First Chord Ever Played

Subject: First Chord Ever Played
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Aug 02 - 11:24 PM

wondering if 'A' or 'C' was probably the very first chord ever played?

and was it on a string or other instrument?

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: DonMeixner
Date: 22 Aug 02 - 11:35 PM

The first chord ever played was the harmonic tone left over from the vibrations caused by creation. The universe began in one explosive moment eons ago and that sound persists in the deepest reaches of outerspace. It echos back to us in the form of a very faint low frequency hum and is heard on electron telescopes in Puerto Rico and Australia. When the next generation HUbble space telescope platform is sent into space it will be wired for sound as well as sight and it will pick up this definitive primordial tone and prove once and for all the Big Band Theory.

Don

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: Ebbie
Date: 22 Aug 02 - 11:41 PM

GROAN

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Aug 02 - 11:41 PM

Bflat minor...on the trombone...(my embrochure was weak..*grin*)

no, really...it was a demented 9th...on a slack key guitar...

what? you don't believe me?

haw about the truth...a friend tried to show me a barred F on his guitar!!!

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Aug 02 - 11:44 PM

ohh...THE first chord! well....

I don't have the foggiest...and who cares?

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 Aug 02 - 02:01 AM

Don's right. But after that, you'd have to go at least as far back as Pythagoras and his dinking around with stretched strings as he tried to figure out if certain aspects of music were inherent in nature ("Lemme see, now. A squared plus B squared equals--Oh, HORRORS!! An F major 7th!!! AAAAAAGH!!!!")

I predict that there will be a bizarre amount of speculation on this thread, signifying nothing beyond the fact that a lot of people have far too much time on their hands. There is no way of ever knowing what was the first chord ever played. And beyond that, did the person who played that chord even know he or she was playing a chord? And did they write it down? If so, what kind of notation did they use? Actually, composers didn't really start thinking in terms of harmony (vertical structures) until fairly recently in the history of music. When did the first person say, "Gosh, I think I just played a chord!" And how many chords did they play before they realized that they were playing chords? And what were they? Anyway, have fun.

The first chord I ever played on the guitar was--believe it or not--a G.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Aug 02 - 02:03 AM

Well, gee, Don.

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Aug 02 - 02:06 AM

Actually, I would imagine the first 'chords' came about by accident, perhaps in drumming. We've all had the pleasing experience of rapping on different parts of a log or board or a glass and playing with the different pitches. Surely that's how it came about that people started paying attention?

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 23 Aug 02 - 09:37 AM

Well.... Since God created the universe, and since according to a lot of London grafitti during the 60's "Clapton is God" then all you have to do is find out what chord Eric learned first. Probably an E major.

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: Venthony
Date: 23 Aug 02 - 10:12 AM

The tonic -- duh.

Tony

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: JohnnyBGoode
Date: 23 Aug 02 - 11:14 AM

It was a major chord on one string...doesn't the physics of string vibration support this?

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: Venthony
Date: 23 Aug 02 - 11:38 AM

Yes -- one string or one log or one rock. Anything hit with the sole intention of creating an aesthetically pleasing sound. It had to produce harmonics -- audible or not -- and technically that's a chord.

On a less esoteric level (though this whole thread is pretty esoteric), I guess you might have to count the first silmultaneous "beat" sounded by a bone or wooden flute and some sort of drum.

Tony

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 Aug 02 - 05:52 PM

JBG, that's true, of course. But I wonder who was the first to recognize this. I would nominate (again) Pythagoras. He did discover scales, including (that early) the 12-tone scale. I imagine he at least experimented with how certain notes sounded when played together. But he thought certain numbers had moral value or supernatural characteristics. I think he was the one that started the idea the the number 13 is unlucky, so he probably didn't play many thirteenth chords.

"Okay, now if I take the square root of the hypotenuse. . . ."

Don Firth

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: The Pooka
Date: 24 Aug 02 - 01:21 AM

Dons Meixner & Firth (with-a all-a Respect): *heeheeheehee*! / I'm for the Aw-Gee-Super-G-String Theory. At least I thong I am. Cosmic Vibrators, yesirree. But as to the Claptonian Creator, will the Symmetry be Unbroken? The harp He loved ne'er spoke again, for He tore her Chords asunder.

--Harp C. Gourd

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: Kaleea
Date: 24 Aug 02 - 03:17 AM

If you are referring to a "chord" as being a triad, ie, 3 (or more)notes which are purposely played simultaneously to bring about harmony, The oldest "chord" was possibly played on an ancient harp--the first known stringed instrument. If you allow for 2 notes being enough to constitute a chord, then most likely in was in the earliest know song: on clay tablets circa @ 4000 years old, found in Ugarity, Syria, & Prof. Anne Draffkorn Kilmer deciphered the writing, and bellieves she has found the first written song, which shows a melody & a harmony part which is a third lower (most of the time). If your definition expands to include any & all musical instruments, voices were most likely to have produced a "chord."

Subject: RE: First Chord Ever Played
From: GUEST,Souter
Date: 24 Aug 02 - 05:28 AM

There are people who have used bow strings, as in bow and arrow strings, to play music. Pretty good, actually, and probably the first string instrument.