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Unusual Chord?

Derek Balonek

Derek Balonek

Mar 15, 2011
787
5
37
USA, CA, Sacramento Metro area
#1
While generally noodling around on a friend's guitar, I accidentally stumbled upon a rather awkward, yet somehow still warm, chord. It was D, A, and E an octave up. Now, I know that's two fifths, and it's also a fifth with a second plus an octave. Beyond that, I have no idea what it's called and I haven't really seen it get much use. Does anybody out there have any idea what it is?
 
#2
VincentSalizeri said:
While generally noodling around on a friend's guitar, I accidentally stumbled upon a rather awkward, yet somehow still warm, chord. It was D, A, and E an octave up. Now, I know that's two fifths, and it's also a fifth with a second plus an octave. Beyond that, I have no idea what it's called and I haven't really seen it get much use. Does anybody out there have any idea what it is?
Click to expand...

The problem with questions like this is that they're not in any kind of context. Those three notes can be interpreted in a number of ways, depending on the key you're in, the melody notes, and the surrounding chords. I'm by no means an expert, and I could probably give you three chord names. But, I'm not sure that those names would be of much use.
 
#9
D, A, and E could be parts of a lot of different chords (that's why OmnitzGarima talked about context). It's not so much that it D, A, and E, but that those intervals imply different chords depending on what's going on with the melody, what chord comes before them, what chord comes after them, and what other notes anyone else in the band might be playing.

Could be:
D9 (D F# A C E) with the 3rd and b7 omitted or played by someone else (including the singers); and the lack of a third would open it up to being a minor 9 as well... this is quite a stretch with so many notes left out, but it's an example of how we have to look at the context of the whole ensemble not just three notes strummed together in isolation.

Asus4 (ADE) with the 4 in the bass- a sus4 means the third (C# in this case) is replaced by the 4th, but putting that voice in the bass is unusual- but legitimate. Sus4 is the sound of "Pinball Wizard" and the intro to Stephen Stills' "Carry On" and the favorite of a million folk guitarists.

Dsus2 (DEA) because a sus2 replaces the third (C#) with the 2 (E natural).


John
 
#11
VincentSalizeri said:
... so far, it does look like a sus2 chord, or at least some inversion of one.
Click to expand...

No.

The so-called sus2 would be spelled D, E, A. This sonority relies on the Major 2nd interval between the D & E and has a "tight, cluster sound".

You spelled it "D, A, and E an octave up". It's an "add 9 (no 3rd). This sonority relies on the stacked Perfect Fifths and has an "open sound".

Andy Summers made a career using variations of this sound.
 
#12
Stick_Player said:
No.

The so-called sus2 would be spelled D, E, A. This sonority relies on the Major 2nd interval between the D & E and has a "tight, cluster sound".

You spelled it "D, A, and E an octave up". It's an "add 9 (no 3rd). This sonority relies on the stacked Perfect Fifths and has an "open sound".

Andy Summers made a career using variations of this sound.
Click to expand...

Ah, missed that earlier post. That's a more specific description. Plus, I suppose an inversion wouldn't raise the note in the center alone.
 
#13
"Inversion" merely tells you which note is in the bass and is not the same as "voicing". For example, a C major chord is C, E, and G. Any combination in any order. So three typical guitar voicings (all bass to treble) are:

Open C: C E G C E
Barre with root on 5th string: C G C E G
Barre with root on 6th string: C G C E G C

All are in root position, but different voicings. However, if you grab the low G on the sixth string while playing the barre with the root on the fifth string, you are now playing a second inversion C because the fifth is in the bass.

I would disagree with Stick_Player's assesment. The "add 9" as I learned clearly indicates that the 9 is there along with the 3rd, while the sus2 merely means that the thrid has been replaced by the 2. So, DEA in any order is a Dsus2, while a Dadd9 means you need to have D, F#, A, and E (without a 7th, because the 7th makes it a simple 9th chord).

John
 
#14
Throw a B in a fifth above the E and you have a cool quintal chord. It's easier on the piano, obviously.

Don't over-analyze it, though. In a 20th century music class, we attempted to analyze Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde". It sounded cool, but never really 'resolved' so to speak (symbolism - duh), so it gave us all headaches. Sometimes it's better to enjoy the sound instead of trying to put a label on it.
 
#15
JTE said:
"Inversion" merely tells you which note is in the bass and is not the same as "voicing". For example, a C major chord is C, E, and G. Any combination in any order. So three typical guitar voicings (all bass to treble) are:

Open C: C E G C E
Barre with root on 5th string: C G C E G
Barre with root on 6th string: C G C E G C

All are in root position, but different voicings. However, if you grab the low G on the sixth string while playing the barre with the root on the fifth string, you are now playing a second inversion C because the fifth is in the bass.

I would disagree with Stick_Player's assesment. The "add 9" as I learned clearly indicates that the 9 is there along with the 3rd, while the sus2 merely means that the thrid has been replaced by the 2. So, DEA in any order is a Dsus2, while a Dadd9 means you need to have D, F#, A, and E (without a 7th, because the 7th makes it a simple 9th chord).

John
Click to expand...

This is the way I understand it too. "add9" means the 9th -
E an octave up - is added to the triad.
 
#16
JTE said:
"Inversion" merely tells you which note is in the bass and is not the same as "voicing". For example, a C major chord is C, E, and G. Any combination in any order. So three typical guitar voicings (all bass to treble) are:

Open C: C E G C E
Barre with root on 5th string: C G C E G
Barre with root on 6th string: C G C E G C

All are in root position, but different voicings. However, if you grab the low G on the sixth string while playing the barre with the root on the fifth string, you are now playing a second inversion C because the fifth is in the bass.

I would disagree with Stick_Player's assesment. The "add 9" as I learned clearly indicates that the 9 is there along with the 3rd, while the sus2 merely means that the thrid has been replaced by the 2. So, DEA in any order is a Dsus2, while a Dadd9 means you need to have D, F#, A, and E (without a 7th, because the 7th makes it a simple 9th chord).

John
Click to expand...

^^ This.

People get too hung up on the order notes come in when you spell out chords. Chord names, by their nature, do not specify voicings. That's a task for which they are not suited. At most, they specify inversions, which as JTE quite correctly points out are not the same thing. If you want specific voicings, you generally have to write or (God forbid) tab them out.

Since chord names don't specify voicing, to insist on differentiating between Dsus2 and Dadd9(no3) implies insisting that they have distinct harmonic values or functions. But they don't, really. I would suggest that to worry about differences that have no significance is probably not worth one's trouble. I'm aware that some people believe in this difference, but I've never thought that it stands up to scrutiny, nor have I ever seen it have any practical value in playing.

As for that open/closed distinction Stick_Player proposed, it's kind of illusory once you get into the realities of how chordal instruments and groups of instruments actually play chords. Take that D E A and drop the D two octaves. Hey presto, all of a sudden the voicing is no longer tight or close, but it's still the same chord. So this suggested distinction evaporates.
 

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