families of musical color / chord type

Can we group chords simply by their intervalic structure? And by doing so, gain a deeper sense of their tonality, their function within a chord progression and thus their inate ability to create and sustain aural  tension and / or stability? Well we can try n'est pas?

Families of musical colors? Chord type? Different terms for the same concept? Yes, pretty much. Hip to 7th chords? Extending the triad by the addition of the 7th chord degree? The following ideas and links examine the possibility of examining any chord by it's interval structure, to determine it's "type or family", then seeing where and how it commonly functions in both the major and minor tonalities within the various styles of American music. How many different chord types or families are there? Three, at least in this text. So any chord in our equal tempered harmonic universe can be basically viewed as being one of three different types of chords? Exactly, that is if you decide to view, understand and accept the theory of harmony in this manner.

So why would we want to do this? Well for a couple of what I think are good reasons. First, that this family of musical colors perspective simply provides another way into understanding the complex harmonic world of equal temperament and can be of solid benefit for the emerging theorist trying to get a sense of the whole harmonic system. Second, that by viewing chords by type helps to internalize the numerical magic of equal temper, which when mastered, potentially places the entire harmonic resource at our feet. Really? How? Well, we simply apply numerical values to the pitches and create three broad categories of chord color or families. This allows us to genericize any given chord so as to place it into one of the three families. Isn't this in a sense homogenizing the harmony? Yes and no. Yes in that in this perspective of the theory, chords are grouped on the sound of their numerical intervals and not by pitch or key center. And no, for in recreating the various styles of American music, it really does not matter what a chord is labeled as long as it provides the proper sound and degree of tonal gravity and as determined by the players. Third, that when venturing into the improvisational world of chord substitution, knowledge of chord type can be indispensable in sorting out the possibilities.

So how is chord type determined? Chord type is determined by the quality of the triad and it's 7th. Must there be a 7th in the chord to determine it's type and function? Yep, pretty much. For without the 7th in a chord there is really only the major and minor triads. Hip to these triad critters? Example 1.

Sound familiar? Cool. The triad forms the basis for the vast majority of chords used in the creation of the various styles of American music.

So, what kinds of 7th's can we add? Well, there are simply two types of intervals associated with the 7th yes? Again, major or minor? Exactly. Let's add them to the above triads. Example 1a.

So, thinking major tonality ...

So, the three families of chords are differentiated from one another based on the quality of their third and seventh degrees? Is it all about the third and seventh? Using blocks to represent the intervals used to create chords, here are the three families of seventh chords illustrated with two sizes of rectangles, the larger representing the interval of a major third, the smaller block the minor third, the two intervals most often used to create our chords from within the equal temperament system. Ex. 2.

The basic idea is that any chord created can be placed into one of the three families. Here are the three families of chords presented in standard musical notation for aural comparison, using the pitch C as a common root for each of the three different families of chords. Example 2a.

Here the difference? A simple rearrangement of the above three chords creates the common harmonic cadential motion known as the Two / Five One chord progression. This basic resolving motion is used extensively in jazz standards and provides a cool and seamless way to modulate between tonal centers. Here is a basic realization of Two / Five / One in C major. Example 2b.

Sound vaguely familiar? Cool. So, of the 7 possible diatonic 7th chords created from the major scale, can we classify each of these chords as one of these three chord types? Exactly. Here is a chart illuminating this concept using the pitches of C major. Example 3.

So, two major 7th tonic type chords on the 1st and 4th scale degrees. Four "minor 7 / Two type chords" built on the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th scale degrees. One dominant 7 chord type built on the 5th scale degree. We just reduced seven chords basically down to one of three chord types. Let's chart the results. Example 3a.

With 12 major keys, that would basically be 84 different chords ( 7 x 12 = 84 ) or simply 3, by understanding chord type. Pros and cons to this approach? Always, but 84 chords is an awful lot of chords to learn. Not that we eventually don't have to learn them anyway right?

What about songs in the minor tonality? Well, the same principles basically apply, it is just that the placement of the various diatonic chord types within the natural minor scale "shift" numerical positions in regards to the major tonality, potentially creating a confusing situation when trying to explain and label the concepts of chord families. I struggled with this simple question of major or minor a lot. I mean no "dis" to the minor tonality, it's just that explaining the theory is easier for me from the perspective of the major tonality, which is the way I learned it. After examining the "Omni Book", the transcribed solos of Charlie Parker's ideas by Jamey Aebersold and Ken Slone, and seeing that only 4 out of the 55 compositions included in the text are written in a minor tonality I thought, "just go with how I know the theory the best, try to present the ideas clearly and not overly worry about biasing a readers perspective of the sounds they love in how the theory is presented, trusting that each of our own experimentations with the theory and the colors will determine which are ones are necessary and how they are arranged on our own artistic palettes.

With this in mind, explore the families of chord color by chord type from the following links.

"I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need." Francois-Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), when asked how he managed to make his remarkable statues ...