Re: minor chords

[Robert Schmaus]

Hi Martin,

true, there's no such thing as "the Real Book". Even within a particular 
exemplar, not everything is consistent.

I found that the best thing to do is to think about what suits best you 
personally, and be consistent with that. In the end, jazz lead sheets 
might end up on notestands in places with poor lightning, and you will 
want to have a lead sheet on which you can read and identify everything 
quickly.

I took the liberty of attaching three screenshots of the opening bars of 
"My Funny Valentine", all from edition 5 of the Real Book, in C, Bb and 
in Bass clef. Three different styles. I would almost bet that I'd find 
different styles also withing a single book ... but (to quote Woody 
Allen) whatever works for you ...

But it would certainly be ugly style to use the "-" symbol for minor 
chords in general but to write Cmmaj7 for a minor with major 7. 
Personally, I use "-" for minor chords, and add a superscript triangle-7 
for this chord (see 4th attachment). And I find Cmmaj7 not exactly more 
readable than C-maj7 - both are fine, provided the "maj7" part comes as 
a superscript.

Best,
Robert




Am 16/03/14 10:16, schrieb Martin Tarenskeen:
> On Sat, 15 Mar 2014, David Raleigh Arnold wrote:
>
> > Minus for minor is a horrible idea. It's also old fashioned
> > and abandoned even by the "Real Book".
>
> What do you mean by "the" Real Book? I have a copy of the original Real
> Book. It uses the "-" for minor. I tried to exactly recreate an old Real
> Book page. That's the reason I posted my question. Personally I prefer
> "m" for minor.
>
> > It could be ignored as a
> > spacer. Minus could be taken to mean "omit". Cmmaj7 is more
> > readable than than C-maj7. Don't do it. Regards, Rale
>
> Uggh. I agree C-maj7 is extremely ugly. Hadn't thought of that.
>
> Anyway, it's another example that with LilyPond anything is possible,
> even ugliness :-)

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