Chord notation
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Chord notation refers to the written notation for musical chords.
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[edit] Complexities
There are an almost infinite number of chords possible, although many are much more commonly found than others in compositions. Although it is possible to notate any chord using staff notation, showing not only the harmonic characteristics but also the exact voicing, staff notation is very difficult to read and requires years of training. It also provides too much information making improvisation for Jazz much more difficult. Other problems are that voicings for one instrument are not nescessarily 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 describing the hamonic characteristics of chords is used.
[edit] Classification of chords
In a musical composition, each chord serves a purpose. For any given function there are many possible voicings, and 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. Additionally, chord subsitutions provide another way of modifying the harmonic structure of a piece of music to maintain interest.
For more information on chords themselves, see Chord (music). This article concerns systems of notation for chords, rather than the chords themselves.
[edit] Intervals
Any chord consists of many notes played together that are certain distances apart on the chromatic scale. The following table shows the labels given to these intervals and the respective notes for each of the twelve keys. Chord notation provides a shorthand for intervals, not actual notes. This table provides a mapping of intervals to actual notes to play.
| Interval from Root | Root | Minor second | Second | Minor third | Major third | Forth | Diminished fifth | Fifth | Augmented Fifth | Sixth | Dominant Seventh | Major Seventh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key of F | F | F# / Gb | G | G# / Ab | A | A# / Bb | B | C | C# / Db | D | D# / Eb | E |
| Key of C | C | C# / Db | D | D# / Eb | E | F | F# / Gb | G | G# / Ab | A | A# / Bb | B |
| Key of G | G | G# / Ab | A | A# / Bb | B | C | C# / Db | D | D# / Eb | E | F | F# / Gb |
| Key of D | D | D# / Eb | E | F | F# / Gb | G | G# / Ab | A | A# / Bb | B | C | C# / Db |
| Key of A | A | A# / Bb | B | C | C# / Db | D | D# / Eb | E | F | F# / Gb | G | G# / Ab |
| Key of E | E | F | F# / Gb | G | G# / Ab | A | A# / Bb | B | C | C# / Db | D | E# / Eb |
| Key of B | B | C | C# / Db | D | D# / Eb | E | F | F# / Gb | G | G# / Ab | A | A# / Bb |
| Key of F# / Gb | F# / Gb | G | G# / Ab | A | A# / Bb | B | C | C# / Db | D | D# / Eb | E | F |
| Key of C# / Db | C# / Db | D | D# / Eb | E | F | F# / Gb | G | G# / Ab | A | A# / Bb | B | C |
| Key of G# / Ab | G# / Ab | A | A# / Bb | B | C | C# / Db | D | D# / Eb | E | F | F# / Gb | G |
| Key of D# / Eb | D# / Eb | E | F | F# / Gb | G | G# / Ab | A | A# / Bb | B | C | C# / Db | D |
| Key of A# / Bb | A# / Bb | B | C | C# / Db | D | D# / Eb | E | F | F# / Gb | G | G# / Ab | A |
[edit] Chord notation
The first part of a symbol for a chord defines the root of the chord. This does not necessarily mean that the root must be played, however the root is usually the lowest note of the chord. By convention, the root alone indicates a simple major triad. (That is the root, the major third and the fifth). 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 presented here.
It should also be noted that chord notation does not easily provide for ways of describing all chords. Some chords can be very difficult to notate, and others that exists theoretically are rarely encountered. For example, there are actually 6 possible permutations of triads (choards with three notes) involving minor and major thirds and augmented/diminished and perfect 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, for example, 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(b5).
[edit] Triads
[edit] Major triads
There is a major triad for each note of the chromatic scale:
| C | C# / Db | D | D# / Eb | E | F | F# / Gb | G | G# / Ab | A | A# / Bb | B |
Referring to the interval table, we can see that the notes to play for C are the root C, the major third E and the fifth G. For A# the notes are A#, D, F:
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The rest of this article, we use the root of C as examples.
[edit] Minor triads
Minor triads are the same as major triads, but with a minor third instead of a major third. The most common ways this is notated are as follows:
| Cm | Cmi | Cmin | C- |
Example:
| Root | Minor third | Fifth | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cm | C | Eb | G |
[edit] Augmented triads
These are the same as a major triad, but with an augmented fifth instead of a perfect fifth. The most common ways this is notated are as follows:
| C+ | Caug |
Example:
| Root | Major third | Augmented fifth | |
|---|---|---|---|
| C+ | C | E | G# |
[edit] Diminished triads
Diminished triads are similar to minor triads, but a diminished fifth instead of a perfect fifth (the minor third is retained). The most common ways this is notated are as follows:
| Cdim | Cmin(b5) | Cm(b5) | C-(b5) | C° |
Note that C- might seem a logical choice except that it is also used in some notations to mean a minor triad. Additionaly, Cdim might sometimes be incorrectly used to mean a diminished seventh chord. Sometimes this actually depends on the context, jazz musicians will almost always add the seventh in, and play a diminished seventh automatically, although it is possible for this to clash with the melody in certain cases. In order to make this more clear, Cdim7 should be used to indicated a diminished 7th chord.
Example:
| Root | Minor third | Diminished fifth | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cdim | C | Eb | Gb |
[edit] Sevenths
A seventh chord is a triad with an added note, which is either the 7th note of the scale, or the flattened 7th note, or the 7th note flattened twice (which is technically the same note as the 6th),
An important thing to make clear is there there are two kinds of seventh chords, dominant and major. This is again somewhat confusing, as the flattened 7th note of major scale is called "dominant". If you use the actual 7th this is called a major 7th. The dominant 7th is much more common in music generally than the major 7th.
It is unfortunate that the term major 7th is used as it causes a great deal of confusion. There are minor 7th and major 7th chords, 7th chords and major-minor 7th chords. It helps to remember that with 7th chords the term minor refers to the third, but the term major refers to the seventh (not the third). The table below shows the main kinds of 7th chords:
| dominant 7th | minor 7th | major 7th | major-minor 7th | augmented 7th | diminished 7th | half diminished 7th | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notational forms: | C7 | Cm7 / C-7 / Cmi7 / Cmin7 | CMaj7 / Cmaj7 / CM7 / CΔ7 | CMaj/min7 / Cmaj/min7 / C-M7 / CΔm7 / ..etc.. | C7+ / C7(#5) / Caug7 | Cdim7 / C° | Cmin7b5 / Cm7b5 / Cmi7b5 / C-7b5 / CØ |
| 3rd | major | minor | major | minor | major | minor | minor |
| 5th | perfect | perfect | perfect | perfect | augmented | diminished | diminished |
| 7th | dominant (flat 7th) | dominant (flat 7th) | major (7th) | major (7th) | dominant (flat 7th) | double flat 7th | dominant (flat 7th) |
| Example | C E G Bb | C Eb G Bb | C E G B | C Eb G B | C E Ab Bb | C Eb Gb A | C Eb Gb Bb |
[edit] Extended chords
Extended chords add further notes on to 7th chords. Of the 7 notes in the major scale, a seventh chord uses only 4. The other 3 notes can be added in any combination, however just as with the triads and seventh chords, notes are most commonly stacked; a seventh implies that there is a fifth and a third and a root. In practice certain notes can be omitted without changing the quality of the chord drastically.
The three main extended chords are 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. As the octave repeats for every seven notes in the scale (again, confusing as the term octave actually means 8 not 7...), these are really the same as 2nds, 4ths and 6ths only on octave higher. However, further adding to confusion, this does not mean that they must be played in the higher octave. Although changing the octave of certain notes in a chord (within reason) does change the way the chord sounds, it does not change the essential characteristics of it. As such using 9th, 11th and 13th in chord notation is a way of showing that the chord is an extented chord rather than an added chord (see Added chords below).
[edit] 9ths
These are 7th chords with the second note of the scale added, often an octave higher. 9ths may be theoretically added to any type of 7th chord, however they are most commonly seen with Dominant, Major and Minor sevenths.
The most commonly omitted note for voicings is the perfect 5th.
| dominant 9th | minor 9th | major 9th | major-minor 9th | augmented 9th | diminished 9th | half diminished 9th | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notational forms: | C9 | Cm9 / C-9 / Cmi9 / Cmin9 | CMaj9 / Cmaj9 / CM9 / CΔ9 | CMaj/min9 / Cmaj/min9 / C-M9 / CΔm9 / ..etc.. | C9+ / C9(#5) / Caug9 | Cdim9 / C°9 | Cmin9b5 / Cm9b5 / Cmi9b5 / C-9b5 / CØ9 |
| Example | C E G Bb D | C Eb G Bb D | C E G B D | C Eb G B D | C E Ab Bb D | C Eb Gb A D | C Eb Gb Bb D |
[edit] 11ths
These are theoretically 9th chords with the 4th note in the scale added. However it is common to leave certain notes out. As well as the 5th, the 9th (2nd) can be omitted, and often the major 3rd is omitted because of a strong dissonance with the 11th (4th).
| dominant 11th | minor 11th | major 11th | major-minor 11th | augmented 11th | diminished 11th | half diminished 11th | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notational forms: | C11 | Cm11 / C-11 / Cmi11 / Cmin11 | CMaj11 / Cmaj11 / CM11 / CΔ11 | CMaj/min11 / Cmaj/min11 / C-M11 / CΔm11 / ..etc.. | C11+ / C11(#5) / Caug11 | Cdim11 / C°11 | Cmin11b5 / Cm11b5 / Cmi11b5 / C-11b5 / CØ11 |
| Example | C E G Bb D F | C Eb G Bb D F | C E G B D F | C Eb G B D F | C E Ab Bb D F | C Eb Gb A D F | C Eb Gb Bb D F |
[edit] 13ths
These are theoretically 11th chords with the 6th note in the scale added. Again is common to leave certain notes out. After the 5th, the most commonly omitted note is the troublesome 11th (4th). the 9th (2nd) can also be omitted. A very common voicing on guitar for a 13 chord, for example, is just the root, 7th, 3rd and 13th (6th). This reduced chord however does convey the essence of the 13 chord.
| dominant 13th | minor 13th | major 13th | major-minor th13 | augmented 13th | half diminished 13th | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notational forms: | C13 | Cm13 / C-13 / Cmi13 / Cmin13 | CMaj13 / Cmaj13 / CM13 / CΔ13 | CMaj/min13 / Cmaj/min13 / C-M13 / CΔm13 / ..etc.. | C13+ / C13(#5) / Caug13 | Cmin13b5 / Cm13b5 / Cmi13b5 / C-13b5 / CØ13 |
| Example | C E G Bb D F A | C Eb G Bb D F A | C E G B D F A | C Eb G B D F A | C E Ab Bb D F A | C Eb Gb Bb D F A |
The diminished 13 chord would have notes: C Eb Gb A D F A, and is thus the same as the diminished 11 chord, so has been omitted.
[edit] Added chords
An important characteristic of Jazz is the extensive use of sevenths. The combination of 9th (2nd), 11th (4th) and 13th (6th) notes with 7ths in a chord give jazz chord voicing their distinctive sound. However the use of these notes is not exclusive to the jazz genre; in fact they are very commonly used in folk, classical and popular music generally. These chords are called added chords because they are basic triads with notes added. Added chords can be described as having a more open sound than extended chords. Without the 7th, these chords lose their jazzy feel, but can still be very complex and sometimes of breathtaking beauty. There are also sus chords, which replace the 3rd with the 4th or the 2nd, which can be played with or without the 7th.
Notation must provde some way of showing that a chord is an added chord as opposed to extended. There are two ways this is shown generally, and it is very common to see both methods on the same score. One way is to simply use the word 'add':
- Cadd9
The second way is to use 2 instead of 9, implying that it is not a 7th chord:
- C2
Note that in this way we potentially get other ways of showing a 9 chord:
- C7add9
- C72
- C79
Generally however the above will be shown as simply C9, which implies a 7th in the chord. Added chord notation is useful however with 7th chords to partial extended chords. For example:
- C7add13
This would indicate that the 13th is added to the 7th, but without the 9th and 11th.
The use of 2, 4 and 6 as opposed to 9, 11 and 13 pretty safely indicates that the chord does not include a 7th unless specifically specified. However, it does not mean that these notes must be played within an octave of the root, nor the extended notes in 7th chords should be played outside of the octave, although it is commonly the case.
It is possible to have added chords with more than one added note. The most commonly encountered of these are 6/9 chords, which are basic triads with the 6th and 2nd notes of the scale added. These can be confusing because of the use of 9, yet the chord does not include the 7th. A good rule of thumb is that if any added note is less than 7, then no 7th is implied, even if there are some notes shown as greater than 7.
Finally mention should be made of a special kind of commonly encountered chord, the suspended chord. A suspended chord is a triad where the 3rd is replaced by another note. In practice the 3rd is replaced either by the 4th or the 2nd. These are called suspended chords because they create an impression of suspence. These chords "desire" to resolve into a normal triad. Suspended chords are notated with the symbols "sus4" or "sus2". Sometimes you will see "sus" on its own, in which case the 4 is implied. This can be combined with any other notation. So for example:
- Csus11
This chord is an extended 11 chord with the 3rd replaced by the 4th. Interestingly the 4th is the same as the 11th, so this is also just a C11 chord without the 3rd (see omiitted notes).
