Another - "what chord is this?" question!

[Bruce Lindfield]

So I stumbled across this melody I liked and it suggested a sound for part of it,which is a sort of "open", modal feel....

I tried fitting chords and the one that sounds best is :

D F# G A C

Looking in books, the closest I can come to describing this is :

D7SUS 4-3

What do you think and what scales would fit with this?

I have a very definite sound in my head, from teh tune , which is kind of an "eastern"scale, but I am struggling to tie it down theoretically?

Any ideas?

[Lovebown]

I'm not really sure what that chord would be called, but I think you're on the right track. I guess one possibility would be Cmaj#11/D, on the other hand, that might seem a bit silly since the root really seems to be D?

To me a D mixolydian scale sounds good played over the tones you mentioned.


/lovebown

[Pacman]

D7(add 11)?

[mikeln]

Originally Posted by Pacman

D7(add 11)?

Exactly...I agree D7add 11
Really isn't notated as a sus4 due the 5th being present.

[Pacman]

You mean due the the 3rd being present. Sus4 suggests no 3rd, not no 5th.

[mikeln]

Originally Posted by Pacman

You mean due the the 3rd being present. Sus4 suggests no 3rd, not no 5th.

yes...misstyped...

[Don Higdon]

I hear a G minor scale behind those notes

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Pacman

D7(add 11)?

I've never seen this chord notated anywhere and when I tried piano voicings it sounds 'right' as the 4th but quite bland as the 11th?

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Don Higdon

I hear a G minor scale behind those notes

I was thinking it might be a related minor scale - but which one?

I might try to write out the whole scale that I am hearing and just specify that, for this part of tune - but I probably need to do a bit more work on it yet....

[Bruce Lindfield]

I just went away and tried it on the piano and I like the ascending G melodic minor scale - it also suggested another chord which fits as well - D7#5b9 - actually sounds more interesting!

[Don Higdon]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

I just went away and tried it on the piano and I like the ascending G melodic minor scale - it also suggested another chord which fits as well - D7#5b9 - actually sounds more interesting!

That's a chord symbol. The scale is the same.

[myrick]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

So I stumbled across this melody I liked ....

you might try to just concentrate on your original melodic idea more, until the whole scale it seems to imply across the passage in question becomes more clear. That, plus perhaps whatever you are hearing as the right bass note (the D or something else?) should suggest the best (or at least a workable) spelling for the chord pitches you listed.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Don Higdon

That's a chord symbol. The scale is the same.

Yes - that why I found it after thinking about G melodic minor!!

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by myrick

you might try to just concentrate on your original melodic idea more, until the whole scale it seems to imply across the passage in question becomes more clear. That, plus perhaps whatever you are hearing as the right bass note (the D or something else?) should suggest the best (or at least a workable) spelling for the chord pitches you listed.

It's definitely a D root - I do have it all in my head - my problem is writing it out, in a way that other musicians can play it!!

[moley]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

I've never seen this chord notated anywhere and when I tried piano voicings it sounds 'right' as the 4th but quite bland as the 11th?

I'd agree with Pac here, D7(add11), definitely. As regards the 4th vs 11th thing - they're really the same thing. Regardless of what octave it's in, it can be the 4th or the 11th, they're really the same here (i.e. when they've got 'add' in front of them). Just because it's add11 rather than add4, that really doesn't mean you play it an octave up.

Perhaps Pac decided to call it add11 rather than add4 (I'd do the same) because he was following Mark Levine's convention of using 9/11/13 for dom7 chords and 2/4/6 for major chords?

[moley]

...oh, and for the scale, my first reaction would be D Mix. But then, I don't really know what you're hearing in your head Bruce

[Josh McNutt]

Originally Posted by moley

...oh, and for the scale, my first reaction would be D Mix. But then, I don't really know what you're hearing in your head Bruce

Same here, but I'd just say G major.

[Don Higdon]

Originally Posted by Josh McNutt

Same here, but I'd just say G major.

But then we couldn't show off our knowledge of mode names.

I've got ten bucks that says Blues Minefield does not use that lame scale.

[Bruce Lindfield]

I'd forgotten all about this - but my last Jazz class was all about choosing scales over minor II-V-Is and how it used to be accepted that harmonic minor would "fit" everything - but our tutor was demonstrating the different choices and how they can sound better over particular chords - like the half-diminished followed by a 7 with flat 9.

So - some of the scales sounded quite "eastern" and I think this is what I'm hearing - I need to go back to this tune and maybe ask my Jazz Tutor about some of the chords. I like the sound of minor chords against scales with a major 7th, for example......?

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by moley

...oh, But then, I don't really know what you're hearing in your head Bruce

Hi Moley! I'm thinking about a sort of "Gypsy"/Hungarian/Bartok sound that I can't describe with the chords/scales I know - any ideas?

It's then going to be the basis of a Jazz tune!