{"id":1696,"date":"2013-10-14T17:20:29","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T00:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=1696"},"modified":"2017-08-30T15:41:58","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T22:41:58","slug":"straight-line-chords-aug-dim-sus2-sus4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=1696","title":{"rendered":"Straight Line Chords: Aug, Dim, Sus2, Sus4"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Chords on the Lattice\" href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=1632\">Major and minor chords<\/a> look like triangles on the lattice. They are closed loops, which I think contributes to their stable feeling. Up a major third, up a minor third, and down a fifth (due West on the lattice) brings you right back where you started. The intervals interlock, and they are all <a title=\"Consonance and Dissonance\" href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=1380\">consonant<\/a>, reinforcing the sense of harmonic rest.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Major Triad\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YEe_lpXD5IE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Other combinations of notes are more open. Many chords look like straight lines on the <a title=\"The Lattice\" href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=342\">lattice<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Augmented_chord\">Augmented chords<\/a> are stacks of <a title=\"The Major Third\" href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=292\">major thirds<\/a>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Augmented Chord\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7xH2qLhnduY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Diminished_triad\">Diminished chords<\/a> are stacks of <a title=\"The Minor Third\" href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=481\">minor thirds<\/a>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Diminished Chord\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HLA63_cL7Sk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>These chords often show up in my animations as fleeting transitional harmonies. In Flying Dream, for an instant, there&#8217;s even a stack of three major thirds:<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FD Augmented Stack\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xY38GywlVoE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>To my ear, this stack of thirds has a distinctive sound, almost like cloth ripping.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Suspended_chord\">Suspended Second<\/a>\u00a0chord is a straight line, like an augmented chord, but on the horizontal axis. It&#8217;s a stack of two fifths.\u00a0At the time the Sus2 and Sus4 chords were named, the 2 and 4 were usually &#8220;suspended,&#8221; or held over from the previous chord, as a tension to be resolved. Now they are often used as full chords.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sus2 Chord\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Cf8hDtABCxk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The Police used these stacks of fifths a lot. Andy Summers&#8217; guitar part for Every Breath You Take is full of Sus2 chords, alternating with major and minor thirds.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Police - Every Breath You Take (Official Music Video)\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OMOGaugKpzs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>To me, Sus2 feels lightly stable, and wistful.\u00a0All the intervals are <a title=\"The Compass Points\" href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=1273\">overtonal<\/a>, and quite consonant, but unlike the major and minor triads, the Sus2 doesn&#8217;t come full circle. If it keeps going, it will never return home, but climb on up the <a title=\"The Infinite Lattice\" href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=995\">endless<\/a> spiral of fifths.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a great way to end a certain sort of song, finished but with a sense of longing.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Suspended_chord\">Suspended Fourth<\/a> consists of a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Root_(chord)\">root<\/a>, a perfect fifth, and a perfect fourth.\u00a0The Sus4 looks the same on the lattice as the Sus2. The difference is the root.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sus4 Chord\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8wHBFN3MNsg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>This chord has a wonderful tension. The root establishes home. The 5 is overtonal, <a title=\"Polarity Experiment\" href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=1423\">stable<\/a>, with strong <a title=\"Tonal Gravity\" href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=1076\">tonal gravity<\/a> that attracts. <a title=\"A Reciprocal Note: The Fourth\" href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=397\">The 4<\/a> is reciprocal, unstable, with a strong tonal gravity <a title=\"Polarity\" href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=1484\">that repels<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Resolving to the 3 is satisfying indeed, as the unstable 4 slides from its unstable peak into the stable gravity well of the major third.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sus4 Resolved\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4t2itcrfxf8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Sus4\u00a0chords are all over rock music. Pinball Wizard is a study, here it is by Townshend on acoustic guitar:<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pete Townshend - Pinball Wizard 1986.avi\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qwREQTEO6lg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Next:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/?p=1705\">Putting Some Numbers on Tonal Gravity<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Major and minor chords look like triangles on the lattice. They are closed loops, which I think contributes to their stable feeling. Up a major third, up a minor third, and down a fifth (due West on the lattice) brings you right back where you started. The intervals interlock, and they are all consonant, reinforcing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,126],"tags":[276,67,298,280,84,281,85,27,279,277,282,238],"class_list":["post-1696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thelattice","category-the-notes","tag-add9","tag-augmented","tag-book","tag-chords","tag-consonance","tag-diminished","tag-dissonance","tag-lattice","tag-rock-music","tag-sus2","tag-sus4","tag-triad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1696"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2069,"href":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696\/revisions\/2069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garygarrett.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}