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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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How do I type in the chord G,B,Db,Gb? What is it called? Sorry for my musical ignorance.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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GMaj7b5
Do you have a MIDI keyboard connected? If so, you can use a feature in BIAB to find your chord names. Go to Window, MIDI Chord Detection, MIDI Chord Detection. Play the chord and BIAB will guess what it is, giving you several possibilities if appropriate. Click on one and the chord is entered in the chordsheet. Great feature!
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Thanks Matt I appreciate it. I tried that chord, but it doesn't sound right, so I thought I was doing something wrong. I will try the Midi chord detection and see what it displays.
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Actually, I'd expect to see a Gmaj7b5 notated without the flats, such as G, B, D#, F# in most cases, due to key signature.
Those two flats in there suggest that something else may be going on.
What is the key sig of the song and what are the four chords immediately before and after this chord?
--Mac
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Sorry Mac I don't have the song in front of me, but it is in A chord. The four chord just before are E,A,D,A and then there is a hold on the Gmaj7b5.
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Given what you said, there is a possibility that the chord could work...
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It sounds great on guitar, it is just a matter of getting BIAB to match it somehow.
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Quote:
Actually, I'd expect to see a Gmaj7b5 notated without the flats, such as G, B, D#, F# in most cases, due to key signature.
...
--Mac
Maybe C# not D#?
I've never thought much about this, but I assume technically the spelling is G, B, Db (for the flatted fifth), F#. But I wouldn't put that in front of a pianist, mixing sharps and flats in the same chord. I would write it G, B, C#, F# in the key of A.
In a key signature of flats, though, is G, B, Db, Gb right? I wouldn't think a pianist would appreciate that, either. Just curious.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Yes, I would think that tossing in a few flats, in the key of A would strike fear in most pianist.
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Yeah, C#, sorry.
One thing I've gotten from working with BiaB over the years is that I am now okay with seeing flats where there should be sharps, etc. and just playing what it says.
At the end of the day, all this is just a matter of perception, after all.
--Mac
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Sounds good. When I run into a song where there is just too much chromatic weirdness alternating between sharps and flats, I just write it in the key of C and let everything fall where it may.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Quote:
...chord G,B,Db,Gb...
Using Mac's idea and thinking of this as G-B-C#-F#: if these notes were played over and A bass, it's a A13 chord. Is there a simple chord (major, minor, diminished, augmented) that has a sound that fits in your song satisfactorily but lacks the full texture of the chord you describe above? If you can find such a chord, it becomes a good starting place to interpret the notes you give and thus work out what chord extension you have used.
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Jeff, I'm wondering if there isn't an A pedal tone somewhere in the bass in that passage.
It would be helpful to know the harmonic rhythm (how fast or slow the chords change) too.
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On a keyboard, a G played with a Gb next to the octave G would sound ok, but if played next to each other will sound pretty discordant. Does BIAB know that? Perhaps a GMaj7 with the b5 played as a slash Bass type of chord would sound a bit better.
Music theory is not my strong suit (in fact it is my weakest I would have to admit) but I would like to hear what those in the know have to say about this.
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I suppose "discordant" is in the ear of the listener.
Voice a straight GMaj7 this way (going up): F#, G, B, D and I think it sounds great to the ear, and the minor second is not discordant at all.
A bass player on a held GMaj7(5) would alternate between the root and the flat five anyway.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Expert
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Try a G lydian chord. (Just type Glyd). Of course, the fifth (D) is in the chord then too, but depending on your song this could work just as fine, and a Gmaj7#11 chord usually sounds great as the last chord (IV chord for the I Tonic chord)
Sandra
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Having survived Dick Grove - this is a dominant or V in II-V-I chord - as in: Em11-A13-Dma9
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What's AFTER the chord?
If it's some kind of D chord, then G,B,C#,F# could be A13, a extended version of A7. B would be the 9th and would appear in A13. The 11th (D or D#) can be omitted, as it is in this chord. The root of the chord G, B, C#, F# would be an A in the bass part.
Jim Williams
Indianapolis Brass Choir
N9EJR
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Quote:
How do I type in the chord G,B,Db,Gb? What is it called? Sorry for my musical ignorance.
try F#sus/G (type f3sus/g in the box). That seems to work ok, the bass alternates between G and Db, if I'm guessing right that's the sound you're going for. The name for that would be Gmaj7b5, in lieu of some other context that would make the name, well, something else.
you'd think Bsus2/G would work too, but the bass then alternates between G and F# -- it looks like BIAB parses the bass in slash chords by taking the root (or maybe better to say the bass note that will sound on beat 1) from the right side of the slash, and the fifth from the left side of the slash.
anyway give it a shot, hope that helps
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