How can you color a note/chord?

[davich]

I was hearing association of notes/chords with color, which I do not understand. How it is done?

[davebrownbass]

Coloring notes...this is done by combining instruments of various color...a flute and tuba together is a unique "color." But I'm sure you are talking about chord color.

 

Coloring chords...a lifetime of research. Those who are best at it write incredible music.

 

Here's a basic primer:

 

First, remember that what we call "functional" harmony is a combination of chords that when combined and related to a tonality, provide tension and relaxation in various degrees.

 

Each part of a basic triad provides a definite function. This function is called the "quality" of a chord. (Purists: I am making a distinction between quality and color...but we know these lines blur quickly.)

 

Root: The tonal center of the chord. It is what names the chord. EX: C

 

Fifth: The basic definer of chord quality. 3 Flavors of Fifth:

 

• The Perfect....a part of all major and minor chords. EX: C-G
  
• The dimished. Defines Dimished chords. C-Gb
  
• The Augmented which defines all Augmented chords. EX: C-G#.
  

Third: The second definer of chord quality. 3 flavors of Third:

• major, defines all major and Augmented chords. C-E
  
• minor, defines all minor and dimished chords. C-Eb
  
• Suspended third Not really a third at all, it is a chord with a Fourth, functioning to increase tension and generally preceeding a chord with a major/minor third. C-F
  

Sevenths: Don't define quality of chord, but not always a color note either. In general, a seventh increases chord tension and suggests a resolution.

(Please note, For the purposes of this discussion, I've left out non-funtional chords, chord clusters and sus-2 sus-4 chords.)

 

All other notes found in a chord could be defined as color notes. These could be as simple as an added sixth (George Harrison's rockabilly ending chord on early Beatles tunes.) They could also be chord extensions, such as 9ths.

They can be more complex...think of the Chicago song "Colour My World." At the end of that song, the piano plays (and I'm going on memory here now, so I'm not exactly sure of the notes used) an F Maj13 (#11)

There comes a point, however, where color tones do more than just add interest. They can also be used to strengthen harmonic motion.

More in a minute.

[davebrownbass]

Basic Harmonic motion:

 

The old joke goes:

 

"How do you keep a composer up all night?"

 

"You go to the piano and play: Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti....."

 

The point is, the seventh scale step of a major scale implies the root. This simple phenomenon has driven all functional harmony since what we call "Western" harmony began. That seventh scale step has even been given a special name, the "leading tone."

 

In the key of C: that note is a B natural. When it is imbedded in a G7 chord, and in combination with the F natural in the G7 chord, you imply a very strong resolution: F-B (G7) leading to E-C (C chord) respectively. This half step alternate motion is the strongest harmony device there is.

 

Composers soon discovered that you can imply chords that were a perfect 4th away by merely emphasizing the third and seventh of a chord. This technique is one of the main compositional devices used by everybody from Corelli and Bach to Beethoven to Wagner and all the way up to Buddy Holly and the Crickets.

 

Sometimes color tones can increase this sense of harmonic motion. Here's an example. Add a flat nine to the G7 chord. That gives us the notes F-B-Ab (in addition to the G and D Root/Fifth).

 

In this case, our sense of motion is strengthened...F-Ab-B lead to E-G-C.

 

In this way, a color tone can be more than something that only increases interest. It can strengthen the implied harmonic motion of a tune.

 

Now...this is only a beginning primer. Anybody else wanna continue?

[Dan South]

I'd like to understand more about the question presented in the original post. I don't understand what he's asking for.

[BenLoy]

"far east land" is a clue.

 

When one is conversing in a non-native language, there are sometimes subtle uses by the native speakers that, while seemingly intuitive in interpretation to us, are often baffling to foreigners.

 

Example: I was playing in a band with a very good jazz guitarist from Argentina when I suggested that a particular passage needed a more solid groove from the rhythm section to make it sound "more ballsy." He looked at me quizzically? "Ballsy? What does that mean?"

 

"It'll sound like it's got balls, you know...more agressive," I replied.

 

"What do balls have to do with being agressive?" he asked. His English was excellent, but he didn't understand the usage.

 

I thought for a minute and answered: "Cajones" (spanish for "testicles").

 

"AAAAAAH!" he exclaimed, and laughed. "I get it!" He thought it was the funniest thing he had heard all day.

 

I think Davich's question is literal: "How can you color something you hear? Color has to do with your eyes, doesn't it?"

 

When people talk about "coloring" the sound, Davich, they mean subtly changing the tone, or changing the quality of a chord.

 

Think about the sound of an acoustic guitar vs. the sound of an electric guitar with huge amounts of distortion. They both use metal strings, and the notes they're playing may be the same, but the way the distortion and electric guitar pickups "color," or affect the sound of the strings make the electric guitar sound different.

 

Am I making sense?

[Wally Malone]

I have a friend that was taking piano lessons and the teacher would call certain types of chords by colors. This may be where davich was going with this question.

 

Wally

[davebrownbass]

Well, this thread appeared right after I posted in the "Dumb Question" thread...where I mentioned chord color.

 

So I guess I assumed davich was curious what I meant in that topic.

 

Anyway, that's what I answered, at least, how I think of color.

[davich]

I thank DBB for guessing my original intention of question.

 

I haven't seen that dumb question thread, however, I was intrigued by that advertisement in Bass Player by David Lucas Burge (if I remember correctly). He said that his method is to listen and distinguished color in notes/chords?

 

I bought Gary Willis book about Fingerboard Harmony, and there also mentioned about coloring (third note in chord).

 

I wonder whether the color is really about color or the feel? I think mostly about the "feel".

 

For example my question what is the difference between D2 and D11? Do we need to play everything from 1-2-3-5 or 1-3-5-7-9-11, is it the same? It doesn't feel the same to me, and I wonder which color is that?

 

Please be patience with my wording..

[davich]

Thanks BenLoy for the response.

So I know that color is not a color here in this context, but more to harmonies.

 

I was more confused that sometime ago an expert (musical) in my country was discussing in radio's music programme refer it to real color like red or blue. I am wondering now whether it just the agressiveness or mood?

[Slowly]

Originally posted by davich:

I thank DBB for guessing my original intention of question.

 

I haven't seen that dumb question thread, however, I was intrigued by that advertisement in Bass Player by David Lucas Burge (if I remember correctly). He said that his method is to listen and distinguished color in notes/chords?

 

I bought Gary Willis book about Fingerboard Harmony, and there also mentioned about coloring (third note in chord).

 

I wonder whether the color is really about color or the feel? I think mostly about the "feel".

 

For example my question what is the difference between D2 and D11? Do we need to play everything from 1-2-3-5 or 1-3-5-7-9-11, is it the same? It doesn't feel the same to me, and I wonder which color is that?

 

Please be patience with my wording..

I have David's course, and I think by color could mean anything. When I hear F# I see a strawberry, not red, but a strawberry. With a C my mind's eye sees the color orange. But with an A I see the number 2. Kcbass

[Dan South]

Originally posted by davich:

I haven't seen that dumb question thread, however, I was intrigued by that advertisement in Bass Player by David Lucas Burge (if I remember correctly). He said that his method is to listen and distinguished color in notes/chords?

 

I bought Gary Willis book about Fingerboard Harmony, and there also mentioned about coloring (third note in chord).

 

Okay, now I understand your question.

 

These two examples use the word "color," but they use it in very different ways.

 

The Burge (perfect pitch) guy claims that each note has a "color". Maybe D is pink and Bb is dark green. - This is just an example. I don't know the colors that he suggests; I have not studied his course. - These colors are used to recognize pitches with his system. Someone plays a Bb, you think, "That sounds green," and you realize that it's a Bb.

 

The Gary Willis example is completely different (but probably more useful). He is talking about how a chord can be changed by adding notes to it. For example, if you play a G major chord on a piano -

 

D

B

G

 

- it has a pure and clean sound.

 

Now change the B to a Bb and play it again.

 

D

Bb

G

 

Now it's a G minor chord. Changing the third from a B to a Bb changed the emotion that the chord represents, and this emotion is what Mr. Willis referrs to as color.

 

Here's another example. Play the G major chord again.

 

D

B

G

 

Now, play the same chord a second time but add an extra not to it, an A.

 

D

B

A

G

 

Sounds different, right? This is what Gary means by "coloring" a chord. This has nothing to do with Mr. Burge's "note color" theory.

 

Do you understand?

[davich]

OK then. So does it conclude that coloring here is very subjective?

 

I notice even from this thread that some people use real color association to notes/chords and some people just use it for expressing the chord harmony moods?

[Dan South]

Originally posted by davich:

OK then. So does it conclude that coloring here is very subjective?

 

I notice even from this thread that some people use real color association to notes/chords and some people just use it for expressing the chord harmony moods?

The use of the word "color" to describe sound is very subjective, yes. It can be applied in different ways that have different meanings.

[davebrownbass]

Yeah, all that stuff about seeing reds and greens for certain chords is way beyond my comprehension.

 

I was taught to distinguish between chord "quality" and chord "color." Quality refers to the intervals R-3-5-7. However, I was also taught that "color" can refer to the 3 and 7.

 

(Not counting color as a term used in orchestration for a grouping of instruments, or color used in private studios referring to the sound of instruments themselves.)

 

The concept of color (in my harmonic example) very quickly becomes a discussion of melody. Dan, in a brilliant post in a harmony thread, made a point that scales and chords are the same thing. Of course, when we discuss chords, groupings of intervals together, we can take a snapshot of music and get a chords "quality and color." Often, however, the linear melodic motion introduces notes to the chord that don't belong, don't fit. At this point, we're talking about the interplay of melody and harmony...and all bets are off.

 

In contrapuntal music (where the chord comes together by interweaving of many melodies) you could take a snapshot of a chord and get extremely "wierd" color tones...the music depends on the linear organization of melody. A jazz example might be the final chorus of a Dixieland tune, where everyone is soloing at the same time...it makes sense when played, but if you took a snapshot, you'd get some really weird chords happening.

 

So, back to your original question...how do you "color" a chord. You can play a static chord, add color notes to it...and there it will sit...but write a melody against it, using chord tones, scale tones and NON-scale tones and if the melody works, you've added color. (That's why I said a "lifetime of study.")

 

Now, in your example of a sus2 and "11" (I'm sure you meant "9". Are they the same?

 

Well, the note is the same, but the "voicing" is different. Playing the 2, relatively low in the voicing, tends to suggest a resolution....it functions as a suspension and means something emotionally different to the listener.

 

Playing the same note higher in the harmony, the need to resolve is lessoned. The suggested tension is more comfortable, and can be accepted.

 

(This is important to bass players. We ride the bottom of the harmony. That's why we play the root so much. Deep in harmony, color tones, as a result of NATURAL processes, tend to demand resolution.)

 

You asked if it was necessary to play all the intervals between root and 11. Nope...and there is art there. The chord "voicing" you select either disguises or exposes the various tensions in your harmony. There is a lot of study on voicing...especially in piano playing...open voicing, closed voicing, voicing by 4ths, cluster voicing, voice leading. I'm afraid I'm not much use there...I'm riding the bass line anyway.

[BenLoy]

For example my question what is the difference between D2 and D11? Do we need to play everything from 1-2-3-5 or 1-3-5-7-9-11, is it the same? It doesn't feel the same to me, and I wonder which color is that?

As far as the bass is concerned, the the bassline may contain the a lot of the same notes.

 

But if you played those full chords on a piano, they would certainly sound different.

[jeremy c]

David Burge talks about teaching people to have perfect pitch. He calls this hearing the "colors" of the notes. Just like when you look at a picture, you can say the sky is blue, he claims you can listen to a note and know what it is because each note has a different "color".

 

I think his method is nonsense. And I have listened to his tapes.

 

Perfect pitch, or the ability to hear a note and know the name of it, is something that a few people are born with and most others are not. There are probably some people somewhere in the middle who can train their abilities.

 

What most of us need to train, and it is trainable, is the ability to recognize intervals, chord types, and musical relationships.

 

There are other people who have the ability to remember something after one hearing, the equivalent of a photographic memory.

[davich]

thanks for all the response

I think it is quite clear to me now.

I was away from my computer for long time, being abroad for two-three days. sorry for the delay.

[jeremy c]

I just found this web page that talks about colors of notes. Click if you dare.

 

Caution: cheesy music will start playing when you click this link!

 

colors of music web link

[davich]

Intereting website, thanks Jeremy!

[JDL]

Whoa, this is weird. The time I see this thread, I'm in a workshop and we're discussing the color of different notes and how a certain piece should be played(Mozart no. 40=Blue, or so).

 

I'm gonna print out those pages form that site. Thanks jeremy! Also, that music in the front page is HILARIOUS!!

 

Also, I suggested playing a "Barbeque" scale. We're doing tastes next.

[Belazaras]

Originally posted by BenLoy:

 

Example: I was playing in a band with a very good jazz guitarist from Argentina when I suggested that a particular passage needed a more solid groove from the rhythm section to make it sound "more ballsy." He looked at me quizzically? "Ballsy? What does that mean?"

 

"It'll sound like it's got balls, you know...more agressive," I replied.

 

"What do balls have to do with being agressive?" he asked. His English was excellent, but he didn't understand the usage.

 

 

Cojones is the word... But in South America, we call "huevos" (eggs) to get balls.