I was scrolling through youtube tonight and found a song that I loved and forgotten about. Brandy Your a Fine Girl by Looking Glass. As I went on to research this song I ran across an Abm chord. When I google it the results showed an Em barred at the 4th fret.
I would call this a Gm#. What am I missing here as far as theory?
?Abm Chord
Hi Marshel, glad you are joining us in the forum and welcome from Montreal. The opposite of sharp is flat as you know. So at the fourth fret bar like an Em can be called as you said G#m or A flat m. the bm could mean bemol in french which means flat. I am not sure in this case why it would call for a flat chord when the is no problem putting a sharp which is what happens normally. Maybe someone better in theory will give you a better answer.
Marc
Marc
Lavallee wrote:
I believe the term looked for is enharmonic, remember Marc a 'b' = flat so you have a chord called A flat minor which is enharmonic with a G sharp minor, same sound but depends on the key signature how you name them... I think...Hi Marshel, glad you are joining us in the forum and welcome from Montreal. The opposite of sharp is flat as you know. So at the fourth fret bar like an Em can be called as you said G#m or A flat m. the bm could mean bemol in french which means flat. I am not sure in this case why it would call for a flat chord when the is no problem putting a sharp which is what happens normally. Maybe someone better in theory will give you a better answer.
Marc
Chasplaya wrote:
Just wondering,,is 'nt this how Germans write a chord,,like the H for B,,,
Lavallee wrote:I believe the term looked for is enharmonic, remember Marc a 'b' = flat so you have a chord called A flat minor which is enharmonic with a G sharp minor, same sound but depends on the key signature how you name them... I think...Hi Marshel, glad you are joining us in the forum and welcome from Montreal. The opposite of sharp is flat as you know. So at the fourth fret bar like an Em can be called as you said G#m or A flat m. the bm could mean bemol in french which means flat. I am not sure in this case why it would call for a flat chord when the is no problem putting a sharp which is what happens normally. Maybe someone better in theory will give you a better answer.
Marc
Just wondering,,is 'nt this how Germans write a chord,,like the H for B,,,
Yes G sharp minor and A flat minor are the same chord.
Whether it is called the falt or the sharp is determined by it's musical context.
If you are using it in a key which has sharps you would use the sharp version e.g In the key of E it would be g#minor
If you are using it in a key which has flats you would use the flat version.
Whether it is called the falt or the sharp is determined by it's musical context.
If you are using it in a key which has sharps you would use the sharp version e.g In the key of E it would be g#minor
If you are using it in a key which has flats you would use the flat version.
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neverfoundthetime
- Posts: 48
- Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:14 pm
- Status: Offline
Hi Marshel
Maybe a good way to remember it is if you up (or down) you are always moving in half steps except between B - C and E - F and you can call these half steps sharp (#) or flat (b) depending upon how you look at it. These sharps and flats are the black keys on the keyboard. Flattening is going down, sharpening is going up a half step. Moving down from A, you are now at Ab or G# depending on how you look at it:
A
A# or Bb
B
C
C# or Cb
D
D# or Db
E
F
F# or Gb
G
G# or Ab
A
I'm not sure of the rules governing the use of the term flat or sharp, mostly you can use either but I have never heard the term Gb only F#, for example. No idea why that is. Anyway, hope my simplistic way of explaining this helps... I'm no theory buff!
Willem: The Germans use H for B but they don't seem to use the b but I have heard the term bemol that Marc refers to. I think this is used to mean flat as it is in French.Just to confuse things, Mol is minor in German, so I spent many years getting confused with bemol (thinking it meant Bm) when they meant flat and not B and not minor. Duh!
Maybe a good way to remember it is if you up (or down) you are always moving in half steps except between B - C and E - F and you can call these half steps sharp (#) or flat (b) depending upon how you look at it. These sharps and flats are the black keys on the keyboard. Flattening is going down, sharpening is going up a half step. Moving down from A, you are now at Ab or G# depending on how you look at it:
A
A# or Bb
B
C
C# or Cb
D
D# or Db
E
F
F# or Gb
G
G# or Ab
A
I'm not sure of the rules governing the use of the term flat or sharp, mostly you can use either but I have never heard the term Gb only F#, for example. No idea why that is. Anyway, hope my simplistic way of explaining this helps... I'm no theory buff!
Willem: The Germans use H for B but they don't seem to use the b but I have heard the term bemol that Marc refers to. I think this is used to mean flat as it is in French.Just to confuse things, Mol is minor in German, so I spent many years getting confused with bemol (thinking it meant Bm) when they meant flat and not B and not minor. Duh!
neverfoundthetime wrote:
Nothing wrong with being confused bemol with Bm...Bm is a great chord,,i like it more then the B or Bb(bemol)...Hi Marshel
Maybe a good way to remember it is if you up (or down) you are always moving in half steps except between B - C and E - F and you can call these half steps sharp (#) or flat (b) depending upon how you look at it. These sharps and flats are the black keys on the keyboard. Flattening is going down, sharpening is going up a half step. Moving down from A, you are now at Ab or G# depending on how you look at it:
A
A# or Bb
B
C
C# or Cb
D
D# or Db
E
F
F# or Gb
G
G# or Ab
A
I'm not sure of the rules governing the use of the term flat or sharp, mostly you can use either but I have never heard the term Gb only F#, for example. No idea why that is. Anyway, hope my simplistic way of explaining this helps... I'm no theory buff!
Willem: The Germans use H for B but they don't seem to use the b but I have heard the term bemol that Marc refers to. I think this is used to mean flat as it is in French.Just to confuse things, Mol is minor in German, so I spent many years getting confused with bemol (thinking it meant Bm) when they meant flat and not B and not minor. Duh!
neverfoundthetime wrote:
A
A# or Bb
B
C
C# or Db
D
D# or Eb
E
F
F# or Gb
G
G# or Ab
A
Just fixing a couple of typos:Hi Marshel
Maybe a good way to remember it is if you up (or down) you are always moving in half steps except between B - C and E - F and you can call these half steps sharp (#) or flat (b) depending upon how you look at it. These sharps and flats are the black keys on the keyboard. Flattening is going down, sharpening is going up a half step. Moving down from A, you are now at Ab or G# depending on how you look at it:
A
A# or Bb
B
C
C# or Cb
D
D# or Db
E
F
F# or Gb
G
G# or Ab
A
I'm not sure of the rules governing the use of the term flat or sharp, mostly you can use either but I have never heard the term Gb only F#, for example. No idea why that is. Anyway, hope my simplistic way of explaining this helps... I'm no theory buff!
Willem: The Germans use H for B but they don't seem to use the b but I have heard the term bemol that Marc refers to. I think this is used to mean flat as it is in French.Just to confuse things, Mol is minor in German, so I spent many years getting confused with bemol (thinking it meant Bm) when they meant flat and not B and not minor. Duh!
A
A# or Bb
B
C
C# or Db
D
D# or Eb
E
F
F# or Gb
G
G# or Ab
A
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Music Junkie
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:17 am
- Status: Offline
Mark's explanation is spot on. Both are the same, which name you use just depends on the key you are playing in.
J
J
Hi Marshel,
As others have noted, whether you call a chord (or a note, for that matter) sharp or flat depends on the context. But I'm a little bit confused by your question. As I recall, this song was originally recorded in the key of E major, which would lead me to expect the following chord family:
I: E
ii: F#m
iii: G#m
IV: A
V: B
vi: C#m
vii: D#dim
I think the progression is I IV V vi ii IV vii IV, or E A6 B6 C#m7 F#m7 A D A
So you are probably looking at a transposition of the song in either [strike]A flat (in which case the chord you mention is the ii chord and would need to be called Bbm since your I chord is already Abmaj -- and should probably actually be played as Bbm7), or into D flat (in which case, this is the vi chord and should likewise probably be played as Bbm7[/strike]). Either of these is going to be a lot harder to play than the original key. I'd suggest you double check your sources.
Forget the crossed-out part above. I got distracted by the discussion of H, B, Mol and bemol so that, by the time I got to your question, I thought you were asking about Bbm, when in fact you were asking about Abm, so let's start again:
I still think you are probably looking at a transposition to another key. G#m (aka Abm) is a chord in the key of E, but I don't the iii chord appears in this song. It could be that you are looking at a transposition into G flat (with your Abm as the ii chord and probably Abm7); or into B (with your Abm more appropriately named G#m as the vi chord).
-Stuart
As others have noted, whether you call a chord (or a note, for that matter) sharp or flat depends on the context. But I'm a little bit confused by your question. As I recall, this song was originally recorded in the key of E major, which would lead me to expect the following chord family:
I: E
ii: F#m
iii: G#m
IV: A
V: B
vi: C#m
vii: D#dim
I think the progression is I IV V vi ii IV vii IV, or E A6 B6 C#m7 F#m7 A D A
So you are probably looking at a transposition of the song in either [strike]A flat (in which case the chord you mention is the ii chord and would need to be called Bbm since your I chord is already Abmaj -- and should probably actually be played as Bbm7), or into D flat (in which case, this is the vi chord and should likewise probably be played as Bbm7[/strike]). Either of these is going to be a lot harder to play than the original key. I'd suggest you double check your sources.
Forget the crossed-out part above. I got distracted by the discussion of H, B, Mol and bemol so that, by the time I got to your question, I thought you were asking about Bbm, when in fact you were asking about Abm, so let's start again:
I still think you are probably looking at a transposition to another key. G#m (aka Abm) is a chord in the key of E, but I don't the iii chord appears in this song. It could be that you are looking at a transposition into G flat (with your Abm as the ii chord and probably Abm7); or into B (with your Abm more appropriately named G#m as the vi chord).
-Stuart