News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Show HN: A piano chord reference tool by kzrdude on Saturday August 27, 2022 @06:56PM (#32624069)
My favourite way of "chunking" chords (i.e how to think of them to remember them) is to "decompose" them to think about them in a different way.

For example: Think of Bbmaj7 as just Dm with Bb as the bass. Bb + Dm. It turns out that this pattern always works for the maj7 chords.

Another example: Cmaj7 "is" Em with C as the bass. Think of Cm7 as Eb with C as the bass. C7 is Edim with C as the bass.

These decompositions are just a different way to see the same chords, maybe it helps some people to form associations/connections about these shapes in some way. Of course, once played enough, a chord is simply remembered as it is, its own thing.

Re:Show HN: A piano chord reference tool by ComplexSystems on Saturday August 27, 2022 @10:53PM (#32625351)
These are often called "upper structure triads." Great way to think of harmony.
Re:Show HN: A piano chord reference tool by tritones on Saturday August 27, 2022 @08:07PM (#32624487)
It REALLY helps as chords get more and more complex. I write Gø next to an A7(b9#5) for example which is much more sight-readable.