19edo chords

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In contrast to 12edo chords, 19edo has four instead of the usual two main tertian chord qualities, which opens up completely new territory for eager musicians/microtonalists to explore.

19edo approximates intervals with factors of 2 (2/1), 3 (3/2), 5 (5/4, 5/3, 6/5) and 7 (7/6, 7/4, 27/14) quite well. This essentially means that normal chords – like in 12edo – can be represented nicely in 19edo.

Despite that enharmonic equivalence works differently in 19edo, pitches can be written down with standard notation.

Triads

Note that the cent values of the intervals are approximated. For detailed numbers, see 19edo.

Chord name Symbol Notes Steps Cents Audio
Major C C–E–G 0–6–11 0–379–695
Minor Cm, Cmin C–E♭–G 0–5–11 0–316–695
Supermajor,
Major sharp 3
Csmaj, C(♯3), Cmaj(♯3) C–E#–G 0–7–11 0–442–695
Subminor,
Minor flat 3
Csmin, Cmin(♭3) C–E𝄫–G 0–4–11 0–253–695
Sus4 Csus4 C–F–G 0–8–11 0–505–695
Sus2 Csus2 C–D–G 0–3–11 0–189–695
Diminished Cdim, C° C–E♭–G♭ 0–5–10 0–316–632
Augmented Caug, C+ C–E–G♯ 0–6–12 0–379–758

Tetrads (sixth/seventh chords)

Because of interesting new features – the supermajor seventh and "harmonic" seventh/augmented sixth – new tetrads are possible while existing ones can be preserved.

Major chords

Chord name Symbol Notes Steps Cents Audio
Major seventh Cmaj7 C–E–G–B 0–6–11–17 0–379–695–1074
Dominant seventh C7 C–E–G–B♭ 0–6–11–16 0–379–695–1011
Harmonic seventh Ch7 C–E–G–B𝄫 0–6–11–15 0–379–695–947
Sixth C6 C–E–G–A 0–6–11–14 0–379–695–884

Minor chords

Chord name Symbol Steps Cents Audio
Minor seventh Cm7 0-5-11-16 0-316-695-1011
Minor major seventh Cmmaj7 0-5-11-17 0-316-695-1074
Minor augmented six Cm+6 0-5-11-15 0-316-695-947
Minor six Cm6 0-5-11-14 0-316-695-884
Minor seven flat six (NT aeolian seven) Cm7(♭6) [Faeol7] 0-5-13-16 0-316-821-1011

Supermajor chords

Chord name Symbol Steps Cents Audio
Supermajor seventh Csmaj7, Cmaj7(♯3, ♯7) 0-7-11-18 0-442-695-1137

Subminor chords

Chord name Symbol Steps Cents Audio
Subminor seventh Csmin7, Cmin7(♭3, ♭7) 0-4-11-15 0-253-695-947

Diminished chords

Chord name Symbol Steps Cents Audio
Diminished seven
(fully diminished)
Cdim7, C°7 0-5-10-15 0-316-632-947
Minor seven flat five
(half-diminished)
Cm7(♭5), Cø7 0-5-10-16 0-316-632-1011

Augmented chords

Chord name Symbol Steps Cents Audio
Augmented seven Caug7, C+7, C7♯5 0-6-12-16 0-379-758-1011
Major seven sharp five Cmaj7♯5 0-6-12-18 0-379-758-1137

Pentads (ninth chords)

Major chords

Major chords

Chord name Symbol Steps Cents Audio
Major ninth Cmaj9 0-6-11-17-22 0-379-695-1074-1389
Dominant ninth C9 0-6-11-16-22 0-379-695-1011-1389
Dominant seven flat nine C7(♭9) 0-6-11-16-21 0-379-695-1011-1326
Harmonic ninth Ch9 0-6-11-15-22 0-379-695-947-1389
Harmonic seven flat nine Ch7(♭9) 0-6-11-15-21 0-379-695-947-1326

Ups and downs notation

Various 19edo triads, 6th and 7th chords, named via ups and downs. Not meant to be exhaustive, but this list does demonstrate the basic rules for naming. The aug 6th and the dim 7th are the same interval, and chords that use that interval can be named as either a 6th chord or a 7th chord.

d3 m3 M3 A3 P4
triad C(d3) Cm C C(A3) C4
M6 C6(d3) Cm6 C6 C6(A3) C4,6
A6

d7

C(d3)A6

C(d3)d7

CmA6

Cmd7

C,A6

C,d7

C(A3)A6

C(A3)d7

C4A6

C4d7

m7 C7(d3) Cm7 C7 C7(A3) C4,7
M7 CM7(d3) CmM7 CM7 CM7(A3) C4M7
A7 CA7(d3) CmA7 C,A7 C(A3)A7 C4A7

A comma (the actual punctuation mark ",") is spoken as "add", thus C,v7 is "C add-down-seven". The only exception is when a comma separates two numbers, as in C4,7 which is "C four-seven". A comma is written, and "add" is spoken, whenever not doing so would cause confusion with another chord.

4:5:6:7 = C E G vBb is named C add-dim7. To get a shorter name for this important chord, one could call it a harmonic7 chord, or one could borrow from color notation to call it a har7 chord, written Ch7. Names for subharmonic chords can be similarly shortened.

chord notes ups and downs name color name
4:5:6:7 C E G Bbb C add-dim-7 C,d7 C har7 Ch7
7/6/5/4 C Ebb Gbb Bbb C dim-3 dim-7 double-dim5 C(d3)d7(dd5) C sub7 Cs7
12/10/8/7 C Eb G A# C minor aug-6 CmA6 C sub6 Cs6

See also