Originally Posted by Bass Thumper
Originally Posted by rharv
Or for that matter an inversion of D11, whether minor or major?

What key is the song?
What was the previous and next chord?
Those two questions can be important when determining how to refer to the chord.
Rharv, you bring up some good questions that go to the complexity of this subject; context seems to be very important. So what if we establish 3 different contexts so they can be specifically addressed separately?

Context 1(most simple): Piano player in his studio by himself and only plays individual chords with his right hand. No songs are played.

Context 2 (a little complex): Piano player still plays chords with only his right hand but a bass player is with him. Again, no songs are played.

Context 3 (complex): Piano player, bass player and drummer come together and play a complete song in a single unambiguous key.

The goal here is to understand Levitin’s 2 statements.
“Joni’s genius was she creates chords that are ambiguous, chords that could have two or more different roots.”
“The brilliance of Jaco, Joni said, is that he instinctively knew to wander around the possibility space, reinforcing the different chord interpretations with equal emphasis, sublimely holding the ambiguity in a delicate, suspended balance.”

Regarding the simplest case, Context 1, if the piano player plays C – E – G (increasing pitch as you move from C to E to G, my question is this an ambiguous or unambiguous chord?

My answer: It’s an unambiguous Cmaj chord.
Reasoning: The pianist is providing a root, a 3rd and a 5th, therefore it’s a fully voiced, unambiguous chord.
Am I wrong?

No, you are not wrong, in that if the piano player intended to play a C chord (and did) it is unambiguous in the simplest sense.
But again, three (or even 4) notes does not necessarily define a chord, as a few people have pointed out (theoretically).

Key of song, surrounding chords.

Last edited by rharv; Yesterday at 02:50 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!