How to translate chord’ name into notes
Hi all,
This is not a question concerning HA directly.
It’s the question how to translate from the name of the chord to the actual notes.
I’ve been looking across the web for a unique way to interpret chord’s name without success, and now I’m asking for your help in pointing me to the correct procedure.
In my quest for ways to write correct chords progression, I’ve found this page [ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/chord-maps/] where a picture provides what I was looking for.
Except that it’s not always unequivocal how to interpret the writing!
For instance, if I look at that saying [VI 7,9,b9] my interpretation is that the chord contains a note that’s a sixth degree on the tonic, plus a 7th and then what? a ninth plus a flat ninth? I don’t understand.
Or the one labeled [IV 6,M7,m,m6] : what’s the “m” all by itself?
Or the one [VI m7b5/b3] : what’s the meaning of the fraction?
I hope somebody can point me to a page where I can find the correct reading key.
I’ve sent a mail almost two months ago to the author of the article but he didn’t reply yet.
Thanks for your help
Comments
I suspect yopu are confusing Roman numeral analysis notation with regular chord symbol notation. And then I think you are fuerther misunderstanding the Roman numeral notation, When you see "VI", it doesn't mean a single note that is scale degree six, it means a triad built on that note. And then with added 7ths etc as specified. As for "IV 6,M7,m,m6]", that's not a thing, just a meaningless string of letters and numbers. At least, it's not a chord symbol or Roman numeral analysis; it might mean something else entirely in some other system. I think in the picture you refer to, it's just listing all the different ways you might see the IV chord notated. That is, either F6, or FM7, or Fm, or Fm6*, depending on if you are in the key of C major or minor.
In reply to I suspect yopu are confusing… by Marc Sabatella
AFAYK, is there a description of "chord progression" properly described?
In reply to AFAYK, is there a… by Trottolina
There is lots of information available online, but you need to be clear what you are looking for. Chord symbols are one thing, understanding chord progresssions is another thing entirely (kind of like the difference betwene knowing how to spell words versus how to construct grammatically correct sentences). And Roman numeral analysis is something different still.
So, in order to assist better, we'd need to know what is the actual problem you are trying to solve here?
In reply to There is lots of information… by Marc Sabatella
I'm a retired guy chorister in two choirs + following music composition lessons at the conservatory.
Since I don't have the gift of music coming to me and I don't play an instrument (I use MuS also for that purpose), I listen sequences of notes and I choose what I feel fits my need.
But now I want to follow a more rational process.
Since music can induce certain emotions, I want to choose amongst the multitude of possibility the one I need at a certain instance in my composition.
Having to write a four min composition around a fairy tail, I've looked for way to express feelings in music and I found a table [ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/musical-key-characteristics-emotions] that roughly associates tonality with feelings.
Of course that gives me only the tonality, now I have to look for sequence of chords, melody and rhythms that are plaisant to hear.
Looking around I've found the first link with the chart that allows me to follow the "chord progression" of my choice by going from start and following the arrows up to the end. In this case it always ends on the first degree.
Having defined my progression I then want to implement it in MuS.
And there I hit the snug of interpreting correctly the meaning of the names.
What I need is then a chart like that, or equivalent, that proposes a multitude of choices, all harmonically correct, and from which I can choose sequences of chords for my composition with names for the chords that respect a consistent logic, so that I can convert the names to notes.
In reply to I'm a retired guy chorister… by Trottolina
I think that you very much have the gift of music. And you are giving it, also. Because you sing in choirs, you have ingrained in your head what music sounds like. I doubt that you will write anything that is outside music theory by very much. Yes, study the theory. But in my view, theory describes what happens in music. It doesn't have to dictate it. So as you further your quest for the perfect chord progression, you are in the company of every great composer that ever lived. Try not to get bogged down in worrying about what chord should come next. There are many ways to compose music. Some people write the melody first. I tend to write a measure of melody, put some harmony to it, when let that decide where things go from there.
In reply to I'm a retired guy chorister… by Trottolina
Realistically, I don't that relying on charts is going to be that useful. You need to take a step back and really learn the concepts. Charts like those are just some very rough guidelines, the real story comes from the understanding. So I'd start with a book or course on basic music theory.