THEORY 74: Context & Precision
In an informal setting like a jam session or band practice, the precise names of notes do not matter. Fret 1 on the 5A string is either an A# or a Bb. The other players will know what you mean and it’s only the choice and sound of the note that matters.
In a formal setting though, like a lesson or textbook for example, you would first clarify the Key of the piece before choosing the note name e.g. in the key of F it would be a Bb, but in B it would be an A#. (Go to THEORY 1 if you don’t follow this.)
The point here is that you often need to ascertain the meaning of a term based on the context.
If during a casual conversation you described the E note in the C Major Scale as the ‘third’, then it would be assumed that you meant literally the third note in the order of the scale’s ascending notes. In a formal setting you might also need its Technical name = Mediant, and/or Intervallic name = Minor Third (b3rd) .
If in a writing or recording session, you asked a the singer try an impromptu harmony, they might suggest starting with a ‘third’ and ask you to provide both it and the tonic on a tuned instrument to get the exact pitches for reference. In this context you would need to know the key e.g. C and the E, the b3rd.
In PRACTISING 38’s written lesson notes, I described the D note in the B min 13 chord as a b10, but as a b3 in the video. This is because most people are accustomed to thirds being thirds regardless of the octave (its the same with 5ths) and I didn’t want to stop and justify using ‘tenth’ instead, because the goal of the video demo was to simply encourage you to use the chords notes to build an arpeggio as a springboard into melodic improv.
In the write up though, I chose to be precise because in that particular B min 13 shape, the D is in the second octave in relation to the B root and this makes all the difference to the overall sound of the chord.
The names of chords do not reveal the internal interval composition or structure accurately. You need to dig deeper to get the shape.
Btw, this is one of the reasons I use TAB notation when the exact makeup of the chord, scale or arpeggio shape is necessary. Clef notation only the provides the notes and structure, but not the position on the fretboard, except only in certain publications where the position for the hand as a starting point is provided by a Roman numeral under the staff.
When someone casually refers to a chord as a Gsus, they are either assuming for some reason that you know it’s a Gsus4, or don’t know that its an abbreviation, or don’t know that a Suspension by the 2nd is just as common. The meaning only becomes clear if they play it, or refer to the C note in the so-called G sus chord doing the actual suspending.
There are two versions of a minor sixth chord in the key and they are labelled logically based on their intervals: R b3 5 6 = min 6 and R b3 5 b6 = min b6. Both have minor triads, but one has the maj 6th interval added (6) and the other is extended by the min 6th (b6). This makes sense to theory students who have waded through intervals ,and are now moving into the more complex harmonies of triads and beyond.
When it comes to minor seventh chords however, things go awry because R b3 5 7 = min (maj 7) and R b3 5 b7 = min 7.
Logically this should read R b3 5 7 = min 7 and R b3 5 b7 = min b7.
The reason for this is probably because someone important described their chord using R b3 5 b7 as a min 7, rather than min b7. These so-called min 7 chords then became popular in all genres, so the name has stuck - whereas the version with an actual 7 has a really niche sound and needed a botched name when it finally got some recognition.
Some authors choose to devise their own symbols e.g. I recall getting my first copy of the Chord Chemistry by Ted Greene and diving enthusiastically into the many and myriad shapes within. Some had weird markings in their names though, which perplexed me for some time until I read this line on page 5 of the introduction…
Fortunately Ted provided diagrams of each chord so it was obvious what he meant.