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Help with chord please


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I have been listening to Elbow, Any Day Now - which is an incredible track, and wanted to have a bash at it on the keys so did a quick search on net for chords even though I could potentially work themn out form ear.  The only one I can find is a guitar tab page, which lists a chord I can't figure out at all as it sounds nothing like the chord at the same point in the actual song.

 

Can anyone please tell me the notes that appear in the chord: Badd11/E 

 

To me, at that point in the song the chord is a straightforward EMaj7th

 

Ta

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Also, to break-down the notation Badd11/E ...

  • Start with a "B-major" chord, which you can spell-out on a keyboard as the first, third, and fifth notes of the B scale.
  • Now, "add the 11th."  Well, since there are 7 tones in the octave, 8 would be "B in the next octave above," so 11 = 8 + 3 means that "the 11th" is the 4th   (not the 3rd ... "we start-over with #1, not #0") of the octave above.
  • /E means "with E in the bass."

 

All basic chord-spelling comes down to this:  

 

  1. Every chord, in its root position, consists of two consecutive triads, each major or minor as the case may be.  "Do the math" and you will see that there are four possible combinations of major vs. minor triads, producing "major, minor, augmented, diminished."  (Some of the notes can be omitted to "thin things out," or to create a little bit of "jazzy" ambiguity in an arrangement.)
  2.  Notes above the fifth may be "added" for spice.  The added notes don't have to be thirds if they're in the octave above ... a "2nd" interval is harsh ("dissonant"), but a "9th" is not, even though it consists of "the 2nd in the octave above."  Let your ears be the judge.
  3. Any note can be used in the bass.  In general, the bass is a fairly-independent, "walking" line of notes that propels the song forward.
  4.  The notes that comprise the two triads can be placed with "any note on top," thus creating so-called "inversions."  There are 3 possible inversions of a 3-note chord, and so on.  They create different sounds because there is now more or less space between the notes which have the same "value."  And, the not-first-inversion chord is now spanning the octave boundary ... see point #2, above.
  5.  And finally, when playing a series of chords in an actual song, we can "suspend" the transition of one of the notes from one chord to the next so that all of the notes are not heard to "resolve" all at the same time.  This reinforces the perception that the instruments are playing separate, interwoven, musical lines.  It can also create deliberately added tension, as long as you make sure to "fulfill the expectation, and let the shoe drop," unless your purpose is to change keys ("modulation").
  6. ... and, in "jazz," improvisation is the rule of the day, so "all bets are off!"  :D

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Thanks to you both. 

 

However, I am sure David won't mind my sayind... outstanding explanation Mike, thank you.

 

So, that means the notes in the chord according to guitar tab site are: B D# F# plus the 11th which is E

 

Still... on the actual track, I don't hear the F#, I am sure I hear a G#. Anyone care to elaborate?

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