This question comes from Gospel Music Training Center member Larressa:
Hi Jermaine, my name is Larressa. I go by mrslsj in GMTC.
I am a beginner. I am taking on the challenge of transforming the song “I Give Myself Away”-Take 1. However, after listening to JP I decided as a learning experience to transpose the chords to all 12 keys, which has been great. I have done this but I have a few questions. I hope this is clear.
1. From previous study in GMTC I understand that the VII is usually diminished or half diminished. Here is the 7 chord in this song “FGAC/A” (KEY Bb) which is listed as a F Major Add 9. Can you tell me why this chord does not follow that rule? What type of chord would go on the 7?
2. Here is the 7 chord in this song “FGBbEb/C” which is listed as an “Eb Major Add 9 / C.” Can you tell me why this is a major chord on the 3 and not a minor chord as I thought it should be?
3. The passing chord in the song is on the 3 which is D “GbBbCF/D’. It is listed as a D7 #9#5 chord. When are these types of chords used? Is the 3 not always minor as I thought.
Thank you for your help. GMTC has been great for me and a few thinks are starting to click for me thanks to you guys. Larressa
Larressa,
These are great questions.
And you are correct, the 7th tone is usually diminished or half-diminished 7 when looking at the diatonic chords.
But let’s keep in mind that the 1, 4, and 5 are the primary chords of the key and will occur the most.
The first chord you are referring to is really a 5-chord , not a 7-chord. Because you’re in the key of Bb, F major is the chord naturally created on the 5. All we’re doing in this song is inverting that 5 chord so that A is on the bottom… and adding the “9” (G) for some flavor… that’s all.
We’ve chosen the 1st inversion of F major because it puts A on the bottom.
So in this case, you want to analyze the “WHOLE” chord and label it according to the true scale degree of the chord. The bass in this case is a little misleading only because it is inverted. If you can’t truly call this some type of “A” chord, then it is another chord simply “rearranged” so that A is on the bottom.
Not to confuse you but you will hear musicians still calling this the 7th tone because of the bass, “A.” And that’s fine as the bass usually establishes the patterns of the song. But when it comes to really analyzing what’s going on (as I suspect you’re doing), this is a 5 chord.
As for the second chord, this is really a minor chord. Sometimes chords are listed as split chords but when you truly analyze them, you find out they can be labeled something else:
FGBbEb/C (a.k.a – Eb major add 9 “over” C)
Is really:
C + Eb + G + Bb + F (when you lay it all out)
That’s “C minor 7 add 11” if I’ve ever seen one.
*Note: The reason we said “add 11” and not just “C minor 11” is because the “9th” degree (D) is not present. If this chord had a “D,” then we could flat out call it C minor 11. But in order for it to be a true 11th chord, it must have a 9th. And say it were just a 9th chord… it would need a 7th. It’s like building blocks — one thing stacks on top of another.
The third chord (dominant 7 #9#5) is a perfect example of “alterations.” If all songs only followed the “rules,” we’d have a lot of same-sounding stuff out there. So at some point, you will introduce altered chords that add flavor to the regular diatonic chords you’re used to hearing. In this case, the dom7 #9#5 works great as a substitute for minor chords on the 3rd (especially), 6th, 2nd, and even “flatted 5” tone (to lead to the 7).
But even if you analyze this chord, the #9 creates the same sound as the minor 3rd so it’s really not that “far” away from a minor chord. Just also has the major third in it, which is why we label it this way.
#9 in C, for example is, D#
b3 in C (which creates C minor chord) is Eb.
Eb and D# are enharmonic (make same sound, spelled differently). That’s why these altered chords work so great.
So “learn the rules” for majority of songs, but also be prepared to break them because after all, this is music. :-)
I hope this clarifies things.
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