(Fish have fingers!??)

Howdy, Captain.

I think I've heard the term "modal chord" used a couple of times, but from singers of folk songs who are generally self-taught and have little acquaintance with music theory beyond the Circle of Fifths. In fact, from these folks (some very good musicians, by the way, despite their horror at the thought of anything smacking of formal musical knowledge for fear that acquaintance with such will pollute their "folk purity"), I've heard some pretty bizarre expressions to describe things that, to persons with some knowledge of music theory, are convoluted attempts to grasp simple concepts. As to the expression "modal chord," the few times I've actually heard it used, it seemed to mean different things to different people.

I did a google search for "modal chords" and turned up a fair number of citations. It appears as you say. Most people do seem to regard them as regular chords with the third missing and the root and fifth doubled. But I also notice that many of the citations have to do specifically with the guitar and with open tunings. Also lots of people on forums asking "How do you use them?" [Sort of like marketing Coca Cola; nobody knew what it was and why they needed it until a lot of advertising convinced them that it was essential to living the Good Life.] And there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of agreement about that either.

It seems to be a very specialized terminology—which, incidentally, doesn't really have much to do with modes other than trying to remain musically ambiguous. It would seem to me that using standard major and minor chords built on the notes within the mode itself (as I descried above and as Joan Baez actually does) would be a better route to go. One can get a very exotic "modal" sound without having to rely on odd-ball fingerings and special tunings. Not that I don't do a lot of odd-ball fingerings, especially in classic stuff.

Before the expression could come into common usage, I think there would have to be more widespread agreement on what it actually means than just what I've seen on a number of web sites. And I would think that it would have to be generally accepted by musicians of various genres, not just a small percentage of guitarists or a few performers of folk music.

I don't have the Penguin book that you mentioned, and I'd be interested in reading what it says about modal chords, and if it describes what, exactly, the term refers to.

As to EAEAAE and EBEBBE, it's pretty hard to analyze them as chords because they aren't chords. In both cases, you have a stack of fourths, fifths, and octaves. Based on what is immediately above the lowest or bass note, in the first one, you have an interval of a fourth (E to A) with a vertical sequence of doublings of the same two notes. In the second, it is an interval of a fifth (E to B) with the same kind of doublings.

Important note:   These combinations, fourths and fifths with doublings of the notes, are not wrong. There is nothing wrong with using them for the particular effect that they have. They can sound very medieval or very oriental, depending on the context. If you want that effect, go for it!

For harmonic analysis, here's an essential consideration:   when two or more instruments are being sounded, to analyze the harmony you have to know the notes that both instruments are sounding. So—when these fourth and fifth interval combinations are being played, what note or notes are being sung? With the EA combination, if the note being sung is a C, then you'd have a second inversion of an Am chord, if a C#, it's an A major. If it's an F, it would be an F major seventh with the seventh in the bass and a doubled third and seventh but a missing fifth (even though a note in the basic triad is missing, there is a sufficient number of notes to give it an identity). I could go on with different notes, and the same routine would hold for the EB combination, but you get the idea.

If I were going to use the term "modal chord," it would be in reference to, say, using a D major instead of a Dm in an A-based Dorian mode, to accommodate the F# in the scale. "That sounds like it's in Am. Why are you playing a D major instead of a Dm?" "Because the song is in Dorian mode. The D major is a 'modal chord.'" In other contexts, of course, it would not be a modal chord.

Good discussion. I think it's a good idea to thrash these things out. But I'm not too sure all of this this helps Megan very much.

Don Firth

P. S. Speaking of odd-ball fingerings and doubling notes, give this one a shot!

Ouch! That hurts!

and scroll down to the photo of Ida Presti. I met her and her husband, Alexandre Lagoya, when they did a concert in Seattle back in the Sixties.