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Hi all.

If chords were something you could only trigger and not play the individual notes yourself, what would you deem as critical must have chords ?

My thinking for each note is...

Major
7th
Minor
Diminished
Augmented

Regards
Sharp.

I agree with you, those are the ones mostly used.

I would also suggest suspended chords such as second and forth chords. I tend to use them as the third is only implied. Sometimes I don't exactly want a major or minor tonality or i want to be vle to slide into it. Kid of a Pete Townsend thing..

I know this is hypothetical....however:

For me, to not be able to flavor chords with (2nd, 6th, +5, +9 etc....) would leave the soup too tasteless. It would be sad indeed! You would be stuck with only giving the chord its essence without the colors and shadings. It would be like playing the blues without the blue notes.

and yes suspended chords are a must.

Interesting you should bring this up. This past month I've been taking the samples from the master reels backing tracks of the Optigan (www.optigan.com) and putting them on my Kronos. The chords it uses are limited to major, minor, diminished and in a few cases, augmented.

Personally, I would start with triads. The thirds and fifths are most important for chords. All other tensions can be covered with the melody. So my list would be:

major
minor
sus2
sus4
augmented
b5
minor (b5)

minor 7ths
major 7ths
+9
6ths
11ths
13ths
flattened 5ths

I would be lost, without them

lol.... so basically “Everything”.

Given the mathematics of music, if a single instrument in a song is locked to the chords I've mentioned, then surly this does not define the chords the song itself is limited to.
Would you agree with that?

Regards
Sharp.

Sharp wrote:Hi all.

If chords were something you could only trigger and not play the individual notes yourself, what would you deem as critical must have chords ?

My thinking for each note is...

Major
7th
Minor
Diminished
Augmented

Regards
Sharp.

To this list I would add m7 and Maj7. I might also go with +9.

If I were limited to just 5 choices, I would drop aug, dim and +9.

Maybe I am not understanding your question but if an instrument is locked into a set of basic chords, then the bass (root) and the melody are the only variables. The chords would be defined everytime except for the root and melody.

I can play a Cmaj7 easily 6 different ways (all unique sounds....some very open sounding....some very tense). Much of the fun of playing with two hand is in impling a harmony with the left hand but changing what I do with my right hand changes the harmonic essence. Playing in the left hand the notes B-E-A...can imply Cmaj7---Bsus7----Bmin7----Esus---Gmaj7...etc.. depending on the scales my right hand plays. Call me spoiled but I would hate to lose that. Also you need different flavoring for different genres of music. Playing Bossa Nova demands a certain flavor notes...so does Gospel..Modal Jazz..Blues..etc. Yeah, I guess I am spoiled and I have probably diluted your original intent on this post.

Someone correct me if wrong but in jazz there are 7 types of basic chords: 6th, min6, min7, min7-5, dominant7, dim7 and maj7.
Suspended are consider more of a passing chord.

jazlover wrote:Someone correct me if wrong but in jazz there are 7 types of basic chords: 6th, min6, min7, min7-5, dominant7, dim7 and maj7.
Suspended are consider more of a passing chord.

Sounds about right jazlover.

Reminds me of my organ lessons many moons ago.

My least favourite chords are 7ths. G 7th leads to C Major etc.........but make it G minor 7th or G major seventh, now they have 'flavour'

Fave type of chord- B flat major 7th with a C bass = C 13th. Beautiful chord.

As you rightly say 'jazlover'. The root (bass note) is the important one.

Maybe I am not understanding your question but if an instrument is locked into a set of basic chords, then the bass (root) and the melody are the only variables. The chords would be defined everytime except for the root and melody.

Very true, but let me try explain it another way to see what you think of this....

Assume the the limit is you can only pick 5 chords per note, but those chords need to be diverse enough to cover most material you might play.

I've gone over lots and lots of sheet music to simply find out what were the most common chords used. The results of which were, Major, 7th, Minor, Diminished and Augmented and they were all clear winners by a mile.

The hope at this point is to agree that those chords while being the most popular are the right ones to sample / lock down, and that they would blend best with other chords outside of your 5.

For example, the C Major sample will blend with a midi song playing C6 just fine. It fits well.

Or, out of the 5, would it be better to drop one or more, replace it with something less popular, but has a wider use when blended with a midi song.

Regards
Sharp.

Sharp wrote:

Maybe I am not understanding your question but if an instrument is locked into a set of basic chords, then the bass (root) and the melody are the only variables. The chords would be defined everytime except for the root and melody.

Very true, but let me try explain it another way to see what you think of this....

Assume the the limit is you can only pick 5 chords per note, but those chords need to be diverse enough to cover most material you might play.

I've gone over lots and lots of sheet music to simply find out what were the most common chords used. The results of which were, Major, 7th, Minor, Diminished and Augmented and they were all clear winners by a mile.

The hope at this point is to agree that those chords while being the most popular are the right ones to sample / lock down, and that they would blend best with other chords outside of your 5.

For example, the C Major sample will blend with a midi song playing C6 just fine. It fits well.

Or, out of the 5, would it be better to drop one or more, replace it with something less popular, but has a wider use when blended with a midi song.

Regards
Sharp.

Major minor augmented diminished 7th as you said Sharp.

I had a vision of the Korgforums Bus going down th highway, Sharp is driving (of course) and this irritating brat in the back is screaming "But.....I....WANT...IT........All....NOW" and Sharp saying "don't make me pull over".

Ok, those are the 5 basic chords for what you want will work.

lol.... Pull over?
When I'm driving the bus you just get thrown out the window without us even stopping.

Seriously though, do you think that those 5 if limited to that are the best ?

Any volunteers to test something

Regards
Sharp.