On Thu, 4 Apr 2002, Mike Whitaker wrote: > > Is there some standard way to notate complex chords like m7(b5) > > 7(b13)...? > > No. No two people seem to be able to agree on a standard for naming > chords. (I speak from experience of trying to *propose* a naming > convention for chords that would allow ABC-to-MIDI programs to parse them.)
Well just to comment on the parsing thing: remember that if I write C7 it doesn't mean "no 9, no 13" and if I write C7(9) doesn't mean exactly the notes CEGA_Bd. C7 means "play some kinda C dominant" and C7(9) means "play some kinda C dominant, and if you put a nine in it, make it a d" > The basic problems include: > > - people who think + means 'add' and - means 'remove' ...are wrong > - people who think + means 'sharpen' and - means 'flatten' ...are right > - people who think + means 'augmented' ...are right, + is shorthand for +5 so a sharpened 5th > - what does Cb9 mean? (Cb)9, or C(b9)? That's typical beginner confusion. If you want a flat 9 you must always write "7" first, so C7b9. Actually alotta people will *always* write the 7 and put the extensions in brackets like C7(13), Cb7(b9,#11,b13), > - people who can't distinguish between a single standard that allows > chords to be machine-readable, and 'you've left my pet notation out' I also proposed one, didn't catch on. I don't think the reason is the above. I think only very few people use abc for jazz. -- l8er Atte To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
