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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Music theory → Chord Name Question
How do you write the name of this chord?
F C F A B F
I would call it an F with a #11.
But if I write F#11, that would imply an F# as the root chord (F# A# C#) with an added natural 11
I'm just trying to write out some chord charts with no chord diagrams or tab for my own use.
Thanks in advance.
In F major FGABbCDEF raising the 4th (Bb) to B natural would make it a suspended 4th there are no sharps in F it is one of the flat keys and a natural sign would be in order.
I think that would be Fadd4, rather than a Fsus4. A suspended chord would suspend the III, but in this case the A is still played.
adding the 4th in F major would have to be a Bb but adding a B the tone is raised a half interval thus a sus 4th.
Yeah, that's true. Suspended chords suspend the III, though. That is, it isn't played. The A is right in there, so whatever it is, it isn't a sus chord.
Lets try it from a different angle. Perhaps its not even an F chord. All of those notes are common to C and A minor, too.
If it were C it would be
C F A B
I IV VI VII. That's bizarreness and I don't know what to call it.
If it's A minor
I II III VI
A B C F
The half step between the regular E (the V) and the F (the VI would make this an augmented chord with a II added to it.
Augmented Amin add2?
How would you write that? 
Amin+add2
Answered my own question. 
boy it can drive you crazy with all the variations as you point out every note listed could be an altered chord of another key I just thought he was referring to the key of F mind bending stuff 
Playing it on a keyboard I'd call it F11 (F11), very nice jazz chord. I tried it as an Am chord and it would be an Am augmented 9th (Am9+) or (Am aug9) which isn't a named chord, as far as I know. Just call it a cool jazz thingy. You can get a lot of milage out of those notes!!
Them jazz dudes is weird.
What key is the song in?
I am completly lost on this subject,the more I read the more confused I get. I do understand jeromes jazz dudes is wierd,that is funny!
I think Butch has it right. The 2 is the 9, so Am9+ ("Augmented A minor nine") seems to be the best way.
So, for those scoring at home.
A minor is A C and E
An augmented chord is one where the V is raised a half step. In this case, in the key of A minor that would be the F, because a half step above E is F. This is actually one of those cases where it might be OK to call it "E#," even though it "technically" doesn't exist.
So now we have A C F
The B is the II (and the IX) in an A minor scale (A B C D E F G A B). Hence, by adding the B, we are playing the 9 as well. So we end up with an "augmented A minor 9."
A C F B
Notationally, a + is an augmented chord. Am9+
Whew!
Does it make me weird that I love figuring this stuff out?
yeap, but don't stop... lol
badeye 
You need to look at the chord in the context of the other chords around it or you really can't determine what chord it is..this is particularly true of more complex jazzy chords.
Another example, more simple for emphasis:
What chord is CEG? Most of you right now are saying "C major," right? That's one possibility, but:
- It can also be an am7 with no root (root omission [and 5th omission, while we're on the topic] is very common when you're chunking out jazz chords w/a big band.)
- If the chord behind it is an e minor chord, you could consider CEG an e minor chord with the 6 being used for color/voice leading, although this would be an unusual usage.
OPs chord might be a lydian chord with the maj. 7 omitted. More info on that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydian_chord
Well, I'm going to go with Occam's razor on this one, and go with the simplest answer.
Omitting the root will destroy the chord as a chords tonality is based on the interval between the root and the third. No root, no third interval. You can not have an Am chord without an A in it. If you were to strike that chord and not play the A, what you've done is played some inversion of C major.
CEG as an inversion of Em still lacks the V.
There is nothing magical about a lydian chord. It's just another flavor of a major 7. If you omit the major 7 as you suggest, what you end up with is a plain old major triad. Haywood suggested this in his original post.
The simplest solution is that CEG is exactly what it appears; C major.
Here's another take what is the bass note? That schould tell you if it's an F or Am variation.
Butch if it was a more typical chord I'd agree with you - that's typically a good way of looking at things in most pop/rock music. That said, look at D/F# and G/b for exceptions to the rule.
LOL Bald I know, wasn't gonna mention it. Me bad. I'll go w/ the Amaug9
Well whatever you call it its a butt ugly chord position on a fretboard and three F's is a little redundant and it ain't rock,country or a blues chord so the chance of me playing it are non existent but to each his own
It reminds me of a chord Erroll Garner, the jazz pianoist would play. He was known for close placed chords
^^^^ what they said. I have no frickin' idea.
Thanks for the great responses.
As a guitar and keyboard player for over 30 years (who also studied music theory in school for several years), I could follow he entire thread. And yes there could be many answers to my original question.
The song I'm attempting to chart is Silver Blue by John David Souther.
The song is clearly in F (until it modulates to G)
Here is a video of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QAPYc1WHm8
He plays an F chord with the third sting open to a G and then fingers the A. I'd call that an Fsus2 > F
Then he plays an F chord with the second string open to a B and then fingers the C. That's what I'm trying to annotate without having to tab it. It's just shorthand for me to practice the song.
In the context of the F that is resolves to, I figured I'd name it an F-something.
And I understand the point you shouldn't have a # in a flat key such as F.
For simplicity's sake, I settled on charting it as: Fsus2 F Fadd#11 F
Since Bb is the 11th tone of the scale and it is sharped in this instance.
In any event, I now know what to play when I see that on paper, even if it possibly isn't the most correct name for the chord.
Now that you've seen it in context, what is your best name for it?
I will check back in a few days.
Thanks again for all the time and thought in the responses posted.
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