6th Chords: Is it just me...

[Toxikator]

I'm getting into Augmented 6th chords, which IMO are far cooler

[Km7]

What's your favourite augmented sixth chord (that was a question in a list of theory jokes)?

[Toxikator]

A tie between the German and French one. Why? (I don't get the joke).

[Km7]

I looked up for the joke.. http://www.jaytomlin.com/music/geek.shtml

[JumpingJackFlash]

I'm getting into Augmented 6th chords, which IMO are far cooler

I wrote about Augmented Sixths in my Introduction to Chromatic Harmony for anyone who's interested.

[Kingston]

What's your favourite augmented sixth chord (that was a question in a list of theory jokes)?

A tie between the German and French one. Why? (I don't get the joke).

http://www.jaytomlin.com/music/geek.shtml

[Toxikator]

I never knew you could use them on the bII degree. Neat! I'm gonna go add that to my chromatic harmony list on the FLipside.

[peejunk]

The reason we are "told to do so" is BECAUSE of the harmonic series! The nature of overtones is that octaves are strong; so strong, in fact, that in many cases two notes are indistinguishable if they are played an octave apart.

This being true...

When two notes of a consonance or dissonance interact, the relative placement of the octaves is not of a particular importance since the overtone interaction is duplicated across octaves.

..doesn't make this true (in both physical and perceptive sense, tho the latter is obviously individual) as the overtone series still remain in the same frequency ratio however long you climb up the spectre (where 2/3 and 3/2 still continue to make a difference).

Which is one of the things where traditional harmonic dogma is off from what most humans hear. Which is why, in contemporary musical styles that employ harmony, the tonal centre is almost always confirmed to the listener with some sort of bass.

[Toxikator]

Well that's of course true, which is why there's a discussion of inversions when discussing perfect vs imperfect cadences.

My point was that the harmonic FUNCTION doesn't tend to change with inversion since there's the same set of overtone dissonances and consonances that are reinforced; the overtone series is more strongly reinforced in root position which is why chords sound "grounded". The point is not to suggest that all voicings of a chord are the same, as they most certainly are not. The point is to suggest that a motion from ii-V is going to work whether the V has the root or 3rd or 5th in the bass, since the tensions and resolutions work to the same goals regardless of voicing.

[Basjoe]

< M6 = m7 in first inversion >
< m6 = m7b5 in first inversion >

I wonder how many chord spellings are duplicated in this way. Let me respectfully offer another to add to the list. Consider the notes E A B. This is often known as Esus4. However, if you think about it, it is also the third voicing of Asus2.

Basjoe

[Sascha Franck]

I wonder how many chord spellings are duplicated in this way. Let me respectfully offer another to add to the list. Consider the notes E A B. This is often known as Esus4. However, if you think about it, it is also the third voicing of Asus2.

Exactly, very good example.
And considering that leaving out the 5th is a very common thing, it could as well just be a B7sus4 (actually, it's a very common "reduced" voicing for that).

As said before, it's all about the context.

[Toxikator]

Of course, suspensions aren't necessarily chord TYPES but instead nonharmonic tones w/ preparations and resolutions. Or at least in the one context...