord progression
Background
I understand this might be a rather vague question - and I apologize if it is too much so - but I am novice music theorist and think this question does have merit to it.
I am playing a 2-5-...
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"Major" progressions & "Modal" voicings (tonal vs modal) when building chords & progressions
im not asking "what i can or cannot play" as all music is subjective, but im asking for "theory" or "technical" reasonings.
people often say that they replace the 4/11 ...
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How do I play these chords? (Parentheses around chord symbols) [duplicate]
How do I play the chords I marked with red dots? First, in measure 4, can I alternatively play C#m7 and F#7? Why does it sound off with the melody then? Second, the chords in measures 8, 9 and 10, how ...
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Can't really find some chords in this song, are they that hard or i'm the noob? [closed]
Every time i hear a song or a version of a particular song i like i try to get it by ear but there is something here that is odd, i really can't get to sound like the girl in the following video.
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Piano chords with an octave in them
I rarely see people playing chords on the piano the way I learned in school, but they more often play chords with an octave in them.
For example, instead of playing C major as C E G, they play it ...
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Which D do I use with choral tenors
I'm writing an SATB choral piece and I want the voices to end on unison D's. I'm going for a low, rich, sonorous, powerful, truiumphant sound. I'm planning soprano and alto on D4 (just above middle C)...
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Use of natural and/or flattened/sharpened extensions
Im studying Paco de lucia at the moment and trying to dissect his songs and see what I can soak up and add to my wisdom of the guitar. I notice there are flattened and sharpened extensions literally ...
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Why is this a Gm7 chord?
I am studying some jazz piano licks and there are these inversions/variations and trying to understand how this is considered a Gm7 chords. There is no G in the chords and C which is not in a Gm7 but ...
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starting point for keyboard spread voicing
What is the best way to start learning open voicing (spread voicing) " Learning all nine chord types with all 4 formulas in 12 keys " is not for me ,as being of a senior age, I don't have ...
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Intervals and Inversions
I thought I had a pretty good understanding of inversions, until I ran across this tutorial video where he plays the following "inversions"
I understand that these are close triad voicings. ...
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How to choose the major, minor, diminished chords, etc. along the chord progression
This is a typical circle of fifths chord progression.
My question is how do we choose the chord to be major, minor, or diminished along with the progression:
A -> D -> G -> C -> F -> ...
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Shell and inversion notation for lead sheets
I am a beginner piano player here. I have been studying Barry Harris’s maj 6/ diminished chord approach. It seems that often you can have a shell in you left hand and different chord in the right ...
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Difference between *block chords* and *Barry Harris* voicings
I’ve been wondering for a while about the main differences between the so called block chords, and the also famous Barry Harris diminished voicings.
I use Barry Harris voicings all the time and the ...
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Notating the 3rd and 5th of an augmented chord
I am transposing a piano solo which is in A major. At a certain point (3rd beat of bar 7) the piano plays a dyad which consists of what I would normally call Eb and G natural (a major third apart). ...
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Voicing Freddie Green-style rhythms in jazz arrangement
I'm working on a jazz arrangement and i was thinking of a walking bass, brushes on the drums, some chord stabs and fills for the piano, but as for the guitar it's a bit difficult. I want to write in ...
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How to harmonize ^1 ^2 ^3 with VI V i in minor
I tried my best to harmonize this in minor and the best I could come up with was a VI without a 5th and a doubled 3rd. I am not sure if this is right. And did I write the doubled F correctly in the VI ...
user35708
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What is the function of Horace Silver playing a C Major 7 over a D7 chord?
In Oleo by the Miles Davis Quintet at 0:17, Horace Silver plays a C Maj7/D voicing during the D7 chord at the bridge creating a ?D11 chord (if I am transcribing it correctly !). My question is what is ...
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Completing a chord progression
I am looking to complete a chord progression of 3 chords that I try to identify first before continuing the progression. However having no theoretical background I am struggling if you could please ...
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Do the inversions of V7 always support the other 3 tones of the chord?
Since you can only use 4 notes in 4 part writing and the inversions of V7 must be complete then is it correct to say that
V65 supports ^5 ^2 and ^4
V43 supports ^7 ^4 and ^5
V42 supports ^5 ^7 and ^2
...
user35708
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Having trouble identifying the chords of sheet music
I've been having a problem trying to find the chords of sheet music.
For example, the song, All the Things You Are.
Question:
How did the person writing this know what chord is in each measure, it's ...
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Is it always necessary to include the root in a slash chord?
Is it always necessary to include the root in a slash chord?
I see slash chords sometimes that do not contain the root note. Is it conventional to do that in certain contexts? Here is an example.
...
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Why are scale degrees 1, 4 and 5 normally doubled in 1st inversion chords?
From what I understand, it is the 3rd scale degree along with the 1st and 5th scale degrees that are the most stable tones in a key so why in my textbook does it say that the 4th scale degree is used ...
user35708
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Equivalence of intervals with octaves between them
Say we play C4 and G4 on the piano at the same time, stop the notes, then play D4 and A4 simultaneously, then the quality of this sound is the same as the quality of the first.
To understand why that ...
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difficulty with chord spelling and voicing in Neumeyer's Hindemith analysis
This post is in reference to David Neumeyer's The Music of Paul Hindemith.
Please refer to the third chord of m.1 in example 3.12 (below). I see this chord spelled as C E E Bb. Having said that, I ...
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Not following Hindemith-type analysis
I am having trouble following the analytical methods applied in David Neumeyer's The Music of Paul Hindemith.
Please refer to example 3.12:
I would like to use one of the chord changes to put my ...
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E7 chord at 5th fret missing a B note
the E7 chord includes E G# B D. If we play E7 on the 5th fret, it is missing a B note. Could anyone please explain that?
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Chord progression versions and categories
I'm having trouble interpreting this chord progression. For example, the three different iv chords shown: does the bass note not affect the right hand? I can see that they are only using "A-E-C&...
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How to choose a chord voicing for a melody?
I am a songwriter and I'm trying to learn song arrangement and how best to voice chords for my vocal melody part. What considerations should I make when choosing a chord voicing for my melody? For ...
user35708
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Doubling notes in orchestration - inversions and extensions
Just a very quick question, because I've found similar answers about doubling notes (for instance, when arranging for four- or five-part harmony), but nothing specifically involving inversions.
So, ...
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Chord voicings used by backup trios in Motown girl groups?
On songs like Be my baby by the Ronettes or Will you love me tomorrow? by the Shirelles (a Carole King tune), there seems to be a standard style of arrangement where you have the lead vocals sung by ...
user9480
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Find a chord progression [closed]
I am looking for the chord progression that appears in this audio file.
There should be : G/D - Bm/F# - F#m, but I am missing one. Thanks in advance !
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How do I fix a last chord that has a doubled leading tone?
The chord is "V6 (i.e., first inversion) in Bb major", and has a "2/4" time meter.
So far I have been able to set up the four different voice parts as follows:
-Soprano: C
-Alto: F
...
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Do 11th chords change depending on genre?
In my training, I've always learned (and I still teach) that 11th chords don't have the chordal third; the dissonance between the 3rd and 11th (an octave-displaced fourth) seems to weaken the chord, ...
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What chord is Dm7 with a Bb?
If I have a Dm7 chord played on the 5th fret of a guitar as a barre chord and move my pinky to play the Bb note next to the A on the 4th string I have the notes
D Bb C F A
so basically a Dm7 with an ...
user35708
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Chromatic Passing notes in Tchaikovsky's Harmony book
From Tchaikovsky's harmony textbook, "Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony", page 98:
In the image below, why are the bars contained in the red box of example 258 considered good? The ...
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Why do open voicings of chords sound less dissonant/more harmonious?
I have been thinking about why open voicings of chords are considered to sound better than close voicings. Is it just because the frequencies are farther apart and thus we have a more harmonic sound, ...
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(How) Do the terms "open" and "close" position apply to chords with multiple doublings?
Based on Open/Close Position Chords: What I am missing?
a simple triad (no doubling) is in "close position" if the chord tones are packed as closely together as possible, and
in a four-...
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Single Step Voice Leading on Piano
I'm trying to figure out how to "properly" use voice leading. Specifically, I'm wondering how to progress by a single step (is that the correct way of saying it?).
For example, say I want ...
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