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With a Tritone for the left hand and a major triad for the right… an experienced jazz pianist would immediately recognize this as a rootless upper structure voicing.
So without any context, the options are either Db7#9 or G13b9.
The next chord (a rootless fourth voicing) helps to narrow it down to G13b9.
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But by looking at the chord in isolation (without the context of the following C major chord), can we tell that this is a G7b9?
We can't. Without context I could call it E7b9 (although 9 in bass is rather unusual). So is it then not G7b9?
This seems to be a demonstration (or transcription, it's from Levine's book, isn't it?) of how an instrument (piano in ...
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I would probably go with the original purpose of chord symbols, which is not theoretical analysis but rather to tell the guitarist and bassist what to play, call it G7sus4/D, and not worry about it any more than that. Harmonic analysis is a subjective topic about which reasonable people can reasonably disagree, and if your main purpose is to prepare ...
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Naming chords isn’t always an exact science, especially when they are not just a series of stacked thirds. Also, keys and modes are somewhat irrelevant to chord symbols with the exception of correct enharmonic spelling within a key (ex. F#m7 in the key of E instead of Gbm7)
As for your choice #1, I understand what you mean that it sounds like a suspension of ...
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This is Nashville chord notation system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_Number_System
The numbers refer to the scale steps on which the chords are built.
The song is in the key of Db major. 1 means chord built on the first step, Db major. 1/3 means Db chord with 3rd scale degree in bass, F. 3m is a minor chord built on the 3rd scale degree, F minor. ...
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The primary job of a jazz pianist is not to write chord symbols for groups of notes. The primary job of a jazz pianist is to look at already written chord symbols (or even better, know the changes without staring at a music sheet) and make an artistic contribution by coming up with notes. So if the book is about jazz piano, written for aspiring ...
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Consider that a lot of pieces modulate between parallel keys. So being in D minor at one point becomes being in D major at another.
Your G♭m (probably better called F♯m) is from key D major, rather than D minor. So it's not surprising that it sort of fits in your song.
It's a useful bit of theory to keep handy - because as well as the usual 3 majors and 3 ...
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As you say, C, E, and G make a C major chord. But those notes can be played in any order, and they can appear multiple times, and still be considered a C major chord. E G C is a C major chord; C C G E E G is a C major chord; .... As long as there aren't any notes other than C, E, and G, it's C major.
This is true on all instruments, not just guitar. And it's ...
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The C chord comprises C E and G . That's all. So any strings that make any of those notes will be up for grabs.
As you rightly say, some strings need fretting to make those notes, BUT others are already producing those notes while they're open. So why wouldn't they be left open to play as we strum that C chord?
OP mentions only 5 strings! A lot of guitar ...
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"Music Theory" — or more specifically, "Common Practice" or "Tonal" Theory — isn't designed with popular music in mind, and popular music frequently isn't constructed with music theory in mind.
View #1: Voice leading
In the case of this particular chord progression, I find it productive to consider it in terms of voice leading. ...
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G7sus/D is probably the most useful description.
Why are you using chord symbols? As an attempt at harmonic analysis, or as an aid to sight-reading? When naming a chord results in something as complicated as Dm7(add4)(no5), isn't it simpler to just read the notes? (And anyway, as far as harmonic analysis goes, there IS a 5th, prominently repeated in the ...
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Probably because it came from a jazz resource where authors notoriously combine chord names or Roman numeral analysis with enharmonic misspellings.
Second you may not know about rootless chord voicings in jazz. Typically, rootless chord voicings involve the chord root played by some bass instrument, like the piano left hand or an upright bass player, and ...
3
I head the D-bass and the remaining notes as distinct here. So I'd describe it as stacking an Fsus2 chord on top of D in the first bar. That also takes care for the fact that the G resolves upwards, although when it does resolve the chord is not F anymore but rather F♯o.
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Yes, of course you can put any notes you like in a chord, so the question is more about naming convention.
Typically words augumented and diminished are used for triads only (at least in jazz/pop nomenclature). An exception is a fully diminished chord or diminished seventh chord 1 b3 b5 bb7, e.g. Eo7 (E G Bb Db).
Extended chords still can have diminished/...
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The note augmented or diminished in these chords is ^5. So C7+ will be spelt C E G♯ B♭. Cm7♭5 will be C E♭ G♭ B♭ - often referred to as C half-diminished.
The same works for 9ths, but it's confusing as the 9th part itself can be seen as diminished - as C7 with D♭ added, or augmented - as C7 with D♯ added (as in the 'Hendrix' chord).
Written names will help - ...
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Option 1
My preference is G♯m♭6.
Slimming things down to basic triads, we have A G#m F#m, a perfectly reasonable sequence of descending triads.
By naming the chord this way, it best reflects the descending bass line as well as the fact that B and E are present in each chord.
Option 2
The chord is EM7/G#, making the overall progression A(add2) EM7/G# F#m7/11....
2
A hybrid chord is when the upper part of the chord is different from the implied root of the chord (and I'm sure it's for the sake of making the chord easier to understand at a glance). Basically it's a slash chord but with the specific restriction of having no third.
Say musical modes were stacks of 7 Lego blocks.
Finding usable hybrid chords consists 1stly ...
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Functional analysis and voicing rules (G resolves to A) are time bound and not universal. So you are free to name the chord as you like.
All we can say is that G is surely not A♭♭!
Most logically seems to me to call it a secondary dominant of G e.g. like Dm is ii-V or D is V/G). (Even I know we are in D-Dorian! Thats the way I listen to it in d-Dorian as ...
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E, Bm7, E, Bm7, C#, A#, G, B
E Bm7 that's a root progression by fifth, ordinary, just as you said. Eventually the B chord returns to E, and the melody dwells on E. We could say it's nominally in E, but with all the chromaticism, it isn't strictly E major.
The progression repeats so write that out for clarity...
E Bm7 E Bm7 C# A# G B | E...
The progression ...
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It is indeed the NNS - Nashville Number System. Each chord in a key is given a number, corresponding to the note number in that key. Here, in D♭ - D♭ =1, E♭ = 2, F = 3, G♭ = 4, A♭ = 5, and B♭ = 6.
That may seem to be extra stuff for little purpose - just write the perishing chords, please!
But, the idea is far reaching. In the recording studio, for example, ...
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In addition to other good points made:
For me, in the context of jazz standards like "What's New?", with the piano left hand in that range, that tritone F B is the dominant feature, with whatever-it-is in the right hand being "just harmonics". Even without seeing the C-chord next (yes, as other have said, a C6/9...), I would wager that ...
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Tim's answer above reinforces the fallacy that every chord must fit the scale of the key, so if it doesn't the music must have modulated to another key.
Not so. There is a thing called Chromatic Notes/Chords. This allows a progression like C - C♯dim7 - Dm7 - G7 - C to exist completely within the key of C major. It is not useful to consider the Dm as a '...
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This is kind of an abstract meta-answer... feel free to downvote.
Musical notation is a form of written language about musical ideas from people to people. Who is your target audience? How do they interpret what you're saying with the notation?
I understand your question so that you're having problems even yourself - none of the chords symbols you could ...
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Chromatic Mediant!
Take any two major triads with roots a major or minor third apart. They will always share one note between them. They have a very distinct, fresh, fantastical sound. The last four chords are all chromatic mediants.
C# to A#. Common tone is E#
A# to G. Common tone is D (spelled C double sharp in the A# chord)
G to B. Common tone is B.
...
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When we speak of music theory, we tend to mean "common practice era" theory — the theory of Mozart, Beethoven, and their peers up until the twentieth century. However, jazz and popular music, while they do often adhere to the same theoretical ideas, they also tend to depart from it, and this would seem one of those times. Jazz and popular styles ...
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