From: shotokan@diku.dk (Kim H|glund)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Re: chord names and help on django's "nuages"
Date: 7 Sep 92 11:40:57 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, U of Copenhagen

jon@zeus.med.utah.edu (Jonathan Byrd) writes:
>the book gives the following nomenclature:

>D6/9        A13        D9

>-x-----------5----------5--- e
>-5-----------7----------5--- B
>-4-----------6----------5--- G
>-4-----------5----------4--- D
>-5-----------x----------5--- A
>-x-----------5----------x--- E

>the D6/9 i can understand, but the other two confuse me.  clearly the
>A13 chord contains a G (the seventh), and the D9 contains a C (again,
>the seventh).  so my first question is this: is this notation
>ambiguous, or do the names "A13" and "D9" somehow imply the presence
>of the seventh?  should they perhaps be named A7/13 and D7/9?

Yes, it is ambiguous.  In theory a D9 would contain the root, 3rd, 5th, 7th
and 9th, and the A13 would also include the 11th and 13th.  However, it is
common practice that you don't include the 9th in an 11th chord and that
you don't include the 9th and 11th in a 13th chord -- at least when you're
playing a guitar (unless, off cause, you have a 7 string guitar ;-)

How to name the chords is more or less a matter of taste -- it all depends
on the amount of detail you want to put into the name.  The A13 above is a
nice and simple approximation but when you want detail then you could note
that:

   1) the 9th and 11th are omitted which makes "A7/13" or "A7 (add 13th)"
      a more accurate name,

   2) the 5th has been omitted which makes "A13 (no 5th)" a more accurate
      name,

   3) this particular voicing has the 13th (a F#) played on the 2nd string,
      7th fret, less than an octave from the 3rd (on 3rd string 6th fret)
      and root (on 1st string, 5th fret.)  This could suggest that the
      chord is not really a 13th but a 7th chord with an added 6th and a
      more appropriate name would be "A7 (add 6th)" or "A7/6".

Putting the three observations above together we end up with a chord name
like "A7 (add 6th, no 5th)" which is correct but somewhat silly as it only
makes your tab or music sheets more unreadable.  After all, when you have
played the song a couple of times the chords will feel natural and you only
need the chord names as reminders i.e. you don't need all the nitty-gritty
details on each chord.


>now to the second question: in django reinhardt's "nuages," the book
>lists chord names, but gives no tablature.  according to the book, the
>first four chords played are: Db9, Bbm6, C-9, and FM7.  i am currently
>playing it like this:

>Db9   Bbm6    C-9   FM7

>-x-----?-------x-----0--- e
>-4-----?-------2-----1--- B
>-4-----?-------3-----2--- G
>-3-----?-------2-----3--- D
>-4-----?-------3-----3--- A
>-x-----?-------x-----x--- E

>my problem is this: i cannot find a voicing of the Bbm6 that sounds
>right.  i know that the chord contains some or all of the following
>notes: Bb (root), C# (minor third), F (fifth), and G (sixth).

I don't think there's any "right" voicing of the Bbm6 (or of the other
chords) -- just go for what sounds good to you.  I usually play the
introduction where the chord progression above appears as

                    Db9     Db(b9)    Bbm6    C(b9)     Fmaj7
e -----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-0---------------
B ---------8-7-6-5-|-4-------3-------|-2-------2-------|-1---------------
G -----5-5---------|-4-------4-------|-3-------3-------|-2---------------
D -----------------|-3-------3-------|-3-------2-------|-3---------------
A -----------------|-4-------4-------|---------3-------|-3---------------
E -----------------|-----------------|-3---------------|-----------------
   1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &   1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &   1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &   1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

which gives you a very nice line of descending notes from G to C (8th to
1st fret on the 2nd string.)

Hope this helps,
  Kim

_____
Kim H|glund,  shotokan@diku.dk,    CS Dept. at U of Copenhagen,  Denmark
"I've got plenty of common sense. I just choose to ignore it." -- Calvin
Newsgroups: alt.guitar