What is this chord?

Placidcasual79

Grateful if anyone can help me with a chord I've put in a song I am working on. As is probably obvious I am not musical trained...... I am struggling to find the root note for the chord which I need for the baseline. I only use the chord twice in the song - as a kind of drone to move from quite a driving verse to a more floaty, dream like intermission and back again..... if anyone can tell me what the root note and chord is I'd appreciate it....

1   2
2   0
3   3
4   4
5   x
6   x   

I think it might be a B? Thats the closet I can get....

thank you 

Jonathangus

I'll take a stab at Bmaj7.

Placidcasual79

Jonathangus said:

I'll take a stab at Bmaj7.

Thank you @Jonathangus - I am going to push my luck a bit further and ask another question if you don't mind..... does that means playing a B on the bass should be ok?

Brad

It could be many things… depending on what is before and after it, will determine what might be right. 

As @Jonathangus said, can quite happily be Bmaj7. 

Stick G# in the bass and it could be a G#-9

or F# in the bass it could be F#add11

or E in the bass is could possibly be named Esus2#11

Eb in the bass you’d get Ebm(add13)

Those are just off the top of my head. Can be many more

Placidcasual79

Brad said:

It could be many things… depending on what is before and after it, will determine what might be right. 

As @Jonathangus said, can quite happily be Bmaj7. 

Stick G# in the bass and it could be a G#-9

or F# in the bass it could be F#add11

or E in the bass is could possibly be named Esus2#11

Eb in the bass you’d get Ebm(add13)

Those are just off the top of my head. Can be many more

Thanks for sharing some of your sizeable knowledge with me @Brad - like most things thats well above my comprehension lol...... 

Would it help it i sent you or posted an abbreviated video of the part of song I use the chord in?  

Jonathangus

I was going to say - wait for one of the proper theory gurus to chip in!  But I think the bass line will depend on how it fits into the overall chord sequence.

Placidcasual79

ah ok - well I appreciate you helping. It actually isn't part of a sequence - it's a bridge between two separate parts....if I do a quick video on my phone how can I post it on here?

viz

Placidcasual79 said:

Brad said:

It could be many things… depending on what is before and after it, will determine what might be right. 

As @Jonathangus said, can quite happily be Bmaj7. 

Stick G# in the bass and it could be a G#-9

or F# in the bass it could be F#add11

or E in the bass is could possibly be named Esus2#11

Eb in the bass you’d get Ebm(add13)

Those are just off the top of my head. Can be many more

Thanks for sharing some of your sizeable knowledge with me @Brad - like most things thats well above my comprehension lol...... 

Would it help it i sent you or posted an abbreviated video of the part of song I use the chord in?  

yeah go on  - you'll have to upload it to something and share the link. Youtube?

Brad

I should add, Eb in the bass should probably be Ebm(add b13) 

viz

You said that, didn't you though?

Brad

viz said:

You said that, didn't you though?

I did… and maybe it’s the heat pickling my head?

My rationale being that any kind of chord (Eb in the case) with a 6th/13 would be a maj6/13. So in the case of Eb13 or Eb6, Ebm6 etc that 6th/13 would be C natural. 

As the 5th (Bb) is already present and C (the 13th), isn’t in the chord I’m calling that B note (well Cb) a flat 13. 

If it’s being looked at as strictly from Eb minor, then yeah it’s still a 13th. 

It’s too hot for this today  

Placidcasual79

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuIdQj5DQro

Placidcasual79

@Brad @viz @Jonathangus ;

I've just recorded a little condensed version - its at 18 seconds and again at 42 seconds - I'd apologise for the poor quality of the recording, but then I'd have to apologise for the poor quality of the musicianship and then the poor quality t-shirt...... and it would go on and on - instead I'll say thank you for help!  

viz

Yeah it's an F# like Brad said, with an 11th (or 4th) in it.

You often see something similar played as 244300, ie an F# barre chord with the top two strings ringing. The top open E introduces a 7th. It's a nice chord.

One nice thing you could do if playing 244300, is oscillate that bass note between the 2nd fret and the zero fret (in other words 044300), so three quick chords with the 2, and one with the 0. Or give that to the bass line to do. 

Placidcasual79

viz said:

Yeah it's an F# like Brad said, with an 11th (or 4th) in it.

You often see something similar played as 244300, ie an F# barre chord with the top two strings ringing. The top open E introduces a 7th. It's a nice chord.

One nice thing you could do if playing 244300, is oscillate that bass note between the 2nd fret and the zero fret (in other words 044300), so three quick chords with the 2, and one with the 0. Or give that to the bass line to do. 

thank you @viz so I'd play an F Sharpe? Dam - I was on a B - it didn't sound terrible - but not quite right either..... you're right though @Brad it is TOO HOT almost anything lol 

viz

Yup. I mean, making it into a B does work (anything works!) but it’s more natural and musically predictable to move from your key of A down to F#. Still gives the plot a twist, but not totally bizarre. 

Placidcasual79

viz said:

Yup. I mean, making it into a B does work (anything works!) but it’s more natural and musically predictable to move from your key of A down to F#. Still gives the plot a twist, but not totally bizarre. 

thank you @viz -  that does sound better - the B sounds almost right - but the F Sharpe is right. Much appreciated. 

sev112

F#sus4

goldtop

sev112 said:

F#sus4

Can't be a Sus4 if it also has the 3rd in it though, right? (Sus chords are meant to be major/minor neutral, I think.)

I was going for F#add4

Ddigger

You could try Oomilo, Guitar Chord Analyser.  It gave 5 possible suggestions for this.

https://www.oolimo.com/en/guitar-chords/analyze

Placidcasual79

Ddigger said:

You could try Oomilo, Guitar Chord Analyser.  It gave 5 possible suggestions for this.

https://www.oolimo.com/en/guitar-chords/analyze

Thanks - I'd never heard of Oomilo. That would come in handy - and thank you @goldtop - I feel very pleased with myself as an entirely basic guitar player to have come up with such a fancy chord and to have fit it into a song. I am going to choose to forget that I didn't arrive at this chord through design and take it as a sign of my importance as an artiste.