RE: [Harp-L] C7 +4 ????

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

All those voicings Bob mentions are possible but produce different
effects.

C-E-G-Bb-D-F# works and is the default statement of materials. The
chord is built by adding thirds (C-E is a third, 1-2-3, E to G is a
third, etc.)

Not that there are several dissonances here, but their dissonant effect
is minimized in two ways:

1. They are part of a continuum of thirds - they are "supported" as
points in an unbroken chain of consonant intervals.

2. The dissonant notes are spread apart. Instead of being minor or
major seconds (C-D, D-E, E-F#-, F#-G, Bb-C) they are inverted into 7ths
(C-Bb, E-D, G-F#) and 9ths (C-D, E-F#).

We could omit E or G or even D and still have a very similar chord with
not so thick a texture.

>From this voicing you could either do an extreme compression of the
notes to scalewise statement (i.e., a sequence of minor and major
seconds), thereby maximizing the dissonance:

Bb-C-D-E-F#-G 

(we could add the A and have a 13th chord or a G melodic minor scale)

Or you could spread it way out (in ascending order, all 7ths):

G-F#-E-D-C-Bb

This traverses more than four octaves; it's the sort of voicing you
might write for a group or for overdubbing, or as a sweeping arpeggio, 
as the reach is not very practical as a block chord for a single
instrumentalist in real time.

In between, you can spread some things for transparency and minimized
dissonant effect, and cluster other things for thickness or greater
dissonant effect (the dissonance is still there but the effect is less
pungent).

If you voiced the chord C-F#-G-Bb, (1-#4-5-b7) the F# and the G would
be only a semitone apart, so you'd get stronger dissonance. That isn't
bad or good, it just creates a different effect that may or may not fit
in a particular context. If we re-spell the Bb as A#, we see that we
have a sort of fragmentary chord superimposition. C and G and the root
and 5th of a C chord, while F# and A# are the root and major third of
an F# chord. Sort of like having a chord and its tritone substitution
played at the same time.

If we voice it as C-E-F#-Bb (1-3-#4-7) we're getting the same sort of
bitonal C/F# chord, but this time with the root and third of both
chords. Note that this chord has 4 out of the 6 notes of a whole tone
scale: 
C D E F# G# A#

By the way, another problem with the + sign is that it has several
meanings. Some people use this for augmented intervals; C+7 would be
C-E-G#-Bb, a C augmented chord with its augmented 5th. Other folks use
+ for major and - for minor. Or as Michael notes, it can be used just
to mean "added".

Winslow

--- rmcgraw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> 
> > I don't know if this helps but;
> > the + (plus) sign in this case is (wrongly IMO) to mean SHARP (#)
> 11(4)
> > not ADD 4
> > On a dominant chord ...
> Actually this does help me, if I understand what you're saying...are
> you
> saying to play the C7+4 arpeggio as C-E-G-Bb-F#?
> What about putting the F# in the lower part of the chord and
> ommitting the
> E? [thus playing 1-4#-5-b7]
> Or the G? [playing it 1-3-#4-b7 actually sounds sort of interesting i
> think]
> WVa Bob
> 
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