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Author Topic: How to determine if a single note goes from....  (Read 640 times)

Offline dwest2419

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How to determine if a single note goes from....
« on: July 21, 2012, 11:00:24 PM »
How to determine if a single note goes from being a single note to double stop into a chord. Sometimes in a song just one note could be turn into a chord. For example in the key of C lets take the note D from C major scale and and when I think about that D note it could be in D root position of a chord (D) F A (D minor) or sometimes that D note could be a 3rd in another chord B (D) F (B dim) or sometimes that D note could be a 5th in another chord G B (D) (G major) or sometimes that D notes could be a 7th in another chord E G B (D) (E m7) or sometimes that D note could be a 9th in another chord C E G B (D) (Cmaj9). The options are endless and its like that with every note of C major scale to build a chord off of.

What I learned about a three step phrase or melody is that in a V-I-IV chord progression which is dominant-tonic-sub dominant. The melody could be D-E-C-C. And in that D note could act as a root, 3rd, or 5th in another chord that we may actually be looking for to build a chord off of the note D. So lets say for instance that D note was the 5th position in a chord and that chord would look something like this G B (D) (G major). And lets say for the E note that note could act as root, 3rd, or 5th as well in another chord. Lets say we choose the E note to act in as a third note of a chord that would make the chord look something like this C (E) G (C major). Now the C note could act as a root, 3rd or 5th of any chord. Lets say the chord was placed to act like a fifth in a chord. That would look something like this F A (C) F major.

So in all we got G B (D) G major C (E) G C major and F A (C) F major. The notes that were in parenthesis were the notes that were highlighted in the as a melody note in a chord. Anyone see where Im going with this topic

Offline dwest2419

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Re: How to determine if a single note goes from....
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2012, 05:46:42 PM »
I just want to run through this quickly.

To explain one note can have that note be in a chord based upon root, third, fifth, and seventh position. For example in the key of C: C D E F G A and B.

With a C note the chord is either in
root position (C) E G = C major
or in third position A (C) E = A minor
or in fifth position F A (C) = F major
or in seventh position D F A (C) Dm7

With a D note the chord is either in
root position (D) F A = D minor
or in third postion B (D) F = B dim
or in fifth position G B (D) = G major
or in seventh position E G B (D) = Em7

With a E note the chord is either in
root position (E) G B = E minor
or in third position C (E) G = C major
or in fifth position A C (E) = A minor
or in seventh position F A C (E) = F maj7

With a F note the chord is either in
root position (F) A C = F major
or in third position D (F) A = D minor
or in fifth position B D (F) = B dim
or in seventh position G B D (F) = G7

With a G note the chord is either in
root position (G) B D = G major
or in third position E (G) B = E minor
or in fifth position C E (G) = C major
or in seventh position A C E (G) = Am7

With an A note the chord is either in
root position (A) C E = A minor
or in third position F (A) C = F major
or in fifth position D F (A) = D minor
or in seventh position B D F (A) Bm7b5

With a B note the chord is either in
root position (B) D F = B dim
or in third position G (B) D G major
in fifth position E G (B) E minor
or in seventh position C E G (B) = C maj7


Cause I was wondering where certain notes come from when dealing with seventh chords I guess no one never explain it to me. It's amazing to me how each note move further away from the root. Now I didnt get a chance to do all the chords to explain their function, too.
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