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A#5...just when I think I understand chords...


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So an A#5 chord....to me that means:

1/ an A# chord with a 5th...but I'm already assuming it's got a regular 5th, it's not diminished or augmented....so why the '5' tagged on the end?

...I've 'come' across this in Duran's Come Undone....


COME UNDONE
C5 A#5 G#m A#5
Mine immaculate dream made breath and skin I've been waiting for you
C5 A#5 G#5 A#5
Signed with a home tattoo happy birthday to you was created for ya

C5 A#5
Can't ever keep from falling apart at the seams
G#5 A#5
Can't I believe you're taking my heart too pieces
C5 A#5 G#5 A#5
Oh, it'll take a little time might take a little crime to come undone now
Fm G# A#5 Gm
We'll try to stay blind to the hope and fear outside
Fm G# A#5 Gm C5
Hey child stay wilder than the wind and blow me in to cry
A#5 G#5 A#5 C5
Who do you need who do you love when you come undone
A#5 G#5 A#5 C5
Who do you need who do you love when you come undone

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttw3WjJUkdU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttw3WjJUkdU[/url]


any help welcome

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Can't listen to it here but do they mean A7#5 as opposed to Bb5? In all my years, I have never seen a chord listed as X5 so A#5 looks to me to be an incorrectly labelled A7#5 as opposed to an A# chord with a 5 (as major and minor chords all have a 5, it is ambiguous. Unless it is just a power chord root, five, octave? But even they tend to get labelled major or minor in terms of their implied status.

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[quote name='iconic' timestamp='1387470442' post='2312383']...any help welcome[/quote]

Try this..?

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_chord"]Power chords...[/url]

Essentially, a '5' chord is [i]only [/i]the root and its 5th. One can't feel major nor minor, as there's no 3rd. Used extensively in rock...

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Yes, It would appear to be a power chord. As stated above, these are just root fifth and octave and are neither major or minor.
We do a version of Smoke On The Water which is G Minor to F in the verses, but the guitars just play the power chords while the bass plays a G Minor pentatonic.
It caught me out the first time we did it.

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Ohh, power chords....be jesus most of that wiki bit went over my head....I don't know why but I always associate these with heavy metal....not sure why....but that isn't a chord is it, if 3 notes are a [i][b]tritone[/b][/i] that make a chord then a power chord would be more a power '[b][i]bitone' ;)[/i][/b]

Edited by iconic
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I am no theory expert at all, but does it not mean A major wiith a sharpened 5th? Not saying that is the correct way to write it, but most guitarists I've met scribble down A minor as Amin, but A major as just A, so might have just added the #5 as an extra on the end?

Edited by Huge Hands
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Again, from our old friend Wikipedia...

[quote]
...
Two-note combinations, whether referred to as chords or intervals, are called [i][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyad_%28music%29"]dyads[/url][/i]. Chords constructed of three notes of some underlying [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_scale"]scale[/url] are described as [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triad_%28music%29"]triads[/url]. Chords of four notes are known as [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrad_%28music%29"]tetrads[/url], those containing five are called [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentachord"]pentads[/url] and those using six are hexads. Sometimes the terms "[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichord"]trichord[/url]", "[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachord"]tetrachord[/url]", "[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentachord"]pentachord[/url]" and "[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexachord"]hexachord[/url]" are used, though these more usually refer to the pitch classes of any scale, not generally played simultaneously. Chords that may contain more than three notes include [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedal_point"]pedal point[/url] chords, [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_seventh_chord"]dominant seventh chords[/url], extended chords, added tone chords, [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_cluster"]clusters[/url], and polychords.
...[/quote]

The term 'power chord' is really only a 'loose' term, used by guitarists, mostly, and therefore of little academic value... :mellow:

:lol:

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[quote name='Huge Hands' timestamp='1387471865' post='2312411']
I am no theory expert at all, but does it not mean A major wiith a sharpened 5th? Not saying that is the correct way to write it, but most guitarists I've met scribble down A minor as Amin, but A major as just A, so might have just added the #5 as an extra on the end?
[/quote]

A major triad with the fifth replaced with a #5 = A aug.
An added #5 on top of the major triad would be odd, but would be A add#5

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[quote name='iconic' timestamp='1387471733' post='2312407']
Ohh, power chords....be jesus most of that wiki bit went over my head....I don't know why but I always associate these with heavy metal....not sure why....but that isn't a chord is it, if 3 notes are a [i][b]tritone[/b][/i] that make a chord then a power chord would be more a power '[b][i]bitone' ;)[/i][/b]
[/quote]

A tritone is a root-b5 interval (or root-#4).. So called because it is 6 semitones away (3 tones).

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Sounds like Cm, Bb, Ab, harmonically. The bass is clearly playing Eb over the C, but it is more ambiguous from the keys and guitar. Even if all 3 chords were power chords they'd be written C5, Bb5, Ab5 because the implied feel is C minor. Why use A#5, which is A# and E#? Much easier to read and write Bb5 (Bb and F)

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