Originally Posted by dcuny
Ambiguity comes from various places. Part of disambiguating something is determining what sort of thing it is.

When we hear a chord with no context, we generally listen for stable intervals to determine the root of the chord, as the root is generally how we determine function.

With a C-E-G, the most stable intervals are C-G (perfect fifth) and C-E (major third).

An inversion of those notes G-E-C gives less stable intervals, but we'll often infer a chord anyway. If we can "find" an arrangement that gives a more stable explanation, we'll hear it as an inverted stable chord.

The lowest note interacts with the higher notes, creating tensions via waves interacting.

And some chords are unstable by nature, like the Dim7 chord. That's a stack of minor thirds (with a diminished fifth and dom7) so there's no stable interval to be found. Each one of the notes has equal claim to being the root, but the lowest note usually wins.

Jazzers often like to think of a diminished chords as a 7th chord missing the root, because we like to "understand" things using stable intervals, even if they aren't there at all. laugh
David, I agree with rharv. In my opinion, this is one of your better posts and one of the better posts so far in this thread on the subject of chord ambiguity.
Hopefully, the "what sort of thing it is" will be addresses as we work thru Contexts 1, 2 and 3.

I'm going to try to capture in a document the "gem statements" that get made so I don't lose them in the sometimes cacophony of this thread.
One gem for me is:
"When we hear a chord with no context, we generally listen for stable intervals to determine the root of the chord, as the root is generally how we determine function."

Keep these gems coming smile

https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677
BiaB 2026 Windows
For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.