Chord Notation

Old-Tele-man

the "Old Pueblo," AZ

Devil sez: YES! but
it's a DRY heat!
May 27th, 2002 07:13 PM   Edit   Profile
 

In April 1995, the publishers of Guitar Player magazine printed
a special issue named HOW TO PLAY GUITAR | JAZZ, and, on
page 17, in the article, Jazz Chord Basics: Form and Function,
by Richard Johnston, is a side-bar article entitled "Clashing
Symbols," which reads:

"Different players and arrangers prefer different type of chord
 symbols, and the smart guitarist will know as many as
possible. The chart below gives the symbols used in HOW TO PLAY GUITAR (HTPG), along with some of the alternatives."

CHORD................HTPG............OTHER
Ctriad...............C...............C(triangle)
Cmajor 7.............Cmaj7...........C(triangle)7
Cminor...............Cm..............C-, Cmin
Cminor 7.............Cm7.............C-7, Cmin7
Cdiminished..........Cdim............C(circle)
Cdiminished 7........Cdim7...........C(circle)7
Caug.................Caug............C+
Caug 7...............Caug7...........C+7
Cminor 7b5...........Cm7b5...........C(circle/slash)7

It's an "old" problem that's going to be around as long as
handwritten music exists, ie: "...to each his/her own
short-hand chord symbols!"

FWIW: I've also seen scores that used a "european"
slashed-seven (7 & -) for Major7 and slashed-nine (9 & -) for
Major9. You learn to ASK 'once' and then REMEMBER 'forever.'

(This message was last edited by Old-Tele-man at 07:32 PM, May
27th, 2002)

Tyrone Shuz

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Hacker of worthless
vintage amps!
May 27th, 2002 08:20 PM   Edit   Profile
 

Major: no symbol, just a letter: Bb, C, F#, etc
Minor: - or m C-, F#-, Bbm, Gm, etc...
Dom 7: 7, as in G7, Bb7,
Major 7, triangle, or maj7
minor 7, -7, or m7
minor/major7: m/triangle, or m/maj7
diminished: raised circle (degree sign), or dim
m7b5 (half-dim.): degree sign w/slash through it
Augmented: +, or aug
Aug. 7th: 7#5, 7+5

Rarely is there ever a difference between dim, and dim7. In
jazz, they are one and the same. Now, dim and half-dim is
huge. The above symbols are the "must know" symbols.

As mentioned, a French (crossed) 7 indicates a Major 7th in
the chord, so C(french 7) would be Cmaj7 and Cm/maj7 could
be C-(french 7). This is somewhat arcane, and thankfully so,
as it's hard to differentiate between a normal numeral 7.

11/30/2005 LJE