Hello, I am going to be playing some music and I am going through the chord charts making my little notes that I make. The chord is written as this D(4) What does that mean? Attatched is the song for refrence. Thank you.
Do It Again - SongSelect Chart in G.pdf (262.2 KB)
4 Likes
It might be a simplified version of denoting it as a sus4 chord, i.e., a chord made from 1-4-5 (i.e., there is no third here, neither major nor minor).
Thus D(4) could be D-G-A
7 Likes
According to this it may be a Dadd4, or a 1-3-4-5 chord. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of consensus out there about it on different sites… sus4, as joergkutter said, seems to be the other main option…
7 Likes
Good find, @skydvr - some interesting input there!
5 Likes
Agree!
Also agree here!
In this very floaty sound in contemporary worship music, you can go into any sus or add4 or 4 chord with both of these ideas in mind.
If you’re thinking of playing bass ideas outside of root and 5th, just try different combinations. If the 3rd of the D still sounds good - great.
If the 4, great.
Most of the time the 4 or add4 is something that is a function of a keyboard drone or a guitar high string that keeps ringing out, and actually doesn’t have much to do with the chord movement.
I’d probably - because I went and listened to the song and tried it out - would go with the option of 1-3-4-5 if I were to play anything other than root and fifth. A leading tone in the bass there would sound good, if it were placed nicely.
7 Likes
Here is one explanation I found:
Dsus4 = D4 = 1–4–5 = D-G-A
Dadd4 = D(4) = 1–3–4–5 = D-F#-G-A
Dadd11 = D(11) = 1–3–5–11 = D-G-A-F#
Following this it would mean a chord written as D(4) would be Dadd4.
Gotta love music theory eh 
3 Likes
Except when D4 also means Dadd11 and D(4) can also mean the add/sus is optional 
Short forms often have different meanings for different genres of music eg. jazz vs christian. One should endeavour to not write ambiguous notation if possible.
I don’t think this is going to happen.
A lot of composers and transcribers seem to feel they have to overly complicate things but as you said a lot depends on the genre of the music.
I would be happy just to find the Lead/Tab sheet for a song I want to learn that is correct.
The most reliable source I have found would seem to be anything published by Hal Leonard.
When you look at the actual sheet music for a song you want to learn the melody line is usually correct, but a lot of the time the chord progressions and tab , if shown, are not. I mean when it comes down to it there are only six main chords for any key. I did not include the diminished 7th in this line up. Here again the genre can play a big part. I know nothing about jazz, classical or gospel music composition guidelines but for Pop, Blues, and Country music this has always worked for me.
The music from @Aldwinn88 in the OP appears to be gospel but I would like to know if it is really necessary to include G/B, C6, D(4) chords, or, can this be simplified to using the six normal chords in a key signature?
These thoughts come after seeing this video from the Axis of Awesome If you have not seen it I would recommend you watch it.
2 Likes
Hi All, Just trying to clarify about Diatonic Chords from Booklet of Bassbuzz.
Just noticed there are numbers v and V (Major on 5th from A Minor). It means are we able to use that Minor or Major Chord? I’m thinking the 5th chord of A minor is E minor. since it displays Em and E on the booklet then I’m starting to confuse about it.
Example below:
1 - Am
2 - B
3 - C
4 - Dm
5 - Em or E (Major)?
6 - F
7 - G
Thank you so much.
2 Likes
What is your root key?
The diatonic chords for progression in a minor key are:
i, ii dim, III, iv, v, VI, VII - or minor, diminished, major, minor, minor, major, major.
For a major key they are:
I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii dim - or, major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, minor, diminished.
Hi @howard , I get those things however on the A minor, I’m confusing what is V in there?
2 Likes
Ahh! So this is an interesting thing. While the Em is technically correct for that it’s also not uncommon to play either that or E major there, and the E major is what you use with the Harmonic minor scale. It sounds good with both.
Sometimes you see this called out as “v (rare)”. This is unique to the minor progression AFAIK.
1 Like
@howard That’s why my mind is rumbling about it. i think I’m gonna stick it on the Em (v) since this one is already discussed in the course module 9.
1 Like
yep good plan
1 Like
The standard reply to stuff like that is often “it depends on context”, meaning that a chord needs to be seen in the (harmonic) environment it’s in.
Technically, E minor is the diatonic chord here, as it is made of notes from the parent scale (A minor), whereas E major contains a non-diatonic note (G#).
However, chord progressions don’t need to be diatonic (they often are, though) and so E major might work well together with some of the other chords here.
Just out of curiosity: where is that example you pasted in coming from?
2 Likes
"The minor v chord in the key of A minor is Em spelled E-G-B. v to i in a minor key has a weaker sound of G moving to A (a whole-step) where G♯ to A (a half-step) would be stronger.
Because of this weakness in minor keys, composers and songwriters often change the minor v chord to a major triad or dominant 7th chord to produce a stronger resolution of V to i."
3 Likes
It’s very useful. thanks for this
2 Likes