Superbron, there are a few guesses and assumptions going on in your list.

I would suggest a good book on Music Theory that goes into the methodology of the Fake Chord naming convention. There are likely some free online tutorials for the web-searching, as well.

Not going to address them all, but:

Quote:

4. I cannot enter the chord C7sus2 (C D G Bb) in Biab



BB doesn't support all possible chords yet. If it isn't in the chordlist, then we have to use a substitute that will sound okay but not notate correctly. Gm/C would be one of those subs that would yield the same notes in most style files.

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5. C7alt is Db E G Bb in Biab?



Could be. The "Alt" chord is a situation of choice. Alt means that we can rather freely substitute the b5, #5 and b9, #9 in the chord, with taste as to the Melody or other considerations, of course. BiaB may play the b9 as you list here, but other times or other style picks may play one -- or more -- of the other possibilities along with the base triad. For example, it might play C7#5b9, equally acceptable. With this specific chord, it is truly a jazz thing.

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6. C5b is C E Ab in Biab?



"Cb5" would spell the flat five chord of C, E, Gb -- but C5 is the Powerchord, the two-noter so loved by rock guitarists, the C and the G together. C5b doesn't ring a bell with me at the moment. If you have it on a chart, it might be an attempt to notate the Tritone, C and Gb, played together as two notes. This one would not likely be of value in the key of C, though for the C and Gb together are the tritone D7 or the tritone of Ab7 and is interchangeable in those two keys.

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7. Does anybody know how C G A is called in music theory?



Well, it may depend upon context, but if confronted with it standalone like this, I'd have to call it a "C5add6" -- whoch would be thoroughly confusing to the reader. Depending upon keysig, this one might really be a skeletal Am7, or you might, in a weird sort fo way, call it a C5add13, which is the same as saying add6, same note, A, but indicates playing it outside the octave, away from the G, to avoid the G-A side-by-side thing.

A good book on the subject is recommended here. Trying to figure out the theory by studying the BiaB program will only get you so far -- and is likely to lead to errors. The real way to figure out the naming and its convention is to simply know the scales, the major and minor scales. The numbers are derived from the scales and it is then only a matter of knowing which step of the scale is the name for the key you are in. Knowing this stuff will also improve your playing skills, so no loss there at all.

Everyon I know who has avoided getting into this subject and then finally "bites the bullet" says the same thing after only a week or two dealing with it, "This is easier than I thought it would be!"

And it is.


--Mac

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