LearnJazzPiano.com archives: transcribing
charlp88 -- 09/18/2006, 14:09:20 -- #29887
Dear knowledgable people I know there are devices for transcribing. Are there also machines which will tell the chord which is being played I am a bill Evans lover and there are many  chords I cant identify. thanks for your input charlie

albetan -- 09/18/2006, 15:17:26 -- #29887
I am a bill Evans lover and there are many  chords I cant identify.
Bill Evans plays lots of "rootless" chords.
See lesson about A & B Forms of Voicing at Albetan´s Area.
Practice those forms of voicings in left hand omitting bass.

jazzwee -- 09/18/2006, 15:29:13 -- #29887
I think my personal answer to this is to understand the possible reharms. The voicings themselves would be obvious if one understood the reharm choices he's making.

Quoting from another forum about some Bill Evans reharms in Autumn Leaves:

"...minor chords being played like dominants, they usually take the form of dom7#9 chords"

"Both Bill and Keith do the tune in Gminor, first 4 chords; C-7 /F7 /Bbmaj7 /Ebmaj7 sometimes Ebsus7."

I don't know if anyone has done a study of this in Bill Evans tunes but, it's definitely interesting.

CynBad -- 09/18/2006, 16:07:19 -- #29887
Or, you could determine the chords using pivot tones and hearing the intervals around them.

charlp88 -- 09/19/2006, 05:37:22 -- #29887
Dear Loungies, thanks so much for the input I am familiar with the voicings .I am referring to The chord identity for a tune which has no written sheet music .I am trying to take it from a cd.Bill Evans and Eddie Costa play music from guys and Dolls. Specifically --at the start of the song Ever Lovin Adelaide Bill Plays a very pretty refrain of 30 or 40 seconds leading right in to the song.I have investigated my ass of trying to find it, It is possible it is one of Bills Creations thanks for the help  All the best    charlie

charlp88 -- 09/19/2006, 10:13:03 -- #29887
I will try to give a better explanation of identifying chords.. I am speaking about identifying a chord by its sound only not a written chord Thx for your input  Charlie

CynBad -- 09/19/2006, 10:21:14 -- #29887
And charlp, that was exactly the point of my suggestion:

Or, you could determine the chords using pivot tones and hearing the intervals around them.

CynBad -- 09/19/2006, 10:28:15 -- #29887
Pivot tone - Select a known pitch that you hear in the recording.  Say it's a Bb.  Continue hearing that pitch in your head or humming it. When moving to the chord in question, hear the pitch in that chord that is nearest to the tone you are humming.  Determine that tone by hearing the interval up or down from your pivot tone.
Let's say the tone you're hearing in your chord is a whole step above your pivot tone.  Now you know you're hearing a C in that chord.  From there, hear the intervals above and below that C in the chord. If you hear a whole step above the C and then a P5 above the C, now you know you've got C-D-G.  If you hear a P4 below the C, now you know you've got F on the bottom of the chord.  Now you know it's F-C-D-G.

And that's today's lesson on ear training with pivot tones.
Yes, it's painstaking, but it works for what you want to do.

CynBad -- 09/19/2006, 10:31:22 -- #29887
Correction, P5 below C

charlp88 -- 09/20/2006, 06:42:57 -- #29887
Dear Cyn Thanks so much for your valuable suggestions I will absolutely try them Thanks Chas.

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