Chord Classes

[Toxikator]

Code: Select all

class
no.
V     ------MAJOR------   |           ------MINOR------
0 |          I            |           i       /    III
_________________________ | _________/________________\_______
1 | V, V7, bII7           |      V, V7              iio, iiø7 
    viio, viiø7           |    viio, viio7          VII, VII7
_________________________ | __________________________________
2 | ii, ii7, IV, IV7,     | iio, iiø7, iv, iv7, i64, III+
    I64 (cadential)       |
_______________| N6, It6, Fr6, Gr6, Tr |______________________
3 | vi, vi7               | VI
_________________________ | __________________________________
4 | iii                   |
_________________________ | __________________________________

HOW TO USE:
Every class resolves to the class above it. 3rd class moves to second, second to first, first to zero (stable).

Zero class chords can jump anywhere; Class 1 chords can also resolve to Class 3 chords, in a deceptive resolution.

The "two-and-a-half" class chords (the chromatics listed in the middle) are in between classes; they can resolve as a second class chord would to the first class (i.e. N6 to V) or to a second class chord and then to a first class chord (i.e. Gr6 to i64 to V).

first class chords with "7" attached can be extended to 9 chords as well.

When you use a secondary function chord, you temporarily think of your chord as a class 0 chord and build a new chord chart off of it (so a V/V treats the V chord as a class 0, etc.)

Feel free to add to this via quote, I've yet to add modal interchange or chromatic mediants, and the chart pretty much exclusively deals with classical sonorities (little to no Jazz movements like tritone substitutions, I'd love to see them added by people who understand them better than I do).

[Toxikator]

Edited to include the Tristan Chord and tritone substitutions.

[musikjock]

Okay, I really appreciate all the great theoretical insight KVR has to offer. But I was never taught how to properly read the notation you guys use and it leaves me a bit frustrated at times because i am a seasoned musician who has a pretty decent, innate grasp of how music works. Are there any tutorials out there that really explain what all the symbols are representing? Sometimes I can make educated guesses as to what the symbols mean but that is risky since I don't wanna end up learning something that is completely wrong. Take your major class example:
V, V7, bII7 | V, V7 iio, iiø7
viio, viiø7

Im assuming the V is the major fifth, the v7 is the fifth note played with a seventh and BII7 is a seventh flatted 2 intervals. that is probably way off I know. furthermore, what is a viio? or an 'o' with a slash through it?

I know that the theory you guys have to offer here could be of huge benefit to me, i just cannot figure out what all these little symbols represent.

[herodotus]

Okay, I really appreciate all the great theoretical insight KVR has to offer. But I was never taught how to properly read the notation you guys use and it leaves me a bit frustrated at times because i am a seasoned musician who has a pretty decent, innate grasp of how music works. Are there any tutorials out there that really explain what all the symbols are representing? Sometimes I can make educated guesses as to what the symbols mean but that is risky since I don't wanna end up learning something that is completely wrong. Take your major class example:
V, V7, bII7 | V, V7 iio, iiø7
viio, viiø7

Im assuming the V is the major fifth, the v7 is the fifth note played with a seventh and BII7 is a seventh flatted 2 intervals. that is probably way off I know. furthermore, what is a viio? or an 'o' with a slash through it?

I know that the theory you guys have to offer here could be of huge benefit to me, i just cannot figure out what all these little symbols represent.

I feel for you.

But sadly, there is no reference guide that I know of that covers all of these different symbol systems.

I often wish people would use notation instead of chord symbols, because all of these symbols are fraught with ambiguity.

Naming conventions are not just split up between traditional usage and jazz/popular usage as is sometimes thought, but there are slightly different traditions from almost every European country with a musical heritage. And popular usage is ambiguous as well, although not as obviously. We have even seen some lengthy arguments about which ambiguous naming convention is the 'right' one.

But I have been told that notation frightens away even more people than chord symbols (though I haven't seen any statistics that bear this out ) so the chord symbol confusion will likely continue.

[Toxikator]

Take your major class example:
V, V7, bII7 | V, V7 iio, iiø7
viio, viiø7

Im assuming the V is the major fifth, the v7 is the fifth note played with a seventh and BII7 is a seventh flatted 2 intervals.

not at all. However, I can see how your mind works and it makes sense; that's just not what I meant.

Here's how it works:

for a (traditional) scale, there are 7 degrees.

the roman numeral indicates the scale degree that the chord is built on.

So in C Major, the I chord is built on "C" (CEG), the ii chord is built on "d" (dfa), etc.

Uppercase roman numerals (I II III etc.) indicate major chords, while lowercase roman numerals indicate minor chords. the "o" at the end of a minor chord indicates that it is diminished. The + at the end of a major chord indicates that it's augmented.

7s - when a major chord has a 7 added to the end, it's a dominant 7th chord; a major chord with a minor 7th. In C, a V7 would be GBDF. Though I don't USE these (yet), a major chord with a M7 at the end indicates a major 7th chord; a Major chord with a major 7th. A minor chord with a 7 (or m7) at the end indicates a minor 7th; a minor chord with a minor 7th.

I also use the o7 and ø7. Since "o" means diminished, o7 means "diminished 7th". this is a diminished chord with a diminished 7th, and occurs on the raised 7th scale degree of the harmonic minor (in A minor, G# B D F). The ø7 means "half-diminished 7th". This is a diminished 7th chord with a minor 7th; it occurs on the vii of a major scale or a ii of the minor scale.

Putting a "b" or "#" in FRONT of the roman numeral indicates that the scale degree is raised or lowered. So a bII7 means a II7 chord (a dominant 7th on the second scale degree), lowered by a half-step to the flatted second scale degree (in C, instead of D F# A C, it's Db F Ab Cb).

A NOTICE TO THOSE USING THIS CHART: I specify minor and major scales, and the degrees are understood in the chart. I know that certain analyses call for the major scale degrees to be assumed... I don't do that. Where those people would indicate the minor progression Im - bIII, I simply write i-III. The scale degree is assumed to be diatonic to the minor scale unless OTHERWISE noted. the only exception is the VII and viio in the minor; the viio assumes the raised 7th scale degree, while the VII assumes the lowered 7th.

Other symbols:

N6 indicates the Neapolitan 6th chord (you can also use the straight N); that's a major chord built on the flat second scale degree, or a bII chord.

It6 indicates the Italian Augmented 6th, a chord composed of a root (a M3 below the tonic), a M3, and an augmented 6th (m7). The Fr6 indicates the French Augmented 6th, which is the same as the It6 but with a M3, an augmented 4th, and the augmented 6th. The Gr6 indicates the German Augmented 6th, the same as an It6 but with a M3, a P5, and an augmented 6th.

Tr indicates the Tristan chord, a viø7 (minor... I suppose bviø7 in major) chord typically stacked as such: in A minor, F, Cb, Eb, Ab (when written in a score, it's actually F, B, D#, G#, as it was originally designed as atonal, but the sound is the same)

[JumpingJackFlash]

Okay, I really appreciate all the great theoretical insight KVR has to offer. But I was never taught how to properly read the notation you guys use and it leaves me a bit frustrated at times because i am a seasoned musician who has a pretty decent, innate grasp of how music works. Are there any tutorials out there that really explain what all the symbols are representing? Sometimes I can make educated guesses as to what the symbols mean but that is risky since I don't wanna end up learning something that is completely wrong. Take your major class example:
V, V7, bII7 | V, V7 iio, iiø7
viio, viiø7

Im assuming the V is the major fifth, the v7 is the fifth note played with a seventh and BII7 is a seventh flatted 2 intervals. that is probably way off I know. furthermore, what is a viio? or an 'o' with a slash through it?

I know that the theory you guys have to offer here could be of huge benefit to me, i just cannot figure out what all these little symbols represent.

My post on Scales, Modes and Chords gives some of the more common symbols, along with musical examples.

In a nutshell:
Chords are assigned roman numerals:

Code: Select all

1  2   3    4   5  6   7
I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII

Uppercase (e.g.. IV) indicates the chord has a major 3rd, lowercase (e.g.. iv) indicates the chord has a minor 3rd.
Also, sometimes a lower-case 'm' or '-' is used to indicate a minor third instead.

? Major Seventh
o Diminished Seventh
ø Half-Diminished (Seventh)
+ Augmented
7 Dominant Seventh

[Toxikator]

M7, j7, or ∆7 Major Seventh
m7 or -7 Minor seventh
o7 Diminished Seventh
ø7 Half-Diminished (Seventh)
+ Augmented
7 Dominant Seventh

Rounded out the list

Note that another way to notate 7ths is with M, m, A, or d in succesion... the first letter indicating the triad and the next the 7th.

So a V7 would be VMm7. It's more of a PITA to read/write but is probably ultimately clearer.

[musikjock]

wow, thanks guys for the info. This REALLY clears a lot up for me. I've grasped pretty much everything here until 'other symbols' part...and then it gets a little foggy. THis is probably because im not famailar with the neapolitan chords and so fourth. However, there seems to be enough info here where I can figure it all out in good time. Thanks again!

[ocmtime]

hello Toxikator. how can this http://www.chordmaps.com/genmap.htm relate to your map.
this map is for major scales.how can I modify it to get a major minor style chart like yours

[Toxikator]

Not only is the map diff. For major and minor scales, but that map indictates certain motions that are a bit strange like ii-iii, some of the chords are just secondary function chords which the tier chart doesn't yet accomodate... and also some of the chords are just different names (like I/5 is the same as I64). It's a good map, but it doesn't work quite the same way. If someone could break it down into tiers of chord class I'd probably use it.

On the other hand, I do like the way it deals with a lot of modal interchange, like the bVI (here, not a chromatic mediant since it resolves to V). It would be cool to see it expanded to include Chromatic mediants, augmented 6ths, Neapolitans, the Tristan, etc... but those chords are primarily extensions of the MINOR mode, with only rare use in the major.

[JumpingJackFlash]

? Major Seventh
o Diminished Seventh
ø Half-Diminished (Seventh)
+ Augmented
7 Dominant Seventh

Hmm, for some reason I can't seem to produce the Major Seventh symbol. - It looks ok when I write it, but doesn't show up properly (it shows up as a question mark for some reason). - For the record, it should be the capital Delta (triangle thing) that Toxi wrote:

Just some tests: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

[Toxikator]

How are you doing it? I just use the "Insert Symbol" in word and then copypasta.

[JumpingJackFlash]

How are you doing it? I just use the "Insert Symbol" in word and then copypasta.

Well I'm on a Mac. I tried opening the (special) character pallet, and insert the symbol that way (something I love about OS X, the special symbols are not just confined to programs like Word). But I've also simply copied your symbol and pasted it in my text. - Both ways it looks fine here, when I'm writing, but for some reason it doesn't seem to post properly. - Anyone else on a Mac have this problem?

[Toxikator]

I know you can open the character map for windows directly but I couldn't find it on my machine; they've moved it from "accessories" to "accessories > System tools"

As to your posting problem, it could be a limitation of Safari?

Lol there it is, "just working."

I don't know.