Are tensions?

[Teletubby]

Are tensions in a scale basically the notes that are not chord tones?

so like in a Cmaj7,

C E G B

the tensions would be the 2, 4, and 6?

D F A?

which is Dminor...interesting...

[jessmanca]

yes

[Teletubby]

is there any reason the tensions of a Cmaj7 chord are really a Dmin chord?

and can this be used somehow in improv. or musically?

[Malcolm]

Tension and resolution.................

Check out the following:

http://www.ibreathemusic.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-736.html
:cool:

[curiousgeorge]

is there any reason the tensions of a Cmaj7 chord are really a Dmin chord?

and can this be used somehow in improv. or musically?

To answer your first question, take a look at the C major scale...

C D E F G A B

Triads are built from every other note so starting at C, you have C E G (the first, third, and fifth intervals), and knowing that the first scale step of the major scale is major (Ionian), you have a C triad. Go to the next scale step, D, and build a triad, skipping a note each time so that you have D F A (the first, flat third, and fifth intervals). Knowing that the second scale step of a major scale is minor (Phrygian), you have a D minor triad.

So...for your C triad, if you keep skipping notes the same way, you get the 7th, B, and you have your Cmaj7 chord...If you continue, you skip from the B over the C and you have D, which is the 9th (and also the first interval of a D minor triad)...then skip from the D to F, which is the 11th (and also the flat third interval of the D minor triad)...then skip from F to A, which is the 13th (and also the fifth interval of the D minor triad). It's good to know that the 9th, 11th, and 13th tensions are also known as the 2nd, 4th, and 6th respectively....JonR can explain this a bit better I imagine, but I believe the difference is that the higher extensions are just the same notes played in a higher octave. Tensions can also be flat or sharp based on interval alterations to the major scale...For example, a Lydian scale formula is:

1, 2, 3, #4, 5, 6, 7

So for C major, that would be:

C D E F# G A B

This changes the tensions (just the F to F# actually) of the C triad to D F# A or 9, #11, 13 (2, #4, 6 respectively)...

[jimc8p]

The major seventh actually creates a stronger tension than a major second, fourth or sixth. We're just accustomed to / enjoy that dissonance.

Tension is caused by dissonance. That basically means minor second (or major seventh) and tritone intervals. In the major scale there are two minor second intervals (E to F and B to C). And there are two tritone intervals (F to B and B to F). The most tense or dissonant harmony you could possibly create from the C major scale would contain the notes B, C, E, and F.

This is how the V7-I cadence works so well. It goes (B & F) - (C & E). In other words, a tritone interval resolves outwards in m2nds/M7ths to a major third.

[ChrisJ]

"tension notes" is a name that some musicians use to refer to the notes above the 7th, as in the 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. I think the term is decieving because these notes don't always carry tension. So if a musician you were playing with said; "add some tension notes on that chord," he would be asking you to add on a 9th, 11th or maybe 13th. It may be more logical to use the term "tension notes" to refer to the altered intervals in dominant chords, as they do carry tension. But then again, we can just call them the "altered extentions" and leave it at that. It seems a lot more logical to refer to what some musicians call "tension notes" by what they are, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths or maybe even just "upper extentions".

[Jed]

It seems a lot more logical to refer to what some musicians call "tension notes" by what they are, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths or maybe even just "upper extentions".

Chris,

I agree, but even "upper extensions" feels redundant - I just refer to them as extensions (to a specific chord) and call them out by number or more often by note name since they strike me as having more to do with melodic lines than the underlying harmony.

cheers,

jed

[JonR]

IMO, there's a risk of confusion here between "tension", "extension" and "tendency".

"Tension" in music is usually associated with dissonance.
As jimc8p says, the maj7 is actually a highly dissonant interval (which you can test by playing a root and maj7 alone). In a maj7 chord that tension is dissipated (somewhat) by the intervening consonant intervals. The remaining dissonance is considered attractive - at least by jazz musicians and fans. (Classically-trained musicians often find it strange that a maj7 chord should be considered "consonant" or "resolved".)

But assuming we regard a maj7 chord as consonant (opposite of "tense"), then tension notes could be just about any other note.
Firstly, there is "functional" tension, which would be represented by the V7 chord (assuming the maj7 is I). In the case of Cmaj7, that means G7: G-B-D-F.
Obviously, G and B are already in Cmaj7 (so don't count), and D makes a pretty consonant extension ("extensions" are not usually "tensions"). So we're left with F as the single "opposite" note to a Cmaj7 consonance. (This is why you never see a "Cmaj11" chord... ;) )

But there is also non-functional tension, which could be represented by any chromatic note. C#/Db, D#/Eb, G#/Ab, A#/Bb.
(Notice I'm leaving our F# and A, which are consonant lydian extensions. The F# can be tense, but if voiced high, above a D (9th), can sound smooth and (relatively) resolved. The A is pretty consonant with a Cmaj7 chord, voiced almost anywhere.)
Those "non-functional tensions" are basically "wrong notes" :). They are not only outside the chord, they are outside both scales to which the chord is diatonic (C or G major).

ALL tensions can be used in improvisation - but (in the case of a consonant chord like Cmaj7) will need to be resolved back to a chord tone (or extension) if they are not to sound "wrong".
(Even so, this is not a hard and fast rule. Or perhaps we should say it's a rule that begs to be broken...;). But it takes an audacious - and experienced - improviser to use these "outside" notes without resolving them. It's a little like a musical high-wire act... Don't try this at home without special equipment and a safety net... ;) )

In the case of chords that are already tense (like a V7), outside notes may enhance that tense function, and therefore do not need resolution back to a chord tone. But they WILL need resolution on to a following chord tone.
And even here, there are functional tensions (good notes) and non-functional ones (bad notes).
Eg, for a G7, functional tensions (not counting diatonic extensions like A and E) are Ab (b9), A# (#9), C#/Db (#11/b5) and D#/Eb (#5/b13) - IOW, the notes of the G altered scale.
This only leaves 2 notes that are "bad" notes on a G7: C and F#. And C can be OK if the B is either left out, or voiced above the C (making a 7sus4 of some kind).
And - as with the outside notes on a Cmaj7 - F# can still be used as a passing note over a G7 (it's actually part of the "bebop dominant" scale for that reason).
(NB: The altered scale works best as a 7-note scale - IOW, 1-b2-#2-3-#4-b6-b7; ie, excluding the normally perfectly harmless 5th, 9th and 13th (D, A, E). So it's not really true to say that "anything goes" on a dom7 chord. There are a few strategies, based on 4 or 5 different scales, that are mutually exclusive. IOW, what a "bad" note is is determined by the which ones you decide are "good notes"; and that in turn is governed by how they relate to chord tones on the dom7 and the following chord.)


"Tendency", btw, usually refers to half-steps. There is a kind of inbuilt tendency for notes a half-step away from another to move to that nearest note. This is a melodic tendency that may not depend on a chord.
In the C major scale, F "wants" to move to E and B to C - a tendency we encourage with the use of a G7 chord, so the F and B make a tritone and resolve by moving in opposite directions, ending up as the 3rd and root of the tonic.
But - in other contexts - C can also "want" to move to B and E to F. Again, we can encourage this tendency by the use of certain harmonies, in which the C or E are "tense" notes. (Eg in a G7sus4, C is a tension resolved to moving to B.)
And the chromatic notes mentioned above - the "non-functional tensions" - are always resolved by half-steps: up or down to the nearest chord tone. (Functional tensions - as in a dom7 chord, altered or not - are resolved by half-step moves on to the next chord.)


NB: all the above is determined by functional harmony rules. You "can" - of course - do anything you want, or like the sound of. But what "works" depends on the conventions of the music you are playing. Chord progressions are a particular kind of mechanism that needs to be understood. You can find what "works" totally by ear - because you understand the rules of that music already, unconciously. And you can also break those rules, if you want a deliberate "outside" sound, which disrupts the mechanism. (You know what a wrong note is, as soon as you play it - even a non-musician listener knows. You just may not know why it's wrong. All that matters is that every note - right or wrong - is planned! So sometimes we need to make our unconscious knowledge conscious.)

[ChrisJ]

I usually just say; "Put some hair on that chord, Boy."

[gennation]

I find that the notes that aren't in the scale are just as important as the notes in the scale. That's why there are so many songs with melodies that aren't just all the notes of one scale, and why we have the Parallel Major and Minor borrowing that takes place in songs, as well as tunes that change many Keys as the basis of the song (as many great Jazz Standards do).

The 9, 11, and 13 are extensions not tensions as far as dissonance that needs to be resolved.

Chord Scales are scale to play ON THE CHORD, not AGAINST THE CHORD. It's like all the "safe notes".