Glossary

The words the sheets and these pages use, in a line or two each, with a link to where each one is put to work.

Altered dominant: A dominant 7th with its 5th and 9th raised or lowered, G7alt. It plays the Altered scale, the seventh mode of melodic minor. See the Altered dominant, the Altered scale.
Alternate changes: A second set of chords for some of a tune’s bars, a reharmonization or another version’s, that the sheets can play in place of the standard changes. Bars with none share the standard ones. See Alternate changes, writing an alternate row.
Chord pick: Your choice, on one chord, among the pentatonics, triad pairs or stacks of fourths ranked for it, in place of Auto. It’s kept with the chart, and a pick made on one sheet plays on the other. See The order of chord picks, Superimposing.
Chord-scale: The scale a chord is played with: its chord tones, and the steps between them that suit what the chord does. Dorian over D–7, Mixolydian over G7. The Scales sheet draws one staff per chord. See How a scale is chosen, Scales.
Concert pitch: The pitch a piano sounds. Charts are always written in concert pitch, whatever instrument you read the sheets on. See Reading it on your instrument, Where the Line sounds.
Cycle: For a rhythm unit, the bars it takes to start on beat 1 again: groups of five 8ths in 4/4 are back on one every 5 bars. See Where a rhythm is back on one.
Dominant: A chord with a major 3rd and a minor 7th, G7, that pulls toward the chord a fifth below. Its tensions, and the chord it resolves to, choose its scale. See the Dominant 7th, the functions and their scales.
Function: What a chord does in its key area, as a Roman numeral: ii7, V7, V7/ii (the V of the ii), subV7 (the tritone sub). The analysis finds it, and a row can state it. See Writing a function, the function cell.
Guide tone: A chord’s 3rd or 7th, the two notes that say what kind of chord it is. A guide tone line moves from one chord’s to the nearest of the next’s. See The guide tones, How a guide tone line is built.
Half-diminished: A minor 7th chord with a flat 5th, Am7b5 (Aø7): the ii of a minor ii–V. See the Half-diminished chord.
Hexatonic: A six-note scale. Here, the six notes of a triad pair, which Superimpose’s Hexatonic lays over each chord. See Hexatonic Auto, Hexatonic groupings.
Inside and outside: How well a set of notes fits a chord. Inside notes belong to its scale; outside ones clash on purpose, and want to resolve. Pentatonics, triad pairs and chord picks are listed from inside to outside. See Inside and outside pentatonics, The order of chord picks.
Key area: The key of the moment: a tune in E♭ may pass through A♭ and G minor. The analysis finds each one; a section’s key: or an @key writes one in where it gets it wrong. See Key areas, @key.
Level: How far the scales reach: Basic, Standard, Advanced or Random. It’s a view setting, like the instrument, never saved into the chart. See Scale levels.
Pin: A scale written into a chart’s row. It plays at every level, over the analysis. See the scale cell, Scale levels.
Rhythm unit: After Ed Saindon: a group of 2 to 7 pulses, repeated from the first beat and ignoring barlines, so its accents fall in new places bar after bar. See Units.
Strong beat: A beat of the bar where a Line can land on a chord tone: 1 and 3 in 4/4, beat 1 in 3/4. See Strong beats.
Superimpose: To lay a smaller set of notes over a chord, a pentatonic, a triad pair or a stack of fourths, for a sound its scale alone doesn’t give. See Superimposing, Pentatonic Auto.
Tension: A note above a chord’s 7th, its 9th, 11th or 13th, natural or altered, that colors it. Tensions in a chord symbol (G7b9) narrow the scales it can take. See the 7♭9 chord, Chords.
Triad pair: Two triads with no note in common, played in turn: G/Am over Cmaj7. Together they make a hexatonic scale. See Hexatonic Auto, The Triad pair line.
Turn-back: Where a Line reverses at the floor or the ceiling of your instrument’s comfortable range, rather than leave it. See A line’s range, Written ranges.
Written pitch: The note a transposing instrument reads: a tenor saxophone’s written D sounds a concert C. The sheets are written for your instrument, and the start note (From …) is a written note. See Reading it on your instrument, Written ranges.