What would you call a major triad with an added #5?

**ragman1** · 02-15-2023, 02:44 AM

What would you call a major triad with an added #5?

I'd call it a major triad with an added #5.

**ragman1** · 02-15-2023, 03:47 AM

Originally Posted by ll00l0l

Such as this, with a C tonic:

What would you call a major triad with an added #5?-23434-jpg

But if you're asking what this specific chord is I'd have to see it in context, not in isolation. A lot of modal tunes simply don't have a key signature. Or it may be an extract from an instruction book. Or it may be from one of your own compositions. The absence of a key sig doesn't mean it's necessarily taken from a tune in in C major.

But if you know that it is in C major then it would still matter what came before and after. It would be unwise to analyse it devoid of context. The G# may simply be a passing tone and irrelevant to the C major chord.

(If the tune is in C major, and the G# is not a passing tone, then there's no reason not to call it an Ab. And if it's supposed to be an Ab chord then it looks like some sort of AbM7#5; all the notes are there. But I doubt this explanation).

**ragman1** · 02-15-2023, 03:48 AM

(lloolol normally asks about his own compositions. Having got the sound he wants he appears here and asks what he should call it. So I'm saying it depends, which it does. And he may well appear again in the future)

**kris** · 02-15-2023, 07:08 AM

Without thinking about what is after it or before it.
You can also name this chord as you hear it.
Unless we want to determine what function this chord performs in a given piece or progression.
e.g. A C major chord is just a C major chord....you can call this B# major chord whatever you want...funny

**Christian Miller** · 02-15-2023, 07:34 AM

In that voicing without context, I would say it's an Abmaj7#5 drop 2/3

**dharmabam** · 02-15-2023, 08:01 AM

Sans context it's just a bog standard Ab?7+ surelytogod?

**ragman1** · 02-15-2023, 09:52 AM

But this is the whole point, you see. If it's in C maj then why not call the bottom note Ab? It's what most of us would do. But it's not, which leads me to think it's a passing bass line under other chords, this one being C. So I'd say knowing the context was essential.

**Reg** · 02-15-2023, 01:00 PM

It is John Mchaughin... right, he did use chords from Har. Maj. (so do many jazz players in the last 20 years.... the V7 chord, V7 with b9, nat 11 and nat 13. Or another version of a II-7b5 V7alt.)

The 3rd degree of MM or Lyd. Aug. has the #5, but also #11 if it's ..

4 X 5 5 5 X going to 5 X 5 5 5 X

The difference could have been whether you use,

Ab Bb C Db Eb Fb G ...Ab Har. Maj.
1 2 3 4 5 b6 7.... or spell as arp. for chords... 1 3 5 7 9 11 b13
or
Ab Bb C D E F G .... 3rd degree of FMM Ab Lyd Aug
1 2 3 #4 #5 6 7

They could both be fun and resolving to A- Dor. But the difference would be the use of D and F or how one would develop relationships.... which can just be Who's on first ... but there are other possibilities which many musicians use. Not very Bluesy... LOL Reminds me of the 70's shreddin pentatonics.

**ll00l0l** · 02-15-2023, 11:39 PM

Thanks everyone for your input; you've given me some food for thought. I didn't have a specific context in mind (I appreciate the importance of context) - this was just a chord I'd seen somewhere or thought of and didn't know what to call it.