Name that chord

RafterGirl

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I have tried several chord namer programs, including my favorite that I use daily.....UkeBuddy. I can't find a name for a chord that I'm using in a chord melody that I'm writing.

First fret A string, second fret E string, C & G open. if I move this shape up a fret on UkeBuddy it gives me the chord name Cmaj7no3, but when I move it down, I get No Chord Found. It's a very simple chord shape & sounds perfect for my song. I'd like to have a name for it if possible.

Thanks
 
The chord shape is a dominant 7th with a raised 3rd. In your case it's a C7 raised 3rd. It could also be a rootless A minor 7 flat 9 augmented 5th. And maybe more, those are the two that I see in it. What name you give it probably depends on the rest of the chords. Does a plain C7 sound better there than a plain A min7, or the other way around. That's how I would pick a name unless I was trying to stay within a ii V I progression which would dictate the name. Hope that helps. FWIW it has the sound of a flat 9 to me.

John
 
Should be C7#11(no3) right? Because there's a Bb and not a B natural. C/F#/G/Bb Nice spooky chord. I agree that what you call it (inversion or no) depends on its context.
 
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Should be C7#11(no3) right? Because there's a Bb and not a B natural. C/Gb/G/BbNice spooky chord. I agree that what you call it (inversion or no) depends on its context.

Bingo. I always forget the 11th chords but that would be easiest way to label it.

John
 
Thanks folks. I have no musical background, but have been picking up a little music theory by osmosis. I'm writing out the tab for a chord melody. I believe it's in the key of Bb, although I don't play a Bb in the song. The main chords in the melody are Cm, Dm,Eb, F, Gm, A7. I play them in first position, and up the neck as well. There's a GM7sus2 in there as well. Its a very pretty, plaintive sounding melody. I can write the tab for my mystery chord, but having a name for it would be nice. It definitely doesn't sound right with a C7 or Am7. The mystery chord is the perfect sound that I'm looking for. Maybe C7+3 ????
 
A C7#11 is really the same as a C7 #3. I know there is a reason it's written as an 11 chord and that my teacher explained it to me, but like many things he taught me I don't remember :) I think you could write it either way and it'll be fine. Where in the progression does it come? It seems like a very dissonant sound compared to the others, but adds a lot of tension. You can also play it 3633 if you want to move it up the neck.

John
 
A C7#11 is really the same as a C7 #3. I know there is a reason it's written as an 11 chord and that my teacher explained it to me, but like many things he taught me I don't remember :) I think you could write it either way and it'll be fine. Where in the progression does it come? It seems like a very dissonant sound compared to the others, but adds a lot of tension. You can also play it 3633 if you want to move it up the neck.

John
C7#3 would be an easy way to write in in my tabs, so I'll use that.
It comes at the end of the melody. GM7sus2 (556X), C (334X), C7#3 (12XX), D, Gm

About 2 months ago, I was just goofing around on my uke. I was playing the Dm & A7 back and forth. I thought it had a nice sound to it. I didn't know how to continue with it. What would sound right. I forgot about the idea. Then I took Mitch Chang's chord progression workshop at the LA Uke festival a few weeks ago. I studied the handout he gave us on chord progressions & experimented with it. There I found what I needed. The chords that sounded right with the Dm & A7, and captured the mood I wanted. Then I remembered what I learned in my recent Kimo Hussey workshop. He talking about where the notes want to go, how they get there, and about conflict and resolution. I kept working on it. Writing down the chords/tabs until I had a short chord melody I liked. Maybe I'll record it, once I get it fine tuned, and post it. It is a more somber, plaintive melody. I thought a lot about a name for it and decided on "Firelight." I can picture sitting in front of a fire on a winter's evening, with a blizzard outside, watching the embers of the fire slowly dying.
 
A C7#11 is really the same as a C7 #3. I know there is a reason it's written as an 11 chord and that my teacher explained it to me, but like many things he taught me I don't remember :)

John
I don’t know the answer either, but I bet it has something to do with how the chord would resolve. Sus 4 chords generally resolve down to the third. So Csus4 resolves to C.

No clue how an 11th resolves though. I would guess that if you’re gonna play an 11th, you prolly wouldn’t include the 3rd since the 3rd and 11th would clash something fierce.
 
A sharp 11 is an augmented 4th interval. In the C chord that you're playing, F would be the 4th above C, so you would call it an 11 if C is the root of the chord, and #11 because you're using an F#.

The reason you see it described as an 11th rather than a 4th is that typically in jazz chords, you would see the chord build in intervals with the typical 1st-3rd-5th and then adding on the 7th-9th-11th-13th. Any one of those added intervals could be flat, natural, or sharp.
 
No, a #3 is a 4 (or in a 7th chord, 11, or when the 3rd is replaced by the 4th, sus4). In this case, the 3rd is raised not a half step but a whole step, to #4 [#11] or b5 (but the latter isn't viable here). The proper name would be C7#11. No one following conventions would use C7x3 (i.e. 3 double-sharp), while C7#3 is not only contrary to conventions but simply wrong.

John also misjudged an interval in guessing Am7b9#5, because the 5th of Am7 is raised a whole step, becoming a 6th or 13th; the correct name would be Am13b9.

When spelling chords, the convention is to go from 4th string to 1st (just like we read across grid diagrams left-to-right), not from 1st string to 4th: thus 0655, not 5560. Also, for open strings, write o or 0 (lowercase oh or zero); X or x means to mute or skip the string.

I also suspect your GM7sus2 is just D/G. If it truly is the rather oddball GM7sus2, might a plain GM7 (0675) be more effective?

I think in this progression your mystery chord 0021 is D+7/G rather than C7#11. Basically, you're using the G note as a ground or drone, so consider the chords without regard to the G, then add the G when necessary using slash notation:
D/G - C - D+7/G - D - Gm

Given the voice leading, I'd actually name the mystery chord D7b13/G, with the b13 [b6] leading downward to the 5th in the following D chord: compare to this D7b13: 2021. It's also possible that John's guess of an altered Am7 chord (Am13b9) is right here, making the final progression ii-V-i: a standard major mode progression with a surprise shift to minor on the last chord. If the melody or bass is doing something other than sitting on the tonic note, that might decide the matter, but with only these contextual clues, it remains debatable.

By the way, my guess (particularly given the last chord) is that your key is G minor rather than its relative major key, Bb. Bb would then be the III chord—far more common to omit the III chord in a song than to omit the tonic (I) chord. Although the final progression more fits G major than G minor, such "parallel" mode shifts are a common device, and the main mode is reestablished on the final chord.

Thanks for correcting my mistake, you're right about the 5th becoming the 6th.

John
 
C7#3 would be an easy way to write in in my tabs, so I'll use that.
It comes at the end of the melody. GM7sus2 (556X), C (334X), C7#3 (12XX), D, Gm

As you have written the chords with the X's (dampened strings) rather than as open string, most of the complicated names given so far don't apply. Everyone is assuming open strings and this is generating the complicated chords.

As written the 556X is just a D maj. 334X is just C maj as you have written which leaves 12XX which is just an F# and an A#. An F# Power third maybe. Not sure what to call it but with only two notes it isn't a complicated chord.

EDIT:, and we both got the order wrong. I didn't think and followed you but we know what we mean't.
 
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As you have written the chords with the X's (dampened strings) rather than as open string, most of the complicated names given so far don't apply. Everyone is assuming open strings and this is generating the complicated chords.

As written the 556X is just a D maj. 334X is just C maj as you have written which leaves 12XX which is just an F# and an A#. An F# Power third maybe. Not sure what to call it but with only two notes it isn't a complicated chord.

Ok, my bad.....it's Gmaj7sus2 (0655), C (0433 or can be just a 0003), C7#3 or whatever it's called (0021), D, Gm

The Gmaj7sus2 is the chord name that UkeBuddy generated when I put in 0655. It the middle of the melody I have Eb (0766), Gmaj7sus2 (0655), C (0433), then D. The Eb, C, Gmaj7sus2 is the same chord shape, just moving down the neck. GM7 (0675) doesn't sound right.
 
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Ok, my bad.....it's Gmaj7sus2 (0655), C (0433 or can be just a 0003), C7#3 or whatever it's called (0021), D, Gm

The Gmaj7sus2 is the chord name that UkeBuddy generated when I put in 0655

OK well that clears that up.

My two bobs worth though is that your just playing some relative simple chords over a drone bass note. I do something similar.
As you have found out. When you try to give these chords proper technical names they sound rather complicated but the truth is its just a triad over a droning bass note.
 
OK well that clears that up.

My two bobs worth though is that your just playing some relative simple chords over a drone bass note. I do something similar.
As you have found out. When you try to give these chords proper technical names they sound rather complicated but the truth is its just a triad over a droning bass note.
Thanks. It seems like such a simple two fingered chord, that not having a name was puzzling to me. Like I said earlier, I have little actual music theory knowledge, having picked up ukulele 18 months ago as my first ever musical instrument. I'm just playing what sounds good to my ear as I try to work out & commit to a blank tab sheet what I'm playing. I have a habit (with age) of forgetting stuff if I don't write it down. Plus, I wanted to have a half way accurate tablature written down in case someone wanted to try to play this little melody. I suppose I can just write it on the tab sheet as 0021 and not try to give it an actual name. I have a retired professor of music in my uke group, maybe he can help me.
 
Thanks. It seems like such a simple two fingered chord, that not having a name was puzzling to me. Like I said earlier, I have little actual music theory knowledge, having picked up ukulele 18 months ago as my first ever musical instrument. I'm just playing what sounds good to my ear as I try to work out & commit to a blank tab sheet what I'm playing. I have a habit (with age) of forgetting stuff if I don't write it down. Plus, I wanted to have a half way accurate tablature written down in case someone wanted to try to play this little melody. I suppose I can just write it on the tab sheet as 0021 and not try to give it an actual name. I have a retired professor of music in my uke group, maybe he can help me.

Tabs are often best. Ukulele chords with only 4 notes or less can be rather ambiguous and trying to fit full jazz chord names to them can lead people astray thinking its complicated when the truth is much simpler.

I play many "wonky" chords which don't fit the naming conventions neatly. If I want to write them down I will just have to tab them.
 
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