What do you call e-minor triad containing G-B-E?

[flowdesigner]

Its just an inversion, but I wonder what its called?


THanks!

[bduffy]

E minor. Any inversion of a chord, using the same notes, is still the same chord.

If you're actually playing a G as the root note, then you could say E min/G (E Minor with a G in the bass).

[JumpingJackFlash]

Its just an inversion, but I wonder what its called?

E minor in first inversion. Em/G.
Any further analysis depends on context.

[JumpingJackFlash]

If you're actually playing a G as the root note, then you could say E min/G

Just to nitpick; you mean G as the bass note, not the root (which would always be E).

[bduffy]

If you're actually playing a G as the root note, then you could say E min/G

Just to nitpick; you mean G as the bass note, not the root (which would always be E).

Sure, thanks. I see I wrote "root" but wrote "bass" after..duh.

[flowdesigner]

great, so E-A-C is called Amin/E ?

[flowdesigner]

E minor. Any inversion of a chord, using the same notes, is still the same chord.

If you're actually playing a G as the root note, then you could say E min/G (E Minor with a G in the bass).

im first playing an a minor triad A-C-E and then e minor with G-B-E, and the reason for the inversion is keeping the E at the "same voicing" as a minor, as it sounds nice/classical/sad etc

[wrench45us]

welcome to voice leading
it's a lot of technical talk about various theoretical this and that, but often it's about keeping one or more fingers on the same keys

note that G C E fits right in between there and that's the Cmajor to the related A minor moving toward the e minor which is the iii in the major key and the V in the minor key (if it really was in a minor as V7 it would be voiced G# B E with the D thrown in somewhere to make it a dom 7)

the reason I bvring all that in is to demonstrate how a little theory opens up a lot of possibilities. Yopu don't need and really can't explore them all, but a lot of people seem to get stuck after 4 or 8 bars and a little theory just opens up a lot of variations.

[JumpingJackFlash]

great, so E-A-C is called Amin/E ?

Yes. Or simply Am/E.
In this case, the chord is in second inversion (the fifth is in the bass).

im first playing an a minor triad A-C-E and then e minor with G-B-E, and the reason for the inversion is keeping the E at the "same voicing" as a minor, as it sounds nice/classical/sad etc

Yes. If you were in the key of A minor, then the progression Am/E to Em is a common progression in classical music at the end of a phrase. In Roman Numerals it is figured ic-v (which is sometimes used as an imperfect cadence). Often the progression is then followed by the tonic again to make a nice perfect cadence: ic-v-i. This is called a cadential 6/4. (6/4 is the figured bass way of labelling a second inversion chord denoting the intervals above the bass - 6th and 4th.)

Edit: In such a progression, the seventh note of the natural minor scale is usually raised one semitone, transferring the minor v chord into a major V one. (So, E-G#-B in the example above). (See Harmonic Minor.)

[tapper mike]

Not always so pressed.

GBE can be a G6 Not all chords are voiced with the 5th especially not jazz guitar.
If you look at EGBD and then GBDE you get an E minor 7th and/or a G major 6
It's the same notes in a different starting point. They are enharmonic. And usually defined by what ever the bass (actual or bass note) is doing.

[jancivil]

Its just an inversion, but I wonder what its called?

E minor in first inversion. Em/G.
Any further analysis depends on context.

for part writing, which 'figures the bass' the roman number sign has a 6 attached to it, eg., i6. ie., the bass is a sixth from [edit:] the root of the chord in a higher part. '6 chord' is the common saying, the figure is short for 6/3, meaning the other parts of the harmony are these intervals from the bass now.

'voice-leading' has been touched on. these figures pre-date 'chord progressions' in analyzing (and composing) harmony.

notice your common tone E as A and C move down to G and B; you can think of these as independent streams and come up with more subtle harmonies than thinking in blocks all the time. This is in fact how I approach harmony, as I find it far more interesting.

[jancivil]

Yes. If you were in the key of A minor, then the progression Am/E to Em is a common progression in classical music at the end of a phrase. In Roman Numerals it is figured ic-v (which is sometimes used as an imperfect cadence). Often the progression is then followed by the tonic again to make a nice perfect cadence: ic-v-i. This is called a cadential 6/4. (6/4 is the figured bass way of labelling a second inversion chord denoting the intervals above the bass - 6th and 4th.)

you're talking to a beginner with two ways of labeling an inversion. Not useful.

As I have touched on, figuring the bass pre-dates 'chord-progression'; the figures, 6, 6/4, 4/2 actually tell us about musical thought. 'C' only tells us of a position of 'a chord'; it doesn't show anything about the line of thought, while 6/4 can show how [V] 5/3 follows in the cadence. There is no advantage by this novelty. 'C' for 'second inversion' is another aberration out of academia, which has in no way improved on anything by it.

[jancivil]

Not always so pressed.

GBE can be a G6 Not all chords are voiced with the 5th especially not jazz guitar.
If you look at EGBD and then GBDE you get an E minor 7th and/or a G major 6
It's the same notes in a different starting point. They are enharmonic. And usually defined by what ever the bass (actual or bass note) is doing.

I'm all for calling that GBE 'G6' rather than Em/G if only because it's less on the page.

There is no actual useful difference there from E minor however. Calling a 7th chord built by thirds [EGBD] with the root in the bass a 6th chord is not too useful I think. To what end? The bass is important by your own language, but that tells us something else. "G6" is true, the E is a sixth from the bass. It isn't true where there is no sixth from the bass. It's a seventh chord. "Sixth chords" is one of these things in jazz and pop lingo that's a hand-me-down. If the way it works in the thinking is, you added a sixth onto a major chord, there's sense to it, 'add sixth' is really what it is. That's just a seventh chord with an arbitrary 'nother name to no real purpose.

Also 'enharmonic' as typically used tells us something else, a different spelling of the same note in chromatic usage.

[Sascha Franck]

I'm all for calling that GBE 'G6' rather than Em/G if only because it's less on the page.

That's no good reason at all.
It solely depends on the musical context whether that very voicing functions as a G (with a 6th then) or as an Emin. And on a sheet chords should better be named so their function becomes clear.

Besides, usually, in whatever band oriented contexts, if you use something such as Emin/G, it's really the bass that is playing the G. You can then more or less play any Emin inversion on top of it.

- Sascha

[jancivil]

it isn't a very good reason no doubt! as far understanding what is....
for a guitarist sight-reading the thing, in a jazz-context, it isn't any great problem. that's what I get for being diplomatic before I disagree in principle, you know. if it's really got to have the fifth and the sixth it's *add 6*, if I had my druthers. there is a basic misconception Mike is perpetuating making a minor 7th into a major 6th, that's a coincidence. if I want e g d I'm not going to indicate I want G6.

If I want to control every note I would score the thing and no worries. but a lead sheet, fake book, big honking diff between Em/G and G6, eh.

you just implied the guitarist may as well ignore the voicing...