Continued from pt 1.

In contrast, however, Andrew Surmani has written that three or more notes, when sounded together, create a chord. George T. Jones has stated that two tones when sounded together, form an interval, and three notes when sounded together create the chord. It has also been said that chords are combinations of three or more different tones that are sounded simultaneously when the distances or intervals between each of the tones are based specifically on a particular formula. In this explanation, when two notes are sounded simultaneously they are not considered to create a chord but rather are simply intervals.

Interval Type

Many chords are capable of being arranged in the form of a series, where the elements of the series are separated by way of intervals, and these intervals are all roughly similar in size. For example, a triad in C major would contain the notes C, E, G. These notes can be arranged in the C-E-G series where the first interval, the C and E notes make a major third, and the second interval, the E and G notes form a minor third. Any chord is a tertian chord if it is capable of being arranged as a series of both major thirds and minor thirds.

A chord like C-D-E♭ is going to be a series of seconds, with a major second, in the C and D notes, and then a minor second in the D and E♭ notes. These chords are known as secundal chords. The C F B chord, consisting of a C F perfect fourth and a tritone F B augmented forth is known as a quartal chord. Most types of western music primarily use tertian chords.

Upon closer examination, terms like quartal, secundal and tertian can become somewhat ambiguous in nature. The terms fourth, third and second are often much more understood, but especially relative to the scale. They are unfortunately not the clearest terms when it comes to determining which scale they are actually referring to. As an example, you should consider the G A C D F pentatonic scale. Relative to this scale, the intervals G and C and C and F are thirds, because there is a note between them. On the other hand, relative to a chromatic scale, these G and C and C and F intervals are actually fourths simply because they made up five semitones in width. For this particular reason, the G C F chord may be described as being both a tertian chord and a quartal chord, depending on if intervals are being measured relative to the chromatic scale or the pentatonic scale.

Next comes the use of accidentals, which is capable of complicating the picture even further. A B# E A♭ chord is generally notated as being a series of different diminished fourths, B# and E, and then E and A♭.

Continued in part 3...

Photo Credits: il Quoquo

Originally posted 2009-09-25 03:43:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Acoustic Musical Instruments, For Beginners, Playing Tips

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andrew surmani, b chord, c major, combinations, distances, elements, interval, intervals, major thirds, minor thirds, pentatonic scale, triad, tritone, two tones, western music