Chord Names and Symbols (Popular Music) from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
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Chord names and symbols (popular music) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Various kinds of chord names and symbols are used in different contexts, to represent musical chords. In most genres of popular music, including jazz, pop, and rock, a chord name and the corresponding symbol are typically composed of one or more of the following parts: 1. The root note (e.g. C). CΔ7, or major seventh chord 2. The chord quality (e.g. major, maj, or M). on C Play . 3. The number of an interval (e.g. seventh, or 7), or less often its full name or symbol (e.g. major seventh, maj7, or M7). 4. The altered fifth (e.g. sharp five, or ♯5). 5. An additional interval number (e.g. add 13 or add13), in added tone chords. For instance, the name C augmented seventh, and the corresponding symbol Caug7, or C+7, are both composed of parts 1, 2, and 3. Except for the root, these parts do not refer to the notes which form the chord, but to the intervals they form with respect to the root. For instance, Caug7 indicates a chord formed by the notes C-E-G♯-B♭. The three parts of the symbol (C, aug, and 7) refer to the root C, the augmented (fifth) interval from C to G♯, and the (minor) seventh interval from C to B♭. A set of decoding rules is applied to deduce the missing information. Although they are used occasionally in classical music, these names and symbols are "universally used in jazz and popular music",[1] usually inside lead sheets, fake books, and chord charts, to specify the harmony of compositions. Other notation systems for chords include:[2] plain staff notation, used in classical music, Roman numerals, commonly used in harmonic analysis,[3] figured bass, much used in the Baroque era, and macro symbols, sometimes used in modern musicology. Contents 1 Advantages and limitations 2 Chord quality 2.1 Major, minor, augmented, and diminished chords 2.2 Altered fifths 3 Rules to decode chord names and symbols 3.1 Examples 4 Intervals 5 Triads 6 Seventh chords 7 Extended chords 7.1 9ths 7.2 11ths 7.3 13ths 8 Added tone chords 9 Suspended chords 10 Power "chords" 11 Inversions 12 Hybrid chords 12.1 Upper structures 12.2 Polychords 13 Other symbols 14 Summary 15 See also 16 Notes 17 Sources 18 Further reading Advantages and limitations Any chord can be denoted using staff notation, showing not only its harmonic characteristics but also its exact voicing. However, this notation, frequently used in classical music, may provide too much information, making improvisation difficult. In fact, although voicings can and do have a significant effect on the subjective musical qualities of a composition, generally these interpretations retain the central characteristics of the chord. This provides an opportunity for improvisation within a defined structure and is important to improvised music such as jazz. Other problems are that voicings for one instrument are not necessarily physically playable on another (for example, the thirteenth chord, played on piano with up to seven notes, is usually played on guitar as a 4- or 5-note voicing that is impossible to play on piano with one hand). As a result of these limitations, a shorthand which describes the harmonic characteristics of chords is used in pop music and jazz. This notation has an advantage of being more easily expressed in plain text and in handwriting than the relatively complicated process of writing chords on a staff. It is also faster to read. The first part of a symbol for a chord defines the root of the chord. The root of the chord will always be played by one of the instruments in the ensemble (usually by a bass instrument) – failure to include the root means that the indicated chord is not being played. By convention, the root alone indicates a simple major triad, i.e., the root, the major third, and the perfect fifth above the root. After this, various additional symbols are added to modify this chord. There is unfortunately no universal standard for these symbols. The most common ones are to be presented following here, below. This notation does not easily provide for ways of describing all chords. Some chords can be very difficult to notate, and others that exist theoretically are rarely encountered. For example, there are 6 possible permutations of triads (chords with three notes) involving minor or major thirds and perfect, augmented, or diminished fifths. However, conventionally only four are used (major, minor, augmented and diminished). There is nothing to stop a composer using the other two, but the question of what to call them is interesting. A minor third with an augmented fifth might be denoted, for example, by Am+, which will strike most musicians as odd. In fact, this turns out to be the same as F/A (see slash chords below). A major third with a diminished fifth might be shown as A(♭5). Usually, when composers require a chord that is not easily described using this notation, they will indicate the required chord in a footnote or in the header of the music. Chord quality Chord qualities are related with the qualities of the component intervals which define the chord (see below). The main chord qualities are: Major, and minor. Augmented, diminished, and half-diminished. Dominant. Some of the symbols used for chord quality are similar to those used for interval quality: m, or min for minor, M, maj, or no symbol (see rule 2 below) for major, aug for augmented, dim for diminished. In addition, however, ΔΔ is sometimes used for major,[a] instead of the standard M, or maj, ! is sometimes used for minor, instead of the standard m or min, +, or aug, is used for augmented (A is not used), oo , °, dim, is used for diminished (d is not used), øø , or Ø is used for half diminished, dom is used for dominant. Chord qualities are sometimes omitted (see below). When specified, they appear immediately after the root note or, if the root is omitted, at the beginning of the chord name or symbol. For instance, in the symbol Cm7 (C minor seventh chord) C is the root and m is the chord quality. When the terms minor, major, augmented, diminished, or the corresponding symbols do not appear immediately after the root note, or at the beginning of the name or symbol, they should be considered interval qualities, rather than chord qualities. For instance, in Cm/M7 (minor major seventh chord), m is the chord quality and M refers to the M7 interval. Major, minor, augmented, and diminished chords 3-note chords are called triads. There are four basic triads (major, minor, augmented, diminished). They are all tertian, which means defined by the root, a third interval, and a fifth interval. Since most other chords are obtained by adding one or more notes to these triads, the name and symbol of a chord is often built by just adding an interval number to the name and symbol of a triad. For instance, a C augmented seventh chord is a C augmented triad with an extra note defined by a minor seventh interval: C+7 = C+ + m7 augmented augmented minor chord triad interval In this case, the quality (minor, in the example) of the additional interval is omitted. Less often, the full name or symbol of the additional interval is provided. For instance, a C augmented major seventh chord is a C augmented triad with an extra note defined by a major seventh interval: C+M7 = C+ + M7 augmented augmented major chord triad interval In both cases, the quality of the chord is the same as the quality of the basic triad it contains. This is not true for all chord qualities, as the chord qualities "half-diminished", and "dominant" refer not only to the quality of the basic triad, but also to the quality of the additional intervals. Altered fifths A more complex approach is sometimes used to name and denote augmented and diminished chords. An augmented triad can be viewed as a major triad in which the perfect fifth interval (spanning 7 semitones) has been substituted with an augmented fifth (8 semitones), and a diminished triad as a minor triad in which the perfect fifth has been substituted with a diminished fifth (6 semitones). In this case, the augmented triad can be named major triad sharp five, or major triad augmented fifth (M♯5, M+5, majaug5). Similarly, the diminished triad can be named minor triad flat five, or minor triad diminished fifth (m♭5, m°5, mindim5). Again, the terminology and notation used for triads affects the terminology and notation used for larger chords, formed by four or more notes. For instance, the above mentioned C augmented major seventh chord, is sometimes called C major seventh sharp five, or C major seventh augmented fifth. The corresponding symbol is CM7+5, CM7♯5, or Cmaj7aug5: CM7+5 = C + M3 + A5 + M7 augmented chord major augmented major chord root interval interval interval (In chord symbols, the symbol A, used for augmented intervals, is typically replaced by + or ♯) In this case, the chord is viewed as a C major seventh chord (CM7) in which the third note is an augmented fifth from root (G♯), rather than a perfect fifth from root (G). All chord names and symbols including altered fifths, i.e. augmented (♯5, +5, aug5) or diminished (♭5, °5, dim5) fifths can be interpreted in a similar way. Rules to decode chord names and symbols The amount of information provided in a chord name or symbol lean toward the minimum, to increase efficiency.