Part 8
 

Part 6
 
Let us learn Music-- Part 7

 

Chords, More Chords...

(Augmented, Diminished and Suspended)

 

I have been getting good number of emails from many. Thanks for your kind words. I am happy that it is reaching many people. For questions that require a specific answer please use email and I shall answer them in the order they are received.  Other general questions will be addressed in the article.

 

Till now we have seen 2 major forms of triads, the major chord and the minor chord. Next we shall learn 2 more popular triads. They are the Augmented and Diminished chords.

 

Augmented:

 

The word “augmented” means something more or extra. To get an augmented chord just add one to the major chord formulae. A major chord is 1+5+8, and hence an augmented chord is 1+5+9. The last note of the major chord is raised by a ½ tone. When played, you will find that this chord gives a tense sound or mood.  Taking C as the key, C Augmented chord will be C,  E and G#.  This chord is denoted by C-Aug or C+. D-Aug will be D - F# - A#. 

 

 

Diminished:


I am sure some of our friends here are already typing me an email with a question  “Why cannot we augment a minor Chord?” I will answer it and save an email.   Read it carefully. 

 

“When a minor chord is augmented it becomes some other major chord.”

 

For example, let us take the minor formulae 1+4+8 for C and add one to the last note. We get 1+4+9 which is C+D#+G#, which is nothing but an inversion (i.e. a combo of the same keys in a different order) of G# major chord which is G# - C - D#. So augmenting a minor chord does not result in anything new. However a minor chord can be reduced or diminished.  Yeah!, You got it - we reduce a number from the minor formulae. A minor chord is 1+4+8, hence a diminished chord will be 1+4+7.  This chord also creates a tense mood.  Movies released in the before 70s depended or used these chords to accentuate thrilling action sequences. Modern film music also uses it in plenty, eg: Oh Priya Priya by lIayaraja has diminished chords.

 

 

Suspended:

 

With these we have covered the major triads or I would say common triads. There is also one interesting chord called  “Suspended”. (Often confused or incorrectly called Sustained.) This chord is just a Tone Cluster. Formulae for the Suspended is  1+6+8, C+F+G, It gets the name suspended when the middle note in a major or minor chord is suspended. If we use the 4th note it is called as Sus4. If second note is used instead of 4th, it is called as Sus2 (1+3+8).  These chords will be perfect for songs in raga Madyamavathi or Brindavana Saranga or even Hamsadwani.

 

 

Four noted chords:

 

We will now switch gears to 4 or more noted chords. The most popular 4 noted chord is the Seventh (7th ). When the seventh Semi Tone from the root is added to a major chord it is becomes a Dominant 7th. C+E+G+A# is the C7th chord. We all know the song “Athisa ragam “ sung by KJY, composed by MSV in the raga Mahathi. This raga is supposed to have been created by Dr.M.BalaMuraliKrishna. This is made up of Sa Ga pa ne1 , which is nothing but a C7th chord. C7th works well with ragas where the n1 gets emphasis or is dominant. Eg: Thilang, Most songs in Thilang  7th chord, sometimes the Sa (C)  note will be removed and it then becomes E diminished. I will continue more on this in the next article. 

 

Here I give some chord progressions for a few popular ragas with C as the root key. Placements of these chords are quite tricky and we need be cautious in using them. Remember that it should not hurt the raga flow. Incorrect inversions or progressions will take toll on the raga. Also here we may have to step out some western music rules to get the proper progression for the raga. We may compromise on some Western basics.


The goal is you need to satisfy 3 different sets ears, Western, Carnatic and General - a tough proposition for a composer. People have achieved this and I am sure you can also do it.


1. Hamsadwani   s r2 g2 pa n2 s – C D E G B C

Suggested Chords: CMaj | Emin| Gmaj |Gsus

 

Usage :

When the melody travels or gives emphasis to Sa or Pa (C G) you can play the major chords.
When you have a Ga (E) in your melody, try Em It will give a different mood. You may use Suspended chords for transition from eminor to major to complete the progression It would be better if at least one note in the chord is found in the melody line.


Suggested listening: va Va va kana va , Thogai ila mail ada, kalam maralam

 

   

2. Dharmavathi or Madhuvathi -- sa r2 g1 m2 pa d2 n2 s -- C D D# F# G A B C

Suggested Chords: Cm,Cdim, Bmaj (inversions also) Bminor B aug D major Dsus D#dim  D#Aug

 

Usage:

A “big” raga, it has all the seven notes, so you have more chords to play with.Just C Minor alone will not highlight this raga, But with a C Dim transition we can achieve this. Cdim Dmajor , Dsus, there is one called D6th which I have not covered, this is widely used  for songs in this raga. D6th is D F#A and B.

 

Suggested listening: AmmAnai Azathividum Kanmanai, Kadhal kadhal endru pesa,  Hello My dear wrong number, Meedum Meedum va, Ottagatha katiko or My composition “nallathor vennai seithe.” J

 

 

Index
 
If anyone is interested to ponder more, I can setup an empty chord progressions and then compose a melody next and vice-versa. Let me know.

Srikanth
(c) Studio1234, USA 2003
Have questions! you can reach me at srikanth@srikanthd.com 

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