From: denio@beno.CSS.GOV (Dennis O'Neill)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers
Subject: Re: hip chord voicings
Date: 7 Apr 92 13:20:53 GMT

-- long posting follows --

I've been following this thread with interest, and have decided to toss in
my two cents.  I hope this is useful to someone.

These aren't really voicings, just root-position chords.  But the process
of pulling this together has helped me learn a lot about chord
construction.


Here is a series of (rather naive) tables I have come up with in conjunction
with some recent lessons I've taken.  I developed lists of all naturally-
occuring triads, seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords derived
from major, pure minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales.
First, I listed all intervals between a root and all tones over a two-octave
range; this is shown as Table 1.  Next, using C and Am, I developed the various
alternate-note chords (i.e., chords constructed by starting with a scale tone
and stacking every second successive note over the scale tone, e.g.,
C-E-G-B).  Finally, I abstracted the chords by contained intervals, what
others on this thread have called "modality".  The tables showing these
chords also include the scale type and degree from which each chord is
derived.  I grouped similar chords together, and based names on the
simplest of the chords in a family; e.g., the major 13th chord in C
is called C M13, the subdominant 13th chord in C is F M13 #11, the
dominant 13th is G 13, and so on.  I used the symbols
  o  M number - to indicate a major number chord, e.g., M7 for major 7th
  o  m number - to indicate a minor number chord, e.g., m7 for minor 7th
  o  number   - to indicate a dominant chord, e.g., 7 for dominant 7th
  o  dim      - diminished chord
  o  m7 b5    - half-diminished chord

I hope these charts are free of errors; I've checked them several times and
have eliminated such errors as I have found, but if any remain, my
apologies.

I'm working on similar things based on the various modes, to see what falls
out.  



I've split the posting into three parts:
  o  part 1 - interval table
  o  part 2 - chord stacks
  o  part 3 - generalized chord tables

Dennis O'Neill
denio@s3reston.scubed.com



Part one of three.  Interval table, used in part 3 to assist in
naming chords.


____________________________________________________________

                    Table 1.  Intervals

____________________________________________________________

 Semitones   Interval   Thirds               Example

         0   d2         unison
         1   m2         1 semitone           C-C#, C-Db
         2   M2         2 semitones          C-D
         3   m3         m3                   C-D#, C-Eb
         4   M3, d4     M3                   C-E
         5   P4         M3 + 1 semitone      C-F
         6   a4, d5     m3 m3                C-F#, C-Gb
         7   P5         M3 m3                C-G
         8   a5, m6     M3 M3                C-G#, C-Ab
         9   M6, d7     m3 m3 m3             C-A, C-Bbb
        10   m7         M3 m3 m3             C-A#, C-Bb
        11   M7         M3 M3 m3             C-B
        12   P8         M3 M3 M3             C1-C2
        13   a8, m9     M3 m3 m3 m3          C1-Db2
        14   M9         M3 M3 m3 m3          C1-D2
        15   m10        M3 M3 M3 m3          C1-D#2, C1-Eb2
        16   M10, d11   M3 M3 M3 M3          C1-E2
        17   P11        M3 M3 m3 m3 m3       C1-F2
        18   a11, d12   M3 M3 M3 m3 m3       C1-A#2, C1-Gb2
        19   P12        M3 M3 M3 M3 m3       C1-G2
        20   a12, m13   M3 M3 M3 M3 M3       C1-G#2, C1-Ab2
        21   M13        M3 M3 M3 m3 m3 m3    C1-A2
        22   m14        M3 M3 M3 M3 m3 m3    C1-Bb2
        23   M14        M3 M3 M3 M3 M3 m3    C1-B2
        24   p15        M3 M3 M3 M3 M3 M3    C1-C3

____________________________________________________________

Notes:
1.  In the "Thirds" column, note that M3 M3 M3 = m3 m3 m3 m3;
    therefore one can substitute four minor thirds for three
    major thirds in any interval with no change in the total
    size of the interval.
2.  In the "Example" column, if note names have numbers appended,
    the numbers refer to the relative octave in which the notes
    appear.

--
Dennis O'Neill (denio@seismo.css.gov)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers