A Quoran asked whether it matters to call the middle note of a C minor triad D# or Eb
D# or Eb? Oh, yes, does it ever matter.
Read my answer below. It is comprehensive, yet as always I like to give you shortcuts and immediately usable tricks.
You can skip straight to the tricks and shortcuts
That said, I highly recommend you do learn the basics I mention here.
It is so much easier to grasp this rather than it is to reinvent the wheel each time one of these chords comes around!
Enjoy! And if you are a bass player, put this on the fretboard and learn the shapes and fingerings that go with it. It is a magical combination!
To learn music theory on the fretboard targeted for bass players, enroll in my course – it tells you everything you need to know to:
- be ♭ out ready
- look and feel real #
- and have it all be ♮ to you
5 Replies to “D# or Eb? Why it matters”
AAAACK!
your answer made me realize that my tattoo tells me the sharps and flats for experimental scales too!!! (sorry folks who don’t know what i’m talking about, ari knows, and if you are in the cohort you can find my
post about it there…)
Ari!! your answer to this question made me realize that my tattoo tells me the sharps/flats for experimental key signatures too!!! (sorry to those of you who have no idea what i’m talking about, ari knows, and if you join the cohort you can find my post about it there, or maybe you’ll find it on NoTreble FB page if you hunt through the tattoo discussions)
So cool, Vanessa!!! I also remember that T Shirt with the cosmic music theory! I will check the forum, been missing that thread. Where is it? Please tag me!
Re# okay wen you have an ascendent progresion. Mib wen you descend. My english is not so good.
Thanks for chiming in there, Florin. What you say is not correct, though, careful. The only place this is potentially true is the melodic minor scale in classical theory because it is different ascending and descending. And even then it may not necessarily work out to be # and b. Could be natural and flat. Or sharp and natural. Plus, these are actually different notes, so, no. Or maybe what you are saying is how the notes come to get their names? In that sense you can get to the same sound by going (up, or, often sharp) sharp from one note and down (often, flat) from another. Then that is true. All that aside, note naming in different languages is wicked!