what's this chord?

[dobro]

Hi. I need to get some chord names correct for a collaboration. I've been to a good chord-naming website, but there's still a few I can't figure out. What's this one?

E A D G B E
X 0 2 2 0 3

Is it Am7dim3?

Is it Am7 sus2?

[Tom Hicks]

Its A9, but has no third ( either C or C#).
A is the root, E is the 5th, A is the octave, B is the 9th and G is the 7th.
So this third-less dominant can be used with A major or A minor tonalities.

[dobro]

But if it doesn't have a third, doesn't that make it a suspended chord?

See, I know your explanation makes sense, but the damn thing don't *sound* like a ninth chord to me. LOL

[dafduc]

Em/A

or, if you insist:

A7sus2

[Tom Hicks]

dobro
If it were a sus chord, the 3 would be replaced by a 4 someplace. Ain't no 4 there , so its not a sus chord.

dafduc
Interesting enharmonic ideas.
I could go with the Em/A thought, but to view the open B as a A7sus2 IN THE UPPER OCTAVE reinforces why I would call it a 9 instead. And sus2? Normally these are dealt with as add 9. In this case, the presence of the dominant 7th makes it a straight dominant 9th. Dominant indicates the G in this chord.

[dobro]

Here's a quote from the article I've been studying:


3.2 - Suspended triads
-------------------------------

The thing to remember here is that the 3rd has been replaced
with another note - either the 2nd or the 4th.

So whereas with major and minor triads you have the 3rd to give
the 'flavour' of the chord (i.e major or minor), with suspended
triads you have no 3rd, so the chord is neither major nor
minor.

A suspended 4th triad would be : 1st 4th 5th

A suspended 2nd triad would be : 1st 2nd 5th



As with major and minor chords, you just double up on notes
to go from the triad to the chord.

BUT - you almost never double the 'suspended' note - you usually
only double the 1st or 5th.

So take Asus4 as our example.

Asus4 triad is : 1st 4th 5th = A D E

The shape is :

EADGBE
x02230

Asus4

dobro: anyway, I took an Am7 and dropped the third a semitone, hence my calling it Am7sus2.

I'm starting to get the feeling that chord names can be something of an interpretation sometimes, yeah?

[dafduc]

Originally posted by Tom Hicks
Normally these are dealt with as add 9. In this case, the presence of the dominant 7th makes it a straight dominant 9th. Dominant indicates the G in this chord.

dominance requires the presence of a tritone (maj3rd against flatted 7th). And in order to be an "add9", a third would have to be there, too.

It's a common jazz practice to leave notes out of a chord - for example, when playing a 7th, I might only play the 1 and the 7, or the 3 and the 7 - the rest is implied in the context. Esopecially true when the stated chord gets real thick, like a 13th - I'll usually just play 6-7-10 or 7-10-13.

But not knowing the context, it's Em/A. I usually avoid sus2s, but it's equally accurate - just misleading for folks who always think of suses as 4s.

[dafduc]

Originally posted by dobro
anyway, I took an Am7 and dropped the third a semitone, hence my calling it Am7sus2.

I'm starting to get the feeling that chord names can be something of an interpretation sometimes, yeah?

I'd leave the "m" out - it implies there's a C in your chord somewhere.

You're right, there is some discrepancy in common practice - when I started playing in the Catholic Church, I found out real quick that what THEY (Catholic publishers) mean by a 9th is an add9. When I finally got my first song published, which had real 9th chords in it, I had to call it a 7add9 to avoid confusing the faithful.

Jay

[Tom Hicks]

I used the word "enharmonic", perhaps incorrectly, to describle chords which can be named in multiple ways DEPENDING ON THE FUNCTION. Knowing what is the preceding chord and what comes after would help make sense of choosing the best name as it relates to the function of the chord. It has been 30 years since I was in music school, so ideas and ways of naming may have changed on me.

[BluesMeister]

Originally posted by dafduc
A7sus2

Obviously it depends on the context in which the chord is used, however A7sus2 gets my vote.

--
BluesMeister

[Roktuk]

Yep this little prog http://www.angelfire.com/country/nutchords/ says it's A7sus2

[OstiaMan]

A (sus2) 7

[kjam22]

I'd write it on a rhythm chart A2 add9

[kjam22]

OOPss... thats not A2 add9... It's .... A2 add7

sorry

[dobro]

LOL Okay, thanks everybody. I think I'll go with A7sus2.

I do a lot of chords that I don't recognize and don't bother trying to name. I can tell it's gonna be *lots* of fun finding names for some of them for the sake of this collaboration.

I was doing songs with various tunings a couple of years ago. I had no idea what the chords were that I was coming up with, so I'd draw a fingerboard chord pattern for each chord, and then just number each chord - the lyrics had numbers over them instead of chord names. I was really happy with that approach, but it's really cumbersome communicating chord patterns that way over the internet.

Last question - dafduc, or anybody, what does this mean: Em/A

Em with an A or two thrown in? Em with an A for the lowest note?

[Tom Hicks]

X/Y means X is the chord and Y is the bass note.