SLASH CHORDS

Heres an example of a basic slash chord notation:

D Phryg.mp3 D Phrygian Slash Chord

This is a nifty way to write a phrygian sound, a major triad one half-step above the
bass, or b2/1. If you were to write the chord symbol as, for example, D Phryg, you
would get several different interpretations of how D Phrygian would sound.
However, if you write the specific slash chord, you are assured the sound you want.
This method also helps analysis of complicated classical pieces, especially those
written after the mid 1800s when harmony was beginning to stray from the normal
voice-leading rules. Slash chords are also useful for writing different pedal points,
and can help solidify a harmonic idea based around a pedal.
A final note about slash chords: Its always nice to be able to think about harmony
several different ways. This helps you to expand the way you look at things
musically, which always leads to unique and interesting ideas.
For example, you can write a Cmin9 chord this way:

Now, think of changing the upper structure only slightly to create a different chord.
Try to separate the concept of a Cmin9 from an Ebmaj7/C. What about
Ebmaj7(#11)/C?

You can use this concept for creating some truly hip sounding chords. First just
experiment, you can always go back and analyze what youve done later.
- See more at: http://blog-archive.indabamusic.com/2010/03/7915-advanced-musictheory-lesson-4-slash-chords-and-poly-chords/#sthash.aBhXpj06.dpuf

Slash Chord Notation

Often a composer or arranger of sheet music will want to specify which inversion of a chord
should be used in a particular place.
In these cases, the long-hand terms of root position, first inversion, etc, can be quite
clumsy. Instead,slash chord notation is used to indicate which note is the bass note in
the inversion.
For example, the term Cmaj/G means the Cmaj chord with G as the bass note. In other
words, the notes are arranged in the order G-C-E.
Here again are the inversions of C7 shown in the previous topic, this time expressed in slash
chord notation. If no bass note is specified, the root position (or the player's choice of
inversion) is assumed.

As you can see, this is a much more compact way of showing which inversion a chord is
arranged in. Also, it is usually easier for players to see exactly which note their chord
should start on, rather than having to work it out from an inversion number.
As another example, the chord sequence of the previous topic has been rewritten below,
using slash chord notation.

ChordWizard products support the use of slash chord notation wherever appropriate,
allowing you to specify not just the chord, but also the inversionyou want to use.
In general, you should only specify, after the slash, one of the notes which is already
part of the chord. This sounds obvious, and yet you will occasionally come across a
chord expressed something like Dmaj/B.

In this case, B is not one of the notes of Dmaj (=D+F#+A), and the expression Dmaj/B is
simply telling you to play the Dmaj chord in root position, with an additional B note below it.
This form of use has the problem of being misleading, because adding a B to the Dmaj
chord changes it into a different chord, in this case D6 (=D+F#+A+B). So a more accurate
expression of the same thing would be D6/B.

Sometimes arrangers have a particular reason for writing slash chords in this way, perhaps
to emphasize the essential Dmaj sound of the music if B is a transient passing note.
But in general, it is better to name the total chord clearly and accurately to avoid these
hidden adjustments

Chord Function vs. Chord Type

Written by Tom Michero
Many musicians will say the purpose of music is to stir human emotion. Others might say it is to take
the listener on a journey. These may sound like the lofty utterances of a pinhead music teacher but it
is true. Every genre of music does this Rap, Country, Classical, Jazz, Pop. Whenever you turn on
your mp3 player, you do so because you want to experience a mood other than the one you have
without it. You are voluntarily allowing yourself to be moved from one feeling to another. This change
is movement a movement that music is very good at creating and harmony is one of the elements
of music that creates this movement.
Harmony is embodied in chords through the combining of different notes. When you understand
what types of chords there are and how they function, you will understand how to write music that
stirs emotions.
There is a pattern of experience that is uniquely human. It is what all drama and storytelling is based
on. It is known as the dramatic arc or the heros journey. Everything from Star Wars to Othello
is based on it. In its simplest form there is a period of stability that soon becomes disrupted. This
disruption leads to uncertainty. In the end, a heightened moment of tension occurs and an event
happens that saves the day and returns everything to stability.
This heros journey exists in every chord progression of every piece of music. There are chords that
establish a harmonic home base. They create a feeling of stability and familiarity. Your brain actually
understands this even if youve never had a music lesson in your life. When you hear these chords,
your brain goes, I got this. Everythings OK.

There are other chords that a composer will introduce that challenge the status quo. They introduce
something new into the mix that catches the attention of the listener. Your brain goes, Hey, wait.
Thats different. The change is a cue to the nervous system to take notice. Its a thing thats
hardwired into us. Change gets our attention. This is an evolutionary trait that we inherited from our
ancestors whose lives depended on how well they could detect movement in the bushes. Noticing
change is so important to house flies that they only see thing that move because if it doesnt move,
its not a threat.

Harmonic movement mirrors emotional movement. The arrangement of chords of a song work to
move the listener to a different emotional state.
Finally, the thing that really gets us going are the real threats to our existence. The sound of a dog
barking will send a cat racing from the backyard through the cat door in an instant. This sound
creates a tension in the cat that is relieved by her finding shelter. Instinct drives us to find ease and
stability whenever we encounter tension and that is exactly what some chords create in us when we
hear them. This feeling of finding stability is so great that we often let ourselves experience the
tension just so we can experience the release. Think bungie jumping, fast driving, and sex.
This cycle of stability, change, tension, and stability can be created by scale chords. Each chord
within a scales has a roll to play in giving a song a feeling of movement. In fact, each note of a scale
produces a chord with a different functional name. For example, chords based on the first note of the
Major scale are Tonic. Chords based on the second note of the scale are Dorian. Third note
Mediant, etc. (see diagram below).

Chords can be constructed based on each note of a scale.

The diagram above shows chords of the C Major scale. Because all of the chords are based on the
C Major scale, they are said to be diatonic to the key of C Major. The term diatonic means that the
chords belongs to the key. The term key is another way to refer to the scale as a whole. The key of
C Major is made up of notes of the C Major scale.
Most of these chords I am showing are triad chords (chords with three notes). I could have added
more notes to these chords and their functional names would not change. For instance, the fifth note
of the Major scale produces a chord with the functional name known as dominant. It would be a
dominant chord still if it was made up of only three notes (G,B,D). The fourth note added here
changes the type of chord this is, not its function. Ill explain this in a little while.
The functional names listed on the right side of the diagram above also have a Roman numeral next
to them. These symbols are often used to indicate a chords harmonic function. If fact, they are more
commonly referred to by their Roman numeral. You will hear musicians talk about the one chord (I),
or the five chord (V). Referring to chords this ways allows you to talk about the chords of a song
without having to spell out its notes.
Now back to stability, change, and tension. Even though each scale has seven functional categories
in which to group chords, those functions are almost always reduced to three groups, tonic, subdominant, and dominant. These chords are grouped according to how much they contribute to a
keys stability, change, and tension.

Chords are arranged into functional groups based on their ability to move the harmony of a song.
Most chord progressions are the result of choosing a chord or two from one functional group then
switching to one or two of another. Musical phrases are ended by moving from tension producing
chords (dominant) to chords with a feeling of stability chords (tonic).

Chord progressions choose chords from different functional groups to create harmonic and
emotional movement.
In both of these chord progressions above we the harmony moving from the tonic (stability), to the
sub-dominant (change), then to the dominant (tension), and returning to the tonic. All chord
progressions do this to some degree.
A chords function is a relative thing. The C Major scale gives rise to these triads: Cmaj, Dmin, Emin,
Fmaj, Gmaj, Amin, Bdim. The G Major scale produces these chord: Gmaj, Amin, Bmin, Cmaj, Dmaj,
Emin, F#dim. Though four of the same chords (Cmaj, Emin, Amin, Gmaj) appear in each scale, their
functions are different. C Major is the tonic chord in the key of C Major. In this key it creates a feeling
of stability. However, in the key of G Major the C Major chord is a sub-dominant chord which creates
a feeling of change. Same chord, different function and feeling. The chords work differently in these
keys because of the other chords that are around them.

The pattern for constructing chords from scales is the same for all scales. Chord functions stay the
same relative to the first note of the scale even though the notes are different.
Earlier I said that chords could be formed using each note of the scale as a root note of the chord.
Now I will explain how chords are actually formed. This process of creating chords that belong to a
scale is called harmonization. To harmonize a scale into its various chords you take each note of that
scale and choose note by counting up the scale. Basically, you make chords by picking every other
note of the scale starting from your root note. That means a triad chord of the key of C Major that
starts on F will skip G, include A, skip B, include C. You can add more notes to this chord by way of
the same process. That is, skip D, include E.

Chords can be constructed by adding notes that are a minor and major third apart.
This process creates chords whose notes are separated by the interval of a major or minor third*.
How these intervals are arranged in the chord determines what type of chord it is. This formula for
chord creation in the key of C Major produces the chords below.
In the diagram above you will notice that the spacing between the notes differs but in a regular way.
Some notes are separated by two whole steps (four semi-tones). Some notes are separated by oneand-half steps (three semi-tones). These intervals are what create the different types of chords.
Chord type refers to a chords construction, not necessarily its function. Chord types can be group
into these categories: major, minor, diminished, dominant, augmented, suspended. (Augmented and
suspended chords are special cases and will not be dealt with here).
A chords type should not be confused with its function. A chords function has to do with its position
in the scale. Like a football team each chord has a position to play and like football, some of those
players play different positions when they change teams. A chords type can be understood apart
from its function or what scale it might belong to. In fact, except for dominant chord types you really
cannot be sure of a chords function without knowing what key it occurs in.

Regarding the term dominant, some confusion occurs around this chord that is based on the fifth
note of a scale. In the key of C this note is G. If we make a triad based on this note, we get a G
major chord. Since it based on the fifth note of the scale, it is often called a dominant chord. While
this is true, it is more accurate to call it a major chord functioning as a dominant. The confusion
arises because the word dominant can be applied to function as well as type of chord. A basic
dominant chord type is made up of four notes with stacked intervals of major, minor, and minor. The
dominant chord type will usually have a 7, 9, 11, or 13 after it, for instance, G7, C9, D7#9, etc.
Finally, here is an easy way to think of chord function and chord type: Chord function deals with what
a chord does, chord type deal with how a chord is made. A chord function deals with what roll it plays
in the harmonic movement of a song. A chords function depends on other chords around it. On the
other hand, chord type deals with the relationship the notes of a chord have with each other
independent of surrounding chords.
This discussion should give you an understanding of how chords work to influence feelings and how
those chords are construction and arranged in songs. This knowledge will help you understand why
a particular chord appears in a piece of music you are playing. It will also give you a framework for
adding harmony to your own compositions. Still, harmony is only one of the elements you can use to
engage and move the feelings of listeners. The other elements are rhythm, dynamics, melody, and
timber. These will be topics of future postings. Theres more to come, but for now since you are a
musician, I dont need to tell you to stay tune!

Dominant seventh chord

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dominant seventh chord on C: C7

Play (helpinfo).

In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord,[a] is

a chord composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. It can be also viewed as
a major triad with an additional minor seventh. When using popular-music symbols, it is denoted by
adding a superscript "7" after the letter designating the chord root.[1] The dominant seventh is found
almost as often as thedominant triad.[2] In Roman numerals it is represented as V7. The chord can be
represented by the integer notation {0, 4, 7, 10}.

dominant seventh chord

Component intervals fromroot

minor seventh

perfect fifth

major third

root

Tuning

20:25:30:36[3]

Forte no. / Complement

4-27 / 8-27

Of all the seventh chords, perhaps the most important is the dominant seventh. It was the first
seventh chord to appear regularly inclassical music. The name comes from the fact that it occurs
naturally in the seventh chord built upon the dominant (i.e., the fifth degree) of a given major diatonic
scale. Take for example the C major scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C):

The note G is the dominant degree of C majorits fifth note. When we arrange the notes of the C
major scale in ascending pitch and use only these notes to build a seventh chord, and we start with
G (not C), then the resulting chord contains the four notes GBDF and is called G dominant
seventh (G7). The note F is a minor seventh from G, and it is also called the dominant seventh with
respect to G.

Function[edit]

Dominant seventh resolving to tonic in C major (V -I).

Play (helpinfo)

Tritone resolution in Beethoven'sPiano Sonata in B-flat major, Op. 22 (1800).[4]

Play (helpinfo)

The function of the dominant seventh chord is to drive to or resolve to the tonic note or chord.
... the demand of the V7 for resolution is, to our ears, almost inescapably compelling. The dominant
seventh is, in fact, the central propulsive force in our music; it is unambiguous and unequivocal.
Goldman, (1965: 35)[5]

This basic dominant seventh chord is useful to composers because it contains both a major triad and
the interval of a tritone. The major triad confers a very "strong" sound. The tritone is created by the
co-occurrence of the third degree and seventh degree (e.g., in the G 7chord, the acoustic
distance between B and F is a tritone). In a diatonic context, the third of the chord is the leadingtone of the scale, which has a strong tendency to pull towards the tonal center, or root note, of the
key (e.g., in C, the third of G7, B, is the leading tone of the key of C). The seventh of the chord acts
as an upper leading-tone to the third of the scale (in C: the seventh of G 7, F, is a half-step above and
leads down to E).[5] This, in combination with the strength of root movement by fifth, and the natural
resolution of the dominant triad to the tonic triad (e.g., from GBD to CEG in the key of C major),
creates a resolution with which to end a piece or a section of a piece. Because of this original usage,
it also quickly became an easy way to trick the listener's ear with a deceptive cadence. The
dominant seventh may work as part of a circle progression, preceded by the supertonic.

Dominant seventh in circle progression in Charlie Parker's "Au Privave" (1956).[6]

Play (helpinfo)

In rock and popular music songs following, "the blues harmonic pattern," IV and V are, "almost
always," major minor seventh chords, or extensions, with the tonic most often being a major triad, for
example Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around The Clock" and Buster Brown's "Fanny Mae",
while in Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A." and Loggins and Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance"
the tonic is also a major minor seventh.[7] Used mostly in the first fifteen years of the rock era and
now sounding somewhat, "retrospective," (Oasis' "Roll With It") other examples of tonic dominant
seventh chords include Little Richard's "Lucille", the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There", Nilsson's
"Coconut", Jim Croce's "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", and the Drifters' "On Broadway".[7] Chuck
Berry's "Rock And Roll Music" uses the dominant seventh on I, IV, and V.[8]See: Twelve-bar blues.

Chromatic seventh[edit]

V of V in C, four-part harmony

Play (helpinfo).

However, the most important use of the dominant seventh chord in musical composition is the way
that the introduction of a non-diatonic dominant seventh chord (sometimes called
a chromatic seventh), which is borrowed from another key, can allow the composer tomodulate to
that other key. This technique is extremely common, particularly since the classical period, and has
led to further innovative uses of the dominant seventh chord such as secondary
dominant (V7/V), extended dominant (V/V/V), and substitute dominant (V7/V) chords.

German sixth[edit]

German sixth and equivalent dominant seventh

Play (helpinfo).

The dominant seventh is enharmonically equivalent to the German sixth, causing the chords to be
spelled enharmonically, for example the German sixth GBDE and the dominant seventh F
ACE.[9]

Harmonic seventh[edit]

Just harmonic seventh chord on C

Play just (helpinfo). 7th: 968.826 cents, a septimal quarter tone lower than

B.

The dominant seventh is frequently used to approximate a Harmonic seventh chord, which is one
possible just tuning, in the ratios 4:5:6:7[10]
20:25:30:36
scales.

[11]

History[edit]

Play (helpinfo), for the dominant seventh. Others include

Play (helpinfo), found on I, and 36:45:54:64, found on V, used in 5-limit just tunings and

Dominant seventh (in blue) handled conservatively, "prepared and resolved as a suspension, clearly indicating
its dissonant status," in the Baroque Period (16001750) and Monteverdi's "Lasciatemi Morire", Lamento
d'Arianna(1608).[12]

Play (helpinfo)

Dominant seventh in Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (180408), last movement.[13]

Play (helpinfo)

Renaissance composers decided in terms of intervals rather than chords, "however, certain
dissonant sonorities suggest that the dominant seventh chord occurred with some frequency." [this quote
needs a citation]

Monteverdi (usually credited as the first to use the V7 chord without preparation[14]) and other

early baroque composers begin to treat the V7 as a chord as part of the introduction of functional
harmony. The V7 was in constant use during the classical period, with similar treatment to that of the
baroque. In the romantic period freer voice-leading was gradually developed, leading to the waning
of functional use in the post-romantic and impressionistic periods including more dissonant dominant
chords through higher extensions and lessened use of the major-minor chord's dominant function.
20th century music either consciously used functional harmony or was entirely free of V 7 chords
while jazz and popular musics continued to use functional harmony including V 7 chords.[12]

Dominant sevenths in Chopin's Mazurka in F Minor (1849), op. 68, no. 4, m. 1-4: "the seventh factor had by this
time [Romantic Period (18251900)] achieved nearly consonant status." [12]

Play (helpinfo)

However, according to Schenker, "'The dissonance is always passing, never a chord

member (Zusammenklang),'"[15] and often (though by no means always) the voice leadingsuggests
either a passing note:

8 7 3
5 5 1

or resolution of a (hypothetical) suspension:

(8) 7 3
(4) 5 1

Today, the dominant seventh chord enjoys particular prominence in the music of barbershop
quartets, with the Barbershop Harmony Society specifying that a song must use the chord type (built
on any scale degree, not just the dominant) for 35 to 60 percent of its duration to be considered "true
barbershop" (i.e., eligible for use in competitions). As barbershop singers strive to harmonize in just
intonation to maximize the audibility of harmonic overtones, the practical sonority of the chord tends
to be that of an harmonic seventh chord. This chord type has become so ingrained into the fabric of
the artform that it is often referred to as the "barbershop seventh chord" by those who practice it.

Voice leading[edit]

Dominant seventh with root doubled and missing fifth resolving to I, in C

Dominant seventh tritone resolution in C

Play (helpinfo).

Play (helpinfo).

Dominant seventh tritone resolution in C, root of tonic chord tripled

Play (helpinfo).

Dominant seventh and incomplete dominant seventh in C major: G7 and b o chords

Dominant seventh chord on C, played on guitar in open position

Play (helpinfo).

Play (helpinfo) and as a barre chord

Play (helpinfo).

For common practice voice leading, or "strict resolution" of the dominant seventh chord:[16]

In the V7I resolution, the dominant, leading note, and supertonic resolve to the tonic,
whereas the subdominant resolves to the mediant.

In the other resolutions, the dominant remains stationary, the leading note and supertonic
resolve to the tonic, and the subdominant resolves to the mediant.

All four tones may be present, though the root may be doubled and the fifth omitted. [16][17][18]

The d5 resolves inwards and the A4 resolves outwards, meaning that the seventh resolves
stepwise downwards[17][18] while the third resolves (stepwise upwards) to the tonic[16] though in
such cases the root of the tonic chord may need to be tripled. [17]

The root of the V7, when in the bass, resolves to the root of the I, in the bass.[16]

In an incomplete V7, with a missing fifth, the doubled root remains stationary.[16]

The "free resolution of the seventh" features the seventh in an inner voice moving stepwise
upwards to the fifth of I[16]

Tuning[edit]

Chord

Notation

Seventh

Ratios

Tonic seventh chord

C E G B

Minor seventh

20:25:30:36[3][11]

Harmonic seventh chord

GBDF +

Harmonic seventh

4:5:6:7[10]

German sixth chord

A C E G

Harmonic seventh

4:5:6:7

Dominant seventh chord

GBDF

Pythagorean minor seventh

36:45:54:64[11]

Dominant seventh chord table[edit]

Chord

C7

Root

Major Third

Perfect Fifth

Minor Seventh

C7

E (F)

D7

C (B)

D7

D7

F (G)

E7

E7

F7

F7

G7

F (E)

G7

G7

B (C)

A7

A7

A7

C (D)

E (F)

B7

B7