David McLaughlin - Posted - 07/09/2013:  11:20:21

quote:

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Originally posted by oldwoodchuckb

 

obviously it is an "unplugged chord".

Personally, I usually don't call it a chord at all and rarely sound more than 2 notes together anyway - when playing OT banjo that is.

In G tuning a normal D chord position includes no third (x0230), while in double C tuning the most common fingering of the G chord (02020) has no third.

It is almost impossible to make full chords in F tuning (fCFCD), and I play all my G tunes in this tuning capoed to the 2nd fret (Old G in my parlance, but aka Sandy River Belle Tuning).

The "root chord" is 00003 fCFCF no third

the "4 chord" aka sub-dominant, is almost completely unworkable since it is hard to find a root note (Bb) for it. there are easy 3rds for it at the 2nd fret of the 4th and 2nd strings. (02020 - which is the notes fDFDF)

 

​The V chord is easiest played x0202 which is all Cs and Gs - no easy to reach 3rds to make an actual chord but the suggestion is pretty strong.

I cannot understand however, why so many banjo players go for chords when the obvious strength of the banjo is in playing tunes - which don't really need chords. 

 

 

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Not being familiar with your playing, I went and looked at a few of your teaching videos on YouTube to see if you indeed ignore chord thought in your playing. After reading your posts last week, I was under the impression that you might be a 1-chord blues player like the Dock Boggs recording you referred to. But in your videos, like with Rock the Cradle Joe, for example, my students and I clearly see and hear you making 4, and 5 chords in addition to the 1-chord, And we clearly hear and see you making, in succession, a 1-3-5 note of the 5-chord along with quite a few clearly "planted" 4-chords. Could you clarify what your thinking is on chord understanding? After having read your posts in this thread and watching your videos, some of my students are confused.

Edited by - David McLaughlin on 07/09/2013 11:22:23

banjoman_18 - Posted - 07/10/2013:  13:41:27

MCW9725e

I got it -- How about "the Devil's chord"?

The devils chord would actualy be a tritone. So, instead of a perfect fifth between two notes. you would have an augmented 4th or a diminished 5th.

bart_brush - Posted - 07/12/2013:  11:17:58

A few clarifications, in no particular order:

1.  Numbers are used in multiple ways in music theory, so it can help to use Roman numerals for the steps of the scale.  Then, the three basic or standard chords used to harmonize simple melodies are built on scale notes I,  IV,  and V.  A standard chord uses notes 1, 3 and 5, starting on whatever note you want to use as #1 or the "root".   I, IV and V,  and 1, 3 and 5 are all relative, depending on what key or tuning you're playing in, and where your capo, if any, is set.  The note names A, B, C, etc are absolute values with fixed pitches.  A=440 cycles per second, usually.....but then, some symphony orchestras tune to 441 or 443, and both classical and traditional soloists and singers often tune and sing a little sharp (high).  

 2.   A tritone, or "devil's interval" is a diminished 5th, also half an octave.  Fret an open string at the 6th fret and you have a tritone.  If you build a dyad on each note of a major scale(I, II, III, IV etc.), using the 5th note above, you will get perfect fifths in each case, except for scale steps IV and VII, which yield tritones.

3.  Scottish bagpipe drones are tuned in octaves, not 5ths.

4.  I don't play guitar or bluegrass banjo, but I read in a bluegrass guitar book that the standard G chord in that style does not have a third.

5.  I agree with Old Woodchuck's comments about obsession with chords in traditional banjo playing.  If you want to concentrate on chords, that's fine, but most traditional players didn't, and you can hear the difference in their music.  There's that old joke, claimed by both folk and jazz musicians:  "Can you read music?"  "Not enough to hurt my playing."  It's funny, but there's a profound truth there as well.  Again, there's nothing wrong with reading music, knowing music theory, or thinking in chordal terms, but the results are very different.  Not "better", not "right", just different.   

banjoak - Posted - 07/12/2013:  13:49:01

I have seen the use of roman numerals just in reference to chord, not intervals; upper case as major, lower case as minor. Intervals are usually spelled out as third, fourth, fifth, or marked by Arabic numbers, often with modifier  - P4 and P5 (the P is perfect) m3, m6, m7, M3, M6, M7 (the m is minor, M is major)

As far as note names being absolute values of fixed pitches; many folks past and present, esp in the days before electronic tuners, use(d) more of a relative pitch concept. For example, going to a festival, one jam would be playing a tune in what folks would call A; walk over to another jam and they are also playing in what they call A; yet they are noticeable different, sometimes close to a half step off. Neither are "out of tune" despite neither might not be as A440. You can hear this on old recordings as well, esp fiddlers. Secondly, in some styles they use different intonation systems (what you might consider flat or sharp is actually "in tune") With that fixed A440 - the frequencies of 770; 782.2, 784, 792, 797.5, 806.6; can all be considered an in tune G note; would change depending on the key, mode, intonation system and harmonic context.