12
You're still holding the C root at the bottom, so calling it a C chord of some sort is justified. You eventually also hold E (not F), B flat, D, and A at the fermata signs, so calling it a C13 chord (which should contain C, E, B flat, and A at the very least) is also justified.
The C13 chord symbol looks fine.
9
That chart seems to be using a jazz chord convention mixed with Roman numerals for roots on scale degrees.
In that system:
plain 7 means dominant seventh chord where the triad is major and the seventh is understood to be a minor seventh.
-7 or m7 means minor seventh chord where the triad is minor and the seventh is minor.
M7 means major seventh chord ...
6
Work out the chord shape? That's not always possible from piano music to guitar.
Work out the chords themselves is easier. First is to establish what key the piece is likely to be in. Here, with 5 flats, it's either D♭ major or its relative B♭ minor. You can read the dots, so in the first bar, there's predominantly B♭ F and D♭ notes. ...
6
Since you can read the notes, you can quickly work out that the first bar is Bbm. Half was through the next bar might just be Ab or potentially Absus4. Then the next bar Gb7. You have to analyse each bar or half bar. There will be passing notes and extra notes that don't need to be included in the guitar chords. You have to decide what sounds right to ...
4
The names Italian, French and German have a sure and certain origin. They were coined by John Wall Callcott in his "A musical grammar", oublished in 1806. Or, better, he quotes the first (italian) from tradition, and coins himself the other two. Very simple!!
4
If you want to use a scale, use Mixolydian.
But I prefer referencing a chord, a dominant thirteenth chord (from a major scale.)
The jazz chord name system doesn't reference any key or scale (the chords are never in major or Mixolydian, or whatever) so I think it's more logical to reference a default chord rather than scale.
So the reference chord, the ...
4
Chord symbols are absolute. The set of pitches defined by a chord symbol is not relative to any context like key or scale. If you have an Em9 chord, it means the notes E, G, B, D and F#, and to play it you don't have to look at a key signature or anything.
If you're playing an Em9 chord, then you can't be "using" E phrygian, that's a contradiction. It's ...
3
For the most part, using chords shouldn't be about what sound you want, but what purpose the chord has, or where it lies in the key signature. For example, you would probably use a m7b5 or diminished triad as a leading tone chord if you wanted to as a dominant functioning chord, but you wouldn't just base a m7b5 or diminished chord on the fourth scale degree,...
3
It can be used for that reason. The major scale, for instance, has an interval vector of <254361>, and we can expect that a collection with 6 instances of ic4 (the perfect fourth/fifth) and only one of ic6 (the tritone) will in some sense be more consonant than a collection without any instances of ic5 but several of ic1 (the minor second).
But there are ...
3
The "m" only modifies the third of the chord and it does absolutely nothing to any other note of the chord. Chord symbols are used to describe chords, not scales. In Cm, "m" makes the third an Eb instead of E. When counting the steps, major scale based on the root note is assumed, except that "7" means minor seventh by default, and "maj7" is a major seventh. ...
3
CAGED is a cute mnemonic.
I think mneumonics too often substitute for learning a fundamental.
CAGED is a bad idea instead of just learning two simple chord voicing concepts: closed voicing like an open C chord, and open voicing like an open E chord. (Unfortunately, "open" is a bit confusing in the previous sentence, it is used both to mean "open strings ...
3
The left hand part is just power chords (= root + fifth) so you can probably get away with just playing the root note (since the fifth is implied by being present in the overtones).
If you want to play full triads, then look to the key signature and the melody to find whether it's a major or minor chord.
2
I disagree that Ab/C is a useful way to label the first chord, at least in the context of Laura Palmer's theme. It completely obscures the modal flavour of the composition. Someone above described it as being in either C Aeolian or C Phrygian - in my interpretation, it is unambiguously in C Aeolian.
C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - Bb
There is in fact space for a ...
2
When looking for a new, interesting harmonic colour in a piece of music, we don't go through a catalogue of 'permitted' modal interchanges. We MIGHT think 'let's try this chord shape shifted up or down a step'. Or perhaps 'let's try this chord with one (or more) notes slightly shifted'. Or even 'what's the GREATEST contrast I can find to the home chord?' ...
2
In this particular case the job is easy. The LH has a simple series of open 5ths. We can assume these are the root and 5th of the chord. So bar 1 and the first half of bar 2 are a B♭ chord, moving to an A♭ chord in the second half of bar 2.
Now look at the melody. If the first chord was B♭ MAJOR we'd expect to see some D♮ notes....
2
When part of a chord symbol, 6ths (13ths) are always assumed as major, just as sevenths are assumed to be minor. I think a good general rule is that all extensions come from the mixolydian scale on the root if no other qualifying symbols are given.
C6 has an A♮, so does Cm6. X6, for whatever reason, is always X triad with an added major sixth. Not a ...
2
Working with jazz chord symbols like Em9 or Emb9 is a separate system than being in a key or mode.
With jazz chord symbols I think of all signs in reference to a dominant 13th chord in major (ex. G B D F A C E G). Signs like min, #, b modify those default intervals. 9 by default is a major ninth. A flat sign b in b9 is a modification to lower the default ...
2
You could well be in A major. Does A major feel like home? ♭III is a frequent visitor to a major key.
Try adding another common interloper, ♭VII. So you'll have Amaj Cmaj Dmaj Gmaj Amaj. Nice?
Non-diatonic chords don't necessarily change the basic tonality. And chord progressions don't HAVE to fit a 'circle of 5ths'.
2
Let's look at modes from a parent key perspective. You ask about Ionian V and Lydian V. In C Ionian, (taking its notes from key C major) the V consists of G B D F. C Lydian V (taking its notes from parent key G) is G B D F♯. Difference between both is the F note.
In the first, the chord is named G7, a dominant chord in that key. The base triad is a ...
2
To understand the determining factors that constitute what is a V7 chord and what is a VM7 chord, we need to look at the step patterns, half step and whole step, of each individual mode. Because the step patterns are different for each different mode, the major and minor intervals are rearranged within each mode. Looking at the Ionian mode we see the ...
2
There is only one way: learn existing songs and arrangements, see how they use chords in relation to melody and rhythm, and how it makes you feel. Theory might give you ideas about which aspects to pay attention to and how to organize it all in your mind, but ultimately it’s a matter of taste and you develop a taste by tasting lots of things.
2
I disagree with Dekkadeci answer's. Instead:
BbM7/C would be a proper and more understable name. Or maybe F11/C, which will gracefully accept the following note E.
Look at the two other chords they are: Bb/C and Gm7/C.
That C13 candidate does not contain a single note from the C Major triad indeed: no C, no E no G in the chord. Only a lasting bass, that ...
1
When you listen to this music you don't only hear chords. He plays a melody with passing tones (like chromatic approaches, passing notes and turnarounds):
Your chords are correct as far:
F#m A D# .... - but the E# is surely not (F)!
This E# in the first motif la do fi si la do is the 7th (E# = si the leading tone of F#m) and just a passing tone which ...
1
An interviewer asked Domenic Miller if we should use barre (bar) chords. His answer helped to shape my thinking; play chords the easiest way.
I apply the same principle to chord notation: whatever makes it easier to understand. The C13 is exactly what is played in the guitar chord box. I suspect that's why it's notated that way; to make it obvious to a ...
1
A C major in the middle of an A major context can work as a "modal interchange" or "borrowing" or temporary key change to parallel minor Am or something. It's a common thing in jazz and blues, flirting with and alternating between parallel major and minor tonalities.
1
The notes in the staff would likely restrict the "chord shape". If you simply had the letter names of the chords above the treble clef you would be free to choose how they are played for the most part (even chord names indicate an inversion when properly notated). What you need to do is transcribe the bass clef so that all the notes are in the treble clef ...
1
Naming some of the chords like "bIII" in the Dorian mode seems pointlessly confusing.
The third degree is the Dorian mode IS "flat", compared with a major scale (or the Ionian if you like fancy terminology.) It doesn't need to be made more flat!
Similarly for "#IV" in the Lydian mode, etc.
The whole "modal chord" concept in Jazz is an incoherent mess, ...
1
You can learn all the things you mention from TAB too. TAB is just one way to express information. The standard is Standard Music Notation, which is equal across all instruments. That allows you to read sax or piano music as well. I personally think all beginning music students should learn SMN but TAB is an other avenue. TAB does take some decision ...
1
I think these would be called passing chords. The first verse is Am F F/E Am7 Cmaj7 Em, and it contains Am F C Em. So I think the main progression would be Am F C Em, and the first verse is just adding a little and varying the harmonic rhythm to create more movement (i.e. by adding F/E and Am7 between the F and C chords).
1
I the CAGED system as a way to visualize a schale/chord pattern all over the fretboard.
Unlike the piano, which arranges all the notes from lower to higher, and clearly indicating which ones are "natural" and which one "accidentals" (ie: sharp/flats), the guitar has a certain geometry that seems to obscure this a bit.
All you get are 6 strings, with 19 to ...
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