| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Chord symbols? | |
| docz -- 07/11/2004, 09:42:13 -- #5584 | |
| When I read scores from the real books, some of the chords have a dash between the chord and chord number. Like this: G-7 does that mean that it is a G7? (G B D F)or does it mean a minus chord? (Half dimminished) (G B Db F)? Doc-Z | |
| Barry -- 07/11/2004, 09:50:20 -- #5585 | |
| The dash means minor i.e C- means the same as Cm (C Eb G). C-7 means the same as Cm7 (C Eb G Bb). A half diminished chord has a minor third and a flattened fifth so your example should be G Bb Db F. This could be written as G-7b5 and is can also be indicated with the ø symbol i.e Gø. Hope this helps Barry | |
| Sax'n -- 07/11/2004, 10:07:29 -- #5586 | |
| Ah! Since this thread is already started I was hoping to get some help on this one... Looking at a few tunes in the realbooks every once in a while I'll come across a measure with the chords written something like this: Gm7 / / / or perhaps Cm7 / F / and was wondering what the slashes were for. I am assuming that it is breaking the measure up into beats, but I can't figure whether it means to play the previous chord as quarter notes, or whether to play the chord and lay out during the 'slash' beats or whatever. I'd appreciate anyone being able to shed some light on this for me. Thanks. | |
| docz -- 07/11/2004, 11:21:49 -- #5588 | |
| Cool. so the minus means minor.. that's something I've never come across before :) Well I guess we learn as long as we live. Also the "ø" sign for half dimminished is also new to me, because here in norway it is usually indicated as a "minus" sign, like C7- Slashes I believe indicate bass notes right? Like C7/F is a C7 with a F root? But when there is more than one slash I don't know. Maybe it is a way of letting know which measure the chord apears and how many it is hold for? Don't know though, just a thought. Doc-Z | |
| Barry -- 07/11/2004, 11:22:31 -- #5589 | |
| You're right in that the slashes indicate the number of quarter note beats the chord lasts for. It is usually just an indication of how long the chord should last and so it is entirely up to the player how they play the chords rhythmically. If a specific rhythmic feel is required, you will usually see that rhythm notated in conventional notation - often in small notes above the stave. Hope this helps Barry | |
| Barry -- 07/11/2004, 11:29:45 -- #5590 | |
| Doc-Z You are right about the slashes indicating a bass note in that context. Also your C7- for a half diminished chord is simply an abbreviation of C7-5 - in other words a C7 chord with a minor or flattened fifth. The problem with chord notation, like conventional notation is that people kind of made it up as they went along and discovered new sounds and new chords became used more commonly. This means that there a load of ways of writing the same thing. It can be confusing at first but you kind of get used to it after you come across each symbol a few times. And of course, there's always LJP if you get stuck....:-) Barry | |
| docz -- 07/11/2004, 12:22:50 -- #5596 | |
| thanks for that explanation. Maybe you know of other stuff to that I wonder about. In some scores I've found there is numbers under or over some notes what are those? And there are less/greater than signs over certain notes, any idea what they mean? I'm not classically trained, so I've also just figurred things out as I've went along. Cheers! Doc-Z | |
| Peteboypete -- 07/11/2004, 12:28:29 -- #5597 | |
| The greater than sign is an accent, which you put some extra emphasis on that note. I'm not sure what you mean by numbers above the notes. Peter | |
| Barry -- 07/11/2004, 14:56:55 -- #5606 | |
| I'm not entirely sure what you mean. Sometimes, editors will write finger numbers above notes in piano scores.... Can you give us an example? | |
| Sax'n -- 07/11/2004, 16:36:40 -- #5611 | |
| Hey Barry thanks for the slash explanation. I got the picture. GV | |
| Barry -- 07/11/2004, 19:15:36 -- #5617 | |
| You're more than welcome..... | |
| docz -- 07/12/2004, 00:34:01 -- #5621 | |
| Ok, here is an example... Doc-Z | |
| Bonzo -- 07/12/2004, 02:56:30 -- #5622 | |
| those numbers are fingernumbers: 1=thumb 2=indexfinger 3=middlefinger (is this english??) 4=ringfinger 5=pink. I don't know wether the names of the fingers are written in good English, but I think you will get the point..... (In your example there are also fingernumbers under the notes for the lefthand) | |
| docz -- 07/12/2004, 04:30:34 -- #5624 | |
| Ah ok :) Thanks, now I understand :) Doc-Z | |
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