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Extra triad in iOS GarageBand Smart Piano
I'm teaching myself basic theory and started with major scales then deriving the major triads. Starting with C major I believe there are 7 chord triads as follow;
I - C
ii - Dm
iii - Em
IV - F
V - G
vi - Am
vii° - Bdim
However I just started playing with the Smart Piano in iOS GarageBand. You select a key and it allows a bunch of auto play features based on the chords in the key. When you select C as the key it presents the chords I detailed above but an extra chord is added, Bb. Why is Bb in there? It sounds like it fits but how was it derived as being part of the key of C?
The chords are also shown in the following order on the screen from left to right;
Em - Am - Dm - G - C - F - Bb - Bdim
That's 8 triads. I notice that every key chosen presents 8 triads, Always with the 7 usual triads I - vii° plus the extra mystery chord.
For example if you select G as the key the triads presented are;
Bm - Em - Am - D - G - C - F - F#°
Why is F included as a chord within G?
Thanks
Comments
Major chord built on the VII, just a common pop/rock chord choice. There are various theoretical explanations for why it works according to classical, jazz, modal or whatever other branch of theory you subscribe to, but in general practice it's just a common harmonic movement that generally works pretty well.
They probably just wanted to have 8 rather than 7, 7 is not a computer friendly number...
I assume it's less driven by programming and more driven by the relatively rare occurrence of the half-diminished chord (outside jazz circles) and the more common occurrence of the (flat) VII per Oscar's above explanation.
Thanks. It comes back to if it sounds good, use it. This chord didn't appear in the theory articles I have read, which are admittedly small in number.
That's the best way to look at this one.
The simplest theoretical explanation is that the root of the B dim chord is chromatically altered by a semitone, forming a major triad on the flat seventh tone. The strength of the major structure combined with most of the tones (beside the root) being diatonic makes the chord sound very consonant inside the key.
Maybe it for our German friends
Where B flat is B and B is H just to make Herr Bach happy (allegedly, not 100% sure about that)
Admittedly chords such as Bb, Eb and Dmaj occur more often in popular music than the Bdim would.
To echo the other comments, the b7 (flatted seven) is pretty common in a lot of contemporary music. I think Sweet Home Alabama is a really good example. The entire song is D-C-G. You could certainly argue that it's in the key of G and the progression is V-IV-I, but my ear tells me that the D is the I, and I think that's the common sentiment with that song. The C would then be the flatted seven, as C#dim is the seven chord in the key of D. Thus, the progression would be I-bVII-IV. "Wounded", by Third Eye Blind, is another example that comes to mind.
I love learning interesting shit from you people.
C-Eb-F is another much used sequence, or same transposed to other keys. Just listen to Let Me Entertain You for an example, it's pretty much the whole song (I would normally play it in F).
I haven't got to the learning bit yet - the words seem to be English, but the letters and numbers have nowhere to go.
It's like decorating a Christmas tree by being handed lots of decorations but I just keep putting them on the floor until I know where they go, but more decorations are thrusted and they go on the pile on the floor too, until there's a bare Christmas tree and an equally big pile of decorations beside it. It's been like this since I started learning music theory. A big sparkly hill, beside an undecorated tree.
I know quite a bit of music theory, but have many times felt held back by it because I know (or I think I know) how it should "work", but actually what is important is what sounds good, whether or not someone deems it to be technically "right". So don't feel held back by it, if it sounds good to you, just go for it!
I teach my composition students that the best reason to learn music theory is so you know what rules to break!
You've just got to understand that music doesn't come from theory - theory comes from music.
And then there's Sonic Youth, Fugazi, VoiVod, etc.
Excellent advice
+1
Great thread. Thanks for the lessons everyone.