a peculiar piano chord

[bon viesta]

if anyone has a keyboard kicking around, or maybe an actual piano (even better), try playing a c major chord with your right hand and an f octave nearby with your left hand. let it ring for a moment… doesn’t that sound sad?? and if you’re playing an actual piano, almost sounds cavernous. what in the world is that??? but now put everything down two keys, do an a minor chord with your right hand and a d octave on your left hand. it’s sad again!!! this odd mismatching of what would usually be a root on the bass with chords on top doesn’t work for every chord and note, the only similarity i found between c over f (i don’t think it’s an actual c over f chord, but calling it that makes it more simple) and Am over d is the fact that both of them feature a 4th(?) on the left hand. or a whole step down from a 5th for that respective chord note. is there a term or chord/musical name for these combinations of bass octaves and chords? or maybe i just found something that’s weird and it’s only magic to my ears.

 

[bon viesta]

or wait… is this like a weird contorted sus4 chord?

 

[bon viesta]

wait… is it a c major / f??

 

[mongo2]

Seems like you described a 1-3-5-11 in C major which I think makes it a Cadd4.

 

[b/o 402]

That’s an Fmajor9. A beautiful chord to be sure.
See? Now you know some Music Theory!
I hope as you’re experimenting, it spurs you on to learn more about the nuts and bolts of music, and how theory helps us easily communicate about these things.

 

[bon viesta]

Seems like you described a 1-3-5-11 in C major which I think makes it a Cadd4.

cadd4 but from the diagrams i see the f isn’t clumped in the same octave as the chord. though i don’t think that changes the kind of chord it is.

 

[mongo2]

cadd4 but from the diagrams i see the f isn’t clumped in the same octave as the chord. though i don’t think that changes the kind of chord it is.

It could be voiced 1-3-4-5 for a different sound but personally I don't care for it.

 

[MonetBass]

If you played it with an F chord preceding it (with the F octave with the left hand), it would harmonically make more sense, at least to me (I-V progression with a ground bass).

 

[bon viesta]

If you played it with an F chord preceding it (with the F octave with the left hand), it would harmonically make more sense, at least to me (I-V progression with a ground bass).

agreed. that’s what i usually do whenever i play around with it. but i still think it sounds good by itself.

 

[BarfanyShart]

C/F, it's a good one. Melancholy. It's a cool non-diatonic sub in the key of e minor/G major, or any key center that has a C major chord, but no F natural - or vice versa, a key with an F natural, but no C major chord. It doesn't have much directionality, so plop it wherever it might sound good.

 

[smtp4me]

or wait… is this like a weird contorted sus4 chord?

It's a Csus4 chord as long as you don't play the third (E). However if you play the normal E and then the F an octave higher, you've got a C11.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

If as it seems the F is the lowest note, then you wouldn't typically write it as a Cadd4. Or a C11, as there's no 7 or 9 in the chord, not to mention that most people understand the 3 to be omitted in an 11 chord, unless it's a #11. It would be C/F or Fmaj9(no3).

 

[Richard Lindsey]

cadd4 but from the diagrams i see the f isn’t clumped in the same octave as the chord. though i don’t think that changes the kind of chord it is.

Effectively, it often does.

 

[mark107]

Fmaj9 is indeed the correct answer (five years music conservatory here...).

 

[Chrisk-K]

It’s neither Csus4 (because the root is an F) nor Fmaj9 (because there is no 3rd).

The correct chord name is C/F. Jazz fusion pieces often use this type of chord (eg, Ab/Db).

 

[Benj-jammin]

if anyone has a keyboard kicking around, or maybe an actual piano (even better), try playing a c major chord with your right hand and an f octave nearby with your left hand. let it ring for a moment… doesn’t that sound sad?? and if you’re playing an actual piano, almost sounds cavernous. what in the world is that??? but now put everything down two keys, do an a minor chord with your right hand and a d octave on your left hand. it’s sad again!!! this odd mismatching of what would usually be a root on the bass with chords on top doesn’t work for every chord and note, the only similarity i found between c over f (i don’t think it’s an actual c over f chord, but calling it that makes it more simple) and Am over d is the fact that both of them feature a 4th(?) on the left hand. or a whole step down from a 5th for that respective chord note. is there a term or chord/musical name for these combinations of bass octaves and chords? or maybe i just found something that’s weird and it’s only magic to my ears.

I'll have to try that when I get home on my beloved Korgs!

 

[bon viesta]

i developed a chord progression based around these very strange chords, and if any of you want to try these out i’m sure you’ll find they sound kinda neat!

 

[bon viesta]

you could do a nice song using that c rooted chord as your basis. actually, something these chords almost all have in common is there’s a two note gap somewhere in them, and there’s a song i love that has a very cavernous chord sound that uses those same exact type of chords!! it’s just a bit different from my weird little creations

 

[bon viesta]

well, actually that c chord as of right now in that screenshot doesn’t have the two note gap but i added it because it sounded better when i moved some stuff around.

 

[brianrost]

Fmaj9

Em7

Dm7

Cmaj9 (missing the third, could be major or minor)

A typical descending chord pattern in C major. What you are hearing that you seem to like is the wide voicing spanning more than an octave.