Chord Generator

Author: Peter Murphy. Version 0.3. Copyright (C) 2011.

Note: at this time, the documentation (see below) assumes some familiarity with music theory. If you are tossing your head at what this means, send me an email at peterkmurphy @ gmail . com.

Choose a scale to find the chords it contains.

C♭ C C♯ D♭ D E♭ E F F♯ G♭ G A♭ A B♭ B Key

Aeolian Discordant Minor Dorian Dorian ♭6 Dorian ♭9 Dorian ♭9 ♭4 Dorian ♭9 ♯11 Harmonic Major Harmonic Minor Harmonic Minor ♭5 Hungarian Ionian Ionian Augmented Jazz Minor Locrian Locrian ♭♭7 Locrian ♯6 Lydian Lydian Augmented Lydian Augmented ♯2 ♯3 Lydian Augmented ♯3 Lydian Dominant Lydian Dominant ♭9 Lydian ♭3 Lydian ♯2 Lydian ♯2 ♯5 Major Melodic Minor Melodic Minor ♭5 Melodic Minor ♯5 Minor Lydian Augmented Mixolydian Mixolydian ♭13 Mixolydian ♭9 Phrygian Phrygian Dominant Phrygian ♭4 Romanian Semilocrian Semilocrian ♭♭7 Superlocrian Superlocrian ♭♭6 Superlocrian ♭♭6 ♭♭7 Superlocrian ♯6 Ultralocrian Scale

ASCII friendly

Results

C Major

C Major: C, D, E, F, G, A, B

Chord Types	I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII
Fifth	C Power Fifth C5 C, G	D Power Fifth D5 D, A	E Power Fifth E5 E, B	F Power Fifth F5 F, C	G Power Fifth G5 G, D	A Power Fifth A5 A, E	B Tritone BT B, F
Triad	C Major Cmaj C, E, G	D Minor Dmin D, F, A	E Minor Emin E, G, B	F Major Fmaj F, A, C	G Major Gmaj G, B, D	A Minor Amin A, C, E	B Diminish 5th Bdim5 B, D, F
Seventh	C Major 7th Cmaj7 C, E, G, B	D Minor 7th Dmin7 D, F, A, C	E Minor 7th Emin7 E, G, B, D	F Major 7th Fmaj7 F, A, C, E	G 7th G7 G, B, D, F	A Minor 7th Amin7 A, C, E, G	B Minor 7th Flat 5th Bmin7-5 B, D, F, A
Ninth	C Major 9th Cmaj9 C, E, G, B, D	D Minor 9th Dmin9 D, F, A, C, E	E Minor 7th Flat 9th Emin7-9 E, G, B, D, F	F Major 9th Fmaj9 F, A, C, E, G	G 9th G9 G, B, D, F, A	A Minor 9th Amin9 A, C, E, G, B	B Minor 7th Flat 9th Flat 5th Bmin7-9-5 B, D, F, A, C
Eleventh	C Major 11th Cmaj11 C, E, G, B, D, F	D Minor 11th Dmin11 D, F, A, C, E, G	E Minor 11th Flat 9th Emin11-9 E, G, B, D, F, A	F Major 9th Sharp 11th Fmaj9+11 F, A, C, E, G, B	G 11th G11 G, B, D, F, A, C	A Minor 11th Amin11 A, C, E, G, B, D	B Minor 11th Flat 9th Flat 5th Bmin11-9-5 B, D, F, A, C, E
Thirteenth	C Major 13th Cmaj13 C, E, G, B, D, F, A	D Minor 13th Dmin13 D, F, A, C, E, G, B	E Minor 11th Flat 13th Flat 9th Emin11-13-9 E, G, B, D, F, A, C	F Major 13th Sharp 11th Fmaj13+11 F, A, C, E, G, B, D	G 13th G13 G, B, D, F, A, C, E	A Minor 11th Flat 13th Amin11-13 A, C, E, G, B, D, F	B Minor 11th Flat 13th Flat 9th Flat 5th Bmin11-13-9-5 B, D, F, A, C, E, G
Added Ninth	C Major Add 9th Cmaj add9 C, E, G, D	D Minor Add 9th Dmin add9 D, F, A, E	E Minor Add Flat 9th Emin add-9 E, G, B, F	F Major Add 9th Fmaj add9 F, A, C, G	G Major Add 9th Gmaj add9 G, B, D, A	A Minor Add 9th Amin add9 A, C, E, B	B Diminish 5th Add Flat 9th Bdim5 add-9 B, D, F, C
Suspended	C Suspend Csus C, F, G	D Suspend Dsus D, G, A	E Suspend Esus E, A, B	F, B, C	G Suspend Gsus G, C, D	A Suspend Asus A, D, E	B Suspend Flat 5th Bsus-5 B, E, F
Suspended Seventh	C Suspend Major 7th Csus / maj7 C, F, G, B	D Suspend 7th Dsus / 7 D, G, A, C	E Suspend 7th Esus / 7 E, A, B, D	F, B, C, E	G Suspend 7th Gsus / 7 G, C, D, F	A Suspend 7th Asus / 7 A, D, E, G	B Suspend 7th Flat 5th Bsus / 7-5 B, E, F, A
Sixth	C Major Add 6th Cmaj add6 C, E, G, A	D Minor Add 6th Dmin add6 D, F, A, B	E Minor Add Flat 6th Emin add-6 E, G, B, C	F Major Add 6th Fmaj add6 F, A, C, D	G Major Add 6th Gmaj add6 G, B, D, E	A Minor Add Flat 6th Amin add-6 A, C, E, F	B Minor Sharp 5th Add Sharp 11th Bmin+5 add+11 B, D, F, G
Sixth/Ninth	C Major Add 6th Add 9th Cmaj add6 add9 C, E, G, A, D	D Minor Add 6th Add 9th Dmin add6 add9 D, F, A, B, E	E Minor Add Flat 6th Add Flat 9th Emin add-6 add-9 E, G, B, C, F	F Major Add 6th Add 9th Fmaj add6 add9 F, A, C, D, G	G Major Add 6th Add 9th Gmaj add6 add9 G, B, D, E, A	A Minor Add Flat 6th Add 9th Amin add-6 add9 A, C, E, F, B	B Diminish 5th Add Flat 6th Add Flat 9th Bdim5 add-6 add-9 B, D, F, G, C
Added Eleventh	C Major Add 11th Cmaj add11 C, E, G, F	D Minor Add 11th Dmin add11 D, F, A, G	E Minor Add 11th Emin add11 E, G, B, A	F Major Add Sharp 11th Fmaj add+11 F, A, C, B	G Major Add 11th Gmaj add11 G, B, D, C	A Minor Add 11th Amin add11 A, C, E, D	B Diminish 5th Add 11th Bdim5 add11 B, D, F, E

Documentation

What is Chordgenerator?

Chordgenerator is a application to show you all the chords - like major and minor and major and minor sevenths - that are contained in scales. It also shows you the position these chords are in the scale.

How does it work?

You simply type from the controls below:

• A key: C, C#, Db and all up to B.
• A scale: Plenty to choose from - Major, Dorian, Harmonic Minor, etc.
• ASCII friendly (or not): By default, the app prints out the Unicode characters "♭" and "♯" for flats and sharps. If you see blocks, then it means you are using a browser like IE6. Click "ASCII friendly" to see ASCII equivalents like "b" and "#".

What will I see

You will see a table organised as follows:

• The left hand column shows different types of chords - triads are "majors and "minors", sevenths are for the "major sevenths and minor sevenths", and so on.
• The top row indicates the starting note for a chord. The first note of a C major scale is "C", the second note is a "D", and so on. I use roman numerals.
• The intersection of a column and a row show the name of chord for that position and that chord type. It also shows the abbreviation and the notes that make it up. Let's take the C major scale as an example.

1. The first triad is C, E, G - a major chord, or "maj" for short.
2. The second and third chords are D, F, A and E, G, B - D minor and E minor chords.
3. The fourth and fifth triads are F, A, C and G, B, D - F major and G major chords.
4. The sixth is A, C, E - A minor. The seventh - B, D, F is what I call "Diminished Fifth". This should not be confused with "Diminished Seventh", which is a different chord.

The default table (shown above) always shows the chords for the C major scale.

Questions

You may have none, some or many. For example, you may be wondering what the hell is a "Minor Added 6th Added 9th". (It's the chord with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th notes of a major scale.) Moreover, you might be curious if it is important to know or not. (I'd say probably not, unless you are into jazz.) Finally you possibly could be asking why I made it. (Because I wanted to, silly.)

I'd like to extend this app to show what notes are in an chord regardless of key. I'd also like to add pages that show how the chord would look on a fretboard - Guitar, Violin, or 4/5/6 string Bass. But that will come later.

What runs the app? Python 2.x and Django1.x. The source is available in two pieces.

• There's musictheory Python distribution, available in Windows and Unix flavors. This is the guts of the application, and can be used outside of Django. It contains classes for musical temperaments, scales and chords.
• You use the musicapp application to make it work with Django. It should be self explanatory - one directory for the templates (which work with BluePrint CSS), and one for the app itself.

All source has been released under a BSD license.

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