Originally Posted by Bass Thumper
Your example of a "C chord by a guitarist with bass playing an A suddenly makes that C chord ambiguous. Is it C6, Am7, C/A .." has 2 problems. First, the guitarist is playing a non-ambiguous C chord; Levitin is talking about ambiguous chords, not non-ambiguous ones. Second, you are talking about the composite chord formed by the guitarist and the bass player while Levitin (and I) are interested in the ambiguous chord the guitarist is playing.
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Also note that I'm a self-taught newbie at music trying to learn what I can.

Steve, I believe there is a major problem in your thinking. When considering what a chord is one MUST account for every note on EVERY instrument. Thus the above example you must consider the notes on the guitar AND the note(s) on the bass. If there are more instruments then one must include all of their notes for a chord name. In the chord analyzer I included in my other message do the following and see what the possible chord names are:
C-E-G
B-E-G
A-E-G


I'm in a fitness protection program. I'm been hiding from exercise.

64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware