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It's me, yet again lol!

In my quest to learn piano theory, I've taken a small section of Bach's Jesu, Joy of man's desiring, from wiki...



I'm failing to properly understand the description given above.

I see it as (if the sets of three notes were chords):

G,B,D - G MAJOR
B,D,G - G MAJOR 1ST INVERSION
G,B,D - G MAJOR
B,D,F - B MAJOR DIMINISHED (?)
G,B,D - G MAJOR
A,C,E - A MINOR
F#, A, C - F# DIMINISHED (?)
G,B,D - G MAJOR
E,G,B - E MINOR
F#, A, C - F# DIMINISHED (?)
D, F, A - D MINOR

Can anyone shed any light on this for me, thank you in advance

(some of you may need your glasses for this one, didn't realise how small the writing was on the pic!

Here's how I interpreted it:

G: GBDGDB
G7: GBDFDB GBD
Am: ECA
D7/F#dim: F#AC
G: DBG
Em: EGB
D7: CAF#DF#A

Hi Wayne,

A quest!

First thing:



Er, don't do that. Look instead for a chord idea through a bar, failing that, a beat.

First bar: GBD = G major.

Second, lighten up about inversions. Think a bit looser. It's G maj. Who cares what inversion? Sure, if you're playing it, you need to play the right notes. But for understanding the harmony, that's all fluff.

HTH a bit. Bear this in mind, take another look at it and see whatcha get.

I got this:

Bar 1: G Major (root & 1st inversion)
Bar 2: G7
Bar 3: G Major, A minor
Bar 4: D7 (despite D being omitted), G Major
Bar 5: E minor, D7 (again, D omitted)
Bar 6: D Major (may be D7 if the next group of 3 notes has a C in it)

If written with the F# in the key signature (as would be typical of a piece in the key of G Major), we get this chord progression: I, I7, I, ii, V7, I, vi, V7, V or V7 (depending on what comes next)

Except for adding the seventh to the I chord, these are all scale chords for the G Major scale.

Thank u Colin

If you notice, in Bar 6, the F is not written F#, so is this D minor?

When I play this passage repeatedly, it does sound better playing F#.

I think I'd better find the complete piece and take a look at that.

Ahhhhhh.... all is clear now!



I imagine that the passage provided by wiki, is slightly inaccurate, this is the second time, consecutively, that this has happened to me, (or is it because I'm now taking more notice?)