Paralasis by analasis
LittleBoyLuke
I read in a book last year that a major chord is made up from the 1st, 3rd and
fifth notes of the corresponding major scale, and left it at that, assuming
these were the three notes played with the fingers on the fretboard (never
thought too much about B Major) and the open strings just fitted in somehow.
Having looked more closely at the Major chords, I see that that a major chord
is made up of the 1st, 3rd and 5th, and only these named notes, with the root
being the lowest.
Looking at C major (1-C, 3-E, 5-G, ) normally missing the bottom string gives:
C E G C E (bottom - 5th- string to top).
An optional note for this would be to add the G note on the 6th string - thats
ok as G is the 5th note of the scale and therefore a note thats part of the
chord. (As the root is no longer the lowest note in this case,is this now said
to be an inverted chord???).
So, as far as I can see, I should also be able to play the 6th string open - E,
the 3rd of the scale, therefore part of the chord - still playing C major - but
god that sounds horrible!!!
Have I missed something????? Or am I being too analytical.
Thanks
Michael
Where this is leading I'm not sure.........
grant
"LittleBoyLuke" <little...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030103091122...@mb-ci.aol.com...
> So, as far as I can see, I should also be able to play the 6th string
open - E,
> the 3rd of the scale, therefore part of the chord - still playing C
major - but
> god that sounds horrible!!!
>
> Have I missed something????? Or am I being too analytical.
>
Neither, you've found that you create tension (god that sounds
horrible!!!) by having the 3rd note of the scale as the bass note (since
it's a C chord with E as the lowest note, you could call it C/E). Try
resolving the tension by moving to another chord, eg C C/E F G7.
.clive.murray.
news:av4869$bqrsu$1...@ID-113725.news.dfncis.de...
> Neither, you've found that you create tension (god that sounds
> horrible!!!) by having the 3rd note of the scale as the bass note (since
> it's a C chord with E as the lowest note, you could call it C/E).
also called the 1st inversion of C. the version with the G on the bottom is
the 2nd inversion.
to clarify that slightly, if the lowest note in the chord is the 3rd, it's a
first inversion, and if the lowest note is the fifth, it's a second
inversion.
but that's really just giving more names to things than you probably need at
this point. :-)
cheers,
--c.
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Steve White
<20030103091122...@mb-ci.aol.com>...
>So, as far as I can see, I should also be able to play the 6th string
open - E,
>the 3rd of the scale, therefore part of the chord - still playing C major -
but
>god that sounds horrible!!!
>
>Have I missed something????? Or am I being too analytical.
Played on their own lots of chords can sound weird or unusable but in the
context of the right progression or tune they can sound great. Try this for
Back in Black by AC-DC .....
x7999x - E
x5777x - D
x4222x - A/C#
That last chord is the 2nd inversion of A major.
Doesn't sound too bad to my ears!
Cheers,
Steve W
Adrian Clark
> Having looked more closely at the Major chords, I see that that a major
> chord is made up of the 1st, 3rd and 5th, and only these named notes,
> with the root being the lowest.
Yep, you've got the hang of it. The root is generally on the bottom,
although it might not be the bottom note of the guitar - in a band, the
absolute bottom note is usually handled by the bass.
And you can put other chord notes on the bottom. If you put the 3rd (E
in this case) on the bottom, it's called the "1st inversion", and if you
have G (the 5th) on the bottom, it's the "2nd inversion".
> So, as far as I can see, I should also be able to play the 6th string open
> - E, the 3rd of the scale, therefore part of the chord - still playing C
> major - but god that sounds horrible!!!
Usually the 1st inversion works fine, but it has a lot to do with how
you voice the chord (ie arrange the notes). In that open C fingering,
the open E combined with the low C can sound quite muddy.
A common D/F# (ie D major, 1st inversion) fingering is:
2 x 0 2 3 x
>
> Have I missed something????? Or am I being too analytical.
Another important consideration when designing chord voicings is which
notes are doubled (or trebled). In standard practice, the safest note to
double is the root, followed by the 5th. The third isn't frequently
doubled, because it has such a strong character and can easily overpower
the rest of the chord (the same goes for "extension" notes such as 7ths
or 9ths).
However, the good old open C is an exception here, as it contains only
one 5th and two 3rds. I always prefer to play open G as 320033 which has
only one 3rd, as opposed to 320003 which has two.
Adrian
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Steve White
>x4222x - A/C#
>
>That last chord is the 2nd inversion of A major.
Oops. It seems I've lost the ability to count. Make that the 1st inversion.
Steve W