Figured Bass

and also.. how do write chromatic chords in figured bass

because all it is, is a number, and you gotta go to the key and pick that note..

say you get 3 sharps (A/F#m)

and you see

I357

you gonna do A C# E G#? or F# A C# E?

like if you had a note B and B was I, and you saw I35.. how do you know if to go B D F#? or B D# F#, the '3' could be D or D#..

and especially with chords outside of a key, how do you write them?!?!

Is this the sort of thing you're talking about?

http://www.saraband.com.au/figured_bass.htm

And when you say 'chromatic chords' are you talking about 'tone clusters?'

If you are, and this is not a tab thing (which I bypassed in favor of standard notation), then you'd have to put yourself back in the days when figured bass was popular. It was a musical 'shorthand' so to speak, where it was assumed that the performer would already know the style of the time and be able to improv a line according to the sketch given. You know, complete with flourishes and ornaments and that sort of thing.

Back in those days extended chords weren't used all that much - though some would argue - and especially not in the bass register. Also, tone clusters, or chromatic chords, wouldn't be popular (still aren't, but I love them) for another several centuries, so the problem of writing 7ths, 11ths and etc, and writing clusters didn't really exist.

That's one of the main reasons I see standard notation still ahead of other types of notation - there's a lot more you can display with it, with less confusion. Like all the thread-wars I've see over the naming-convention of chords - like is it a Something-Minor-2nd inversion, or is it a Something-with-something-else in the bass.

If it's written in notation, there's no question as to what the chord is, and what the voicing is. It's just there in black and white. :)

Hope this helps and I hope I got your original intent.

cluster chords arent chromatic, i meant like augmented 6th and neapolitan chords (which Mozart / Hayden / Beethoven ) used.. i never thought about cluster chords in classical music, theyre just, not there, never above a 7th, maybe an odd 9th, theres like 3.

That's one of the main reasons I see standard notation still ahead of other types of notation - there's a lot more you can display with it, with less confusion. Like all the thread-wars I've see over the naming-convention of chords - like is it a Something-Minor-2nd inversion, or is it a Something-with-something-else in the bass.

totally agree.. but you still need a naming convention, for those who cant read notation thoroughly.. so, they should learn, but it does make stuff easier, lol.

this is what i mean like propper figured bass.. and in finding this, i answered my question...

look at the bottom line, it has 2#, thats how they must have figured bass wrote chromatic chords, had the number of the note and an accidental by it..

Yah, that's right, I forgot about Bach - he had some of the first 'jazz' chords, lol. :)

Alex,

Your problems in figured bass are actully very simple, your looking at abbreviations for 7th chords. Instead of calling a chord, a 1,3,5,7, they may just write (5/7) or somthing along those lines, i forget the exact abbreviations. Also, all the numbers represent is the distance away from whatever the lowest note is, each inversion changes the numbers, but on triads, the root is always the note on top of the fourth interval, whereas in 7th chords it's always the note on top of the 2 step interval.

", each inversion changes the numbers, but on triads, the root is always the note on top of the fourth interval, whereas in 7th chords it's always the note on top of the 2 step interval"

- what????

root is always on top of the fourth interval, if your talking about triads, 1-3-5, then what fourth interval are you reffering too? there isnt just one inversion so as it changes, your saying, the root is on top, will change.. and i dont know what you mean by '2 step interval' ?

can you elaborate?

Alex,

furious_b is talking about the distance up from the highest note (in root position) to the root (in any other position - any inversion).

Up from a root triad... 1-3-5... the next root is at 8, a perfect fourth above the 5th. With a seventh chord, the next root is a major second above - the 2 step (I assume he means two half-step) interval.

Figured bass was used a lot for keyboard music from about 1600 to about 1750 - the music was improvisational. The bass line was written out, and the numbers were a guide for the performer to use - by knowing the inversions, you have a good idea how the melody can be shaped.

It's actually pretty simple to read. Anything not noted is assumed to be thirds above the bass... let's say the bass note is E, you're in the key of C, and the figured bass is 6. The top note will be the sixth above E - a C note (we don't know what C - C natural, C sharp, or C flat without checking the key signature), and since the 6 is the only number, the other note is a third above the bass - G. The triad is E, G, C for a C major chord.

If the figured bass was 46 the top note is a sixth higher (still C) and there's a note a fourth higher than the bass (A). We've now got the E-A-C chord for A minor.

Pretty simple, really.

Yes,

Thank you Noteboat for clarifying.

What you said is exactly what i meant i just couldn't find a good way to describe it with just writing. It's also been a little while since i've done figured bass and didn't quite remember everything.