How do I spell this chord, or, what did I spell?

I have assumed that if I want to indicate a D♯ major chord with a dominant 7th, I would spell it D♯7 (because that is the order I would say it - D sharp 7).

But that would imply that this chord, Gâ™­6, is a Gâ™­ chord with a 6th added on. But then I wasn't sure how to distinguish between that and a G major chord with a flatted 6th. Because without knowing the convention I might think that the latter would also be spelled Gâ™­6. But that can't be. Is there a lesson for chord spelling, or can someone just tell me. (And to go further, how would you spell Gâ™­ with a â™­6th)?

Thanks,

Dave

I'll let the amazing Christopher answer your question, but I thought I'd pop in and say that this resource has been incredibly helpful for me when it comes these things, so I thought you might find it useful as well.

https://www.oolimo.com/guitarchords/analyze

You can work both ways -- you can put in the notes to see what chord something is, or you can click on the chords with chord finder to see the fingering.

First off all, D#7 has not the same notes as Gb6, here it gets tricky with stuff many people have never heard about

D#7 has the following notes; D# Fx A# C#, notice the Fx, the x stands for a double sharp and the musical sign fot that is an x with fatter ends but that is not on my keyboard but yes, double sharps and double flats exist.

Gb6 is made of the notes Gb Bb Db Eb or if you want it with sharps, F# A# C# and D#, so a regular F#.

as to your last question, the chord would be written with the flat 6 between parentheses like this; G (b6).

Hope this clarifies it

Herman

Originally Posted by: hsnoeckx

First off all, D#7 has not the same notes as Gb6, here it gets tricky with stuff many people have never heard about

D#7 has the following notes; D# Fx A# C#, notice the Fx, the x stands for a double sharp and the musical sign fot that is an x with fatter ends but that is not on my keyboard but yes, double sharps and double flats exist.

Gb6 is made of the notes Gb Bb Db Eb or if you want it with sharps, F# A# C# and D#, so a regular F#.

as to your last question, the chord would be written with the flat 6 between parentheses like this; G (b6).

Hope this clarifies it

Herman

Thanks. I wasn't clear I guess. I didn't mean to suggest that the two chords I used as examples had the same notes. I just used the first chord to as an example because I think it seems relatively straightforward as to what the chord is (I would think its a D# with a 7th because a D with a sharp 7th wouldn't make any sense as the sharpened 7th would arguably be the root), but using the same naming convention, the 2nd example seems more ambiguous. But I see that you could use the parentheses as needed in ambiguous situations.

also if you would have a D#m7 and a Gb6 , they would have the same notes and therefore they are called " enharmonic equivalent ", there are more such chords around.

Yes, like a sus2 chord and and sus4 chord a perfect 5th above.

Originally Posted by: dlwalkeI have assumed that if I want to indicate a D♯ major chord with a dominant 7th, I would spell it D♯7 (because that is the order I would say it - D sharp 7).[/quote]

Yes, but to be crystal clear it is a D-sharp dominant 7th. Normally the "dominant" is implied because you would say "major 7" or "minor 7" otherwise.

The only possible confusion might be the major 7th chord. But that is indicated by saying "major 7th": D-sharp major 7th (D#maj7). So, the term "sharp" isn't going to cause confusion with "7th".

But I see where you're going. Because using "sharp" or "flat" can cause potential confusion with other scale degrees like the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 9th, 11th or 13th!

The solution is to clearly indicate the chord & it's extended or color tones. Examples:

G-flat flat 5th (Gb b5)

D-flat flat 9th (Db add b9)

F-sharp sharp 4th (F# #4)

G-flat dom7 flat 5th (Gb7b5)

D-flat dom7 flat 13th (Db7b13)

F-sharp dom sharp 4th (F#7#4)

Originally Posted by: dlwalkeBut that would imply that this chord, Gâ™­6, is a Gâ™­ chord with a 6th added on.[/quote]

Yes, that's what it is. :)

[quote=dlwalke]But then I wasn't sure how to distinguish between that and a G major chord with a flatted 6th.

If you add a minor 6th to a major chord, then you would specify that: G maj add min6th. And that's only if you have the 5th scale degree, which is a pretty unusual chord:

G (1)

B (M3)

D (5)

E-flat (min6)

Because in normal use the E-flat (minor 6th) would replace the D (5th) & be viewed as a D# (sharp 5th) & it's a G augmented chord: Gaug.

G (1)

B (M3)

D# (sharp5)

[quote=dlwalke]Because without knowing the convention ...

Good observation! Good incentive to learn the conventions. :)[br][br]

I have a series of tutorials on extended harmony chords that covers a lot of this territory.

Extended Harmony Chords 1

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1166

Extended Harmony Chords 2

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1185

Extended Harmony Chords 3

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1195

Hope that helps!