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02/09/2009 10:07 am
Okay, I'm running through a chord progression, again from the Eric Roche text. The book gives standard notation, tab below, and chord names below. I can play it fine, but have been looking at the theory behind the progression, and one chord shape is named differently in two places in the piece. I want to know why.
The first (repeating) section goes:
| E ' Fsharpm7 | Eadd2/Gsharp | Fsharp7 | B7 ' F7 |
The notes given for that Eadd2/Gsharp are Gsharp, Fsharp, and B. I'd have been inclined to call it a Gsharpm7 and not an Eadd2/Gsharp had I been writing it out. Later, the same chord shape is used, but this time it is called a Gsharpm7. This section follows the one laid out above, and goes:
| Asus2 | Gsharp7 | Csharpm7 | E7 ' E7/Gsharp |
| Add2 | Am7(add2) | Gsharpm7 ' G7 | Fsharpm7 ' F7 |
then it returns to the first section again.
Now, I realise that the use of different names for the same chord in an instructional text may be primarily pedagogical - reminding the reader that one chord shape can have several names (although this fact isn''t under discussion in this section of the text). I also understand that by calling is Gsharpm7 in the second section reflects the descending chromatic passage from Aadd2 to E7 more accurately than if we called it an Eadd2/Gsharp there. But is there another reason why it is better to describe the opening section as I-ii-I-II7-V7-bII7 than I-ii-iii-II7-V7-bII7? Or is it just a matter of whichever you prefer?
Just checking if I have a theory-hole on this one. Thanks!
02/09/2009 11:28 am
First you want a name that's in key (something like A#m is probably wrong, unless you're in the key of C#)
Then you want a name that shows cadences - if Bº leads to C, it's best to consider if other instruments might fill in a G note; if so, it should be labeled G7
Then you want something that shows a root progression - in your last section, G#m7 - G7 - F#m7 - F7 shows a chromatic root motion, which wouldn't be clear if you called them by the enharmonic names B6 - G7 - A6 - F7.
Then you want names that follow tertian convention - Am7(add2) really should be Am9
Finally, you want them simple. I'm with you on calling the first chord G#m7. There's no reason to give that chord an E root, because you're not showing an E bass line, and the 5th isn't required in a chord - so G#m7 is a lot simpler.
Sometimes composers have a special reason for choosing a chord (or note) name over a more obvious choice, and it often has to do with voice leading, or showing some geometric structure to the piece as a whole. But most songwriters aren't Wagner or Coletrane :)
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