The Mu Major chord
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- KVRer
- 4 posts since 30 Jun, 2021
I have seen a couple of references to it, but does anyone have any in depth knowledge of the Mu Chord a la Steely Dan? I believe they said it was a joke, but there's a Wiki for it and lots of serious discussion surrounding it.
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- KVRAF
- 26033 posts since 20 Oct, 2007 from gonesville
not a lot to it, it's a major triad add 2, but the major second between 2 & 3 must remain no matter the position or inversion, to be deemed that specifically.
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- addled muppet weed
- 111237 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
play it twice, be justified and ancient.
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- KVRist
- 392 posts since 4 Aug, 2020 from Montreal, Canada
Cool name, I guess I'll call a friend's favourite chord, A F G C, the F-Mu chord (F-Mu six in this inversion? lol) :p
I find the IV-Mu chord exhibit a subtle characteristic of V.
I find the IV-Mu chord exhibit a subtle characteristic of V.
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- KVRAF
- 26033 posts since 20 Oct, 2007 from gonesville
I developed a similar signature chord type in the late 1980s, two basic forms. I wrote on guitar, this is guitar idiom.
1) let's say A E F# B D#. Draw whatever inference as to its identity, I mean if it's a I kind of a deal it speaks of Lydian character, II on top of I.
2) G# E F# B D#. Gotta call this an E type of chord. 1) to 2) may be a IV to I (It was that 'plagal' relationship per se, tonic may be a moving target, ie., the same relationship reiterates a step down, sequentially). I didn't/wouldn't think of it as a V over IV (V over ii6) specifically because I wasn't/am not that into V-I paradigm for my own music.
Compare C# F# B E G# (one o' those Zoot Allures chords).
Like the Steely Dan chord a big part of its appeal is the quartal aspect.
When I learned a sonority may be thought of outside of thirds as the necessary building block it was like chains evaporated for me. There is a fair amount of quartal in jazz or jazz fusion chordal thought, mixed with defineable triadic constructs, since the 1960s. (Erik Satie came up with the planing of mixed quartal (cf., McCoy Tyner) in the early 1890s, but the function is not CPP or regular tonal function at all.).
So, a Db G C E, its identity or how it relates* may be at once defineable and fluid (*: function or not). It could be a dom. 7 #9 with an implied A, it could be a ^7#9 feeling on Db, it could be dominant of C or Gb (the bass being determinant if determination is needed), but it isn't spelled out 1 3 5 7 etc.
1) let's say A E F# B D#. Draw whatever inference as to its identity, I mean if it's a I kind of a deal it speaks of Lydian character, II on top of I.
2) G# E F# B D#. Gotta call this an E type of chord. 1) to 2) may be a IV to I (It was that 'plagal' relationship per se, tonic may be a moving target, ie., the same relationship reiterates a step down, sequentially). I didn't/wouldn't think of it as a V over IV (V over ii6) specifically because I wasn't/am not that into V-I paradigm for my own music.
Compare C# F# B E G# (one o' those Zoot Allures chords).
Like the Steely Dan chord a big part of its appeal is the quartal aspect.
When I learned a sonority may be thought of outside of thirds as the necessary building block it was like chains evaporated for me. There is a fair amount of quartal in jazz or jazz fusion chordal thought, mixed with defineable triadic constructs, since the 1960s. (Erik Satie came up with the planing of mixed quartal (cf., McCoy Tyner) in the early 1890s, but the function is not CPP or regular tonal function at all.).
So, a Db G C E, its identity or how it relates* may be at once defineable and fluid (*: function or not). It could be a dom. 7 #9 with an implied A, it could be a ^7#9 feeling on Db, it could be dominant of C or Gb (the bass being determinant if determination is needed), but it isn't spelled out 1 3 5 7 etc.
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- KVRist
- 392 posts since 4 Aug, 2020 from Montreal, Canada
Thanks for sharing, Jan! I love this creation. I tend to think (and play) your signature as EMaj7/9 on A and on G#, the bass being the melody. Goes very well with a slow Bossa nova rhythm. Sounds better on guitar than keys.
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- KVRian
- 1024 posts since 8 Mar, 2004 from Network 23
We shall see orchestral machines with a thousand new sounds, with thousands of new euphonies, as opposed to the present day's simple sounds of strings, brass, and woodwinds. -- George Antheil, circa 1925 ---
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- KVRAF
- 26033 posts since 20 Oct, 2007 from gonesville
same as your friend's chord, with a major 3 on top.
I like quartal with an M3 on top, which is guitar idiom, open strings/barre chords strs 2-5. then you want tension/drive (jazz), augment a fourth in there. Gb C F Bb D. Compare C Gb Bb D, V7b5 of F, say. But the quartal voicing has this sort of multivalence, with the F. a bit sus 4 or 11 but there's a twinge Gb - F.
I like quartal with an M3 on top, which is guitar idiom, open strings/barre chords strs 2-5. then you want tension/drive (jazz), augment a fourth in there. Gb C F Bb D. Compare C Gb Bb D, V7b5 of F, say. But the quartal voicing has this sort of multivalence, with the F. a bit sus 4 or 11 but there's a twinge Gb - F.