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Post subject: Notation question
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:05 am
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Aspiring Musician
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My son got some sheet music for guitar that has the melody written in staff notation, as is common. But above the staff is notation like A/D. It's in the place where you usually see the chord specified, but I'm used to seeing just one chord at a time. What does it mean when you have it like this?

A/D A/D
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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:06 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Ooops the site scrunched some characters together. I'll try again:

The A/D appears over the middle of each bar. Sometimes there are changes to two different chords (if that's what they are).

A/D
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:14 am
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Man I read music fluently, but I've never seen this before. If I could see what was in each measure, then I could give you a definite answer. Like you said it seems to have something to do with chording, but it could have something to do with the rhythm as well. Such as if the music in the staff is the melody, then the A/D above the melody (ie. above the staff) would be the chords that you're supposed to use underneath the melody. I can't be positive unless I can see the actual music notation though...

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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:19 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Thanks. It is a puzzle. I'll try to take a picture and post it.


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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:27 am
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Aspiring Musician
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this might answer that question
http://fuq.encycmet.com/questions/132/


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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:40 am
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A/D : you'd say that "A over D". You'd play a chord of A, but with D as the bass note.

Very common with pop and rock music arrangements. Just for example, you could play different chords as triads on the top three strings while playing D on the open fourth string through out as a pedal in the bass. Then you might write the sequence, say, A/D, G/D, D. Try arpeggiating that simple little group to get the idea.

Endless other patterns and uses. Now you know you'll see it everywhere.

Cheers - C

Edit for typo


Last edited by Ceri on Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:41 am
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I've seen examples where a different bass note is added to a chord. For example:

D/A - The open A string is added to the D chord
A/E - The open low E is added to the A chord

Is this what you're talking about?


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:53 am
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vwralph wrote:
this might answer that question
http://fuq.encycmet.com/questions/132/


That's half right, but it isn't limited to inversions. You could put any chord over any bass note if you want (with varying results). Try running shapes up and down the neck, keeping the same bass note on an open string. Try it with major sixth chords, for instance: mmm, jazzy!

Also, the bass note doesn't have to be an open string. Just in case anyone was drawing that conclusion from those examples.

- C


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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 12:49 pm
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Ceri wrote:
A/D : you'd say that "A over D". You'd play a chord of A, but with D as the bass note.

Very common with pop and rock music arrangements. Just for example, you could play different chords as triads on the top three strings while playing D on the open fourth string through out as a pedal in the bass. Then you might write the sequence, say, A/D, G/D, D. Try arpeggiating that simple little group to get the idea.

Endless other patterns and uses. Now you know you'll see it everywhere.

Cheers - C

Edit for typo


Yes, this is it , I've seen it a lot of times and this is correct.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:04 pm
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I've also seen notations where A/D meant quickly change from A to D
Count both options in (chord+bass note and chord change) and hear what sounds right and/or wrong


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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:10 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Thank you so much for all the help. I never would have figured this out on my own!!!!


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