Can someone name this chord?

[Kam]

Music theory has never really been my strongpoint but I find myself needing to know what the hell this is:

E:--x--
B:--8--
G:--7--
D:--5--
A:--6--
E:--x--

I had it in my head that it was some sort of inversion of a G chord but I overthought it and now I have no idea..

Thanks, guys.

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Can someone name this chord?

Eb major 7

[Ball&Chain]

Re: Can someone name this chord?

Ill take a stab and say D#Maj7

[Kam]

Re: Can someone name this chord?

Perfect, thanks guys. I'll think of you every time I play it.

[Ball&Chain]

Re: Can someone name this chord?

Now on to the music theory heh.

The notes of the chord are D# G D and G

The root is D# or Eb
Based on the D# major scale D# F G G# A# C D. The G is the 3rd degree of the scale and is a Major 3rd interval. (4 semitones) The D is the 7th degree of the scale and is a major 7th interval. (11 Semitones)

So, that makes the chord a D# Major 7th or Eb Major 7th if you prefer that.

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Can someone name this chord?

Now on to the music theory heh.

The notes of the chord are D# G D and G

The root is D# or Eb
Based on the D# major scale D# F G G# A# C D. The G is the 3rd degree of the scale and is a Major 3rd interval. (4 semitones) The D is the 7th degree of the scale and is a major 7th interval. (11 Semitones)

So, that makes the chord a D# Major 7th or Eb Major 7th if you prefer that.

'Heh' indeed.

A D# major scale, as outlined above, or whatever way you choose to write it out, will always have one alphabetical note missing and one doubled up. (In the example above, there is no 'E' note of any sort, and two 'G' notes, both natural and sharp).The same will apply if you consider the D# chord to be the IV chord of the key of A#. Clearly this is going to be a problem when writing on the music stave, causing the E to never be used but a plethora of accidentals on the G line as it has to represent both G natural and G sharp. Try it another way, i.e. making the scale D#, E#, F##, G#, A#, B# C##, D#, and you still have problems with two notes being double-sharps. Once again, written on the stave, you have a very messy page smothered in sharp signs.

Looking at the key of Eb, you will have the scale tones Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb. Each alphabetic note-name represented once only, and each one accounted for, and only three flats in the key signature. Even if you see the EbMaj7 chord as the IV of the key of Bb major, (Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb), once again each alphabetic note name will appear once and all will be represented, and only two flats in the key signature. So obviously the keys of Eb or Bb allow for simple and correct music writing whereas viewing it as a D#maj7 in the key of either D# or A# will cause nothing but problems, and is incorrect.

Yes, a D# note or chord is the same as Eb, but there are very good reasons why distinctions have to be made sometimes. The music theory will tell you this. Try writing a D# scale on music paper and then an Eb scale, and/or an A# scale and a Bb scale. You'll quickly see why one (the flat keys in these cases) will work properly and the others will create a mess that will be almost impossible for the reader to interpret.

[Kam]

Re: Can someone name this chord?

Thanks Crusty, reading your post gave me enough flashbacks to music theory classes to pretty much follow all that. I'll admit, I rarely think of music in terms of staves and musical notation so I often underestimate the importance of distinctions like that.

It's crazy though. Isn't it about time someone developed some sort of new metric system for writing music?