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Thread: App for naming chords?

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    Registered User Christine Robins's Avatar
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    Default App for naming chords?

    Often I find myself strumming a particular arrangement of my fingers and wonder, "What chord is that?". I can sometimes figure it out, sometimes not. Is there an app where I can input a fret pattern, e.g.1134, and have it name the chord for me?

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    Default Re: App for naming chords?

    If there is such an app it would probably frustrate you because the chords played on a four-course mandolin are not definitive. Remember that we often don’t play fingerings that include all the notes in a chord. Therefore a given set of pitches might serve as any of several chords according to the musical backdrop (key or chord progression) in the tune.
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    Default Re: App for naming chords?

    This is one I’ve been using for years for guitar and mandolin.

    http://www.chorderator.com//cgi-bin/...0+&tuning=GDAE

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    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: App for naming chords?

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    Default Re: App for naming chords?

    I like that chorderator. If there are more than one possibilities, it lists them, and you can choose your preference. For instance, I tried one of my faves, Em7 4253, and it gave me that and also its other name, G6. It made a point of noting the /B to specify that inversion. It also included Bm#5add4, which I think is its attempt to generate a chord with the lowest string as the root. (I'm guessing that's because it looks to be guitar-oriented.) This seems to be borne out by its name for the G chop chord: G/D. It does give your 1134 a proper name - G#, though I think of it as Ab.

    It also allows for a custom tuning, so I popped in the tuning for ukulele (it didn't have it, just mandolin, banjo, eight guitar tunings and three bass tunings), and it worked. Good to see that.
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    Registered User mbruno's Avatar
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    Default Re: App for naming chords?

    My best advice would be to create your own chords and just write them down. As mentioned before, there's a lot of enharmonic chords that could be two things. For example, 657x would be C#, G, and E. That could be A7 without a root. That could be C#diminished triad (or half diminished or full diminished). In could be an Emin6 without the 5th.

    Second to that, find a site that offers a more detailed chart that explains the chord name for you etc.
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    Default Re: App for naming chords?

    Chorderator does a good job of sorting out all that. Which is what the OP is seeking - an app, not a chart. Check it out.
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    Registered User mbruno's Avatar
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    Default Re: App for naming chords?

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    Chorderator does a good job of sorting out all that. Which is what the OP is seeking - an app, not a chart. Check it out.
    From the OP "Often I find myself strumming a particular arrangement of my fingers and wonder,". I take "arrangement" to be the same as "chart" in that it lays out the chords and notes in some manner. The way he explained it, it's not clearly showing what the chords used are - just the notes involved. Hence a more detailed arrangement or chart would likely help.

    As far as apps go, I think there's a million of them. Some will give you really odd chord names as you mentioned earlier that no one really would use (like Bm#5add4) which are not really helpful. I started writing up my Chord Shape series mainly because of that - I couldn't find a good source of chords that had functional chords you can actually play with normal names you can actually explain to others. Just my $0.02.
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    Default Re: App for naming chords?

    I was responding to the OP's question, not the set-up. And he's not getting many suggestions, which is a bit of a head-scratcher. I'd have thought more people would be using them. I also think there'd be a lot of them. But since I'm A-OK with sorting this stuff out old-school (how I learned, way pre-internet), I've never gone looking. When I checked out Chorderator, I was suitably impressed with the ease of operation and flexibility (customizing). Yes, it kicks out useless names. It's likely programmed to be completist. Just ignore them. Just my 2¢.
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    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: App for naming chords?

    “A particular arrangement of my fingers” - I take that to mean absolutely nothing to do with charts, but rather noodling and finding chords (arrangements of fingers) by happenstance
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  14. #11
    Registered User Christine Robins's Avatar
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    Default Re: App for naming chords?

    You are correct, Mark.

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