Embellished Chords

[Keith88]

I use iRP with the piano muted in the mixer (I'm a pianist myself) but I noticed a new feature: Embellished Chords, and tried it out with the piano sound turned on. I don't hear much of a difference between renderings with the embellished chord feature turned on or off. Maybe I'm missing something. Could one of the iRP team please let us know about this new feature?

Thanks.

 

[dflat]

Hello Keith,
The embellishments are things like adding an 11th or 9th to a minor 7 chord; a plain E chord might have the maj7 or maj9 as additional color etc.
If you want to analyse the differences, you can export the midi file of the same song with embellishments on and off and compare in a notation app (bearing in mind the random nature of generating the instrument's comping each time, so run it for a few repeats). If you export the XML as well, you can (copy) paste the chords above the measures.

Background for anyone else interested: Pianists, guitarists (etc.) often comp voicings adding various upper extensions to the basic chords. We had some complaints in previous versions that the voicings sometimes included notes not described specifically in the chord quality, so we now have both options with more harmonic interest with it on. Initially they are turned on for Jazz and off for Pop.
From memory, I think we stayed away from adding the 9th (b9 or 9 or #9) in plain dominant chords with embellishment on (like A7 etc.) because of possible clashes with the soloist using iReal Pro, whereas someone actually comping might put them in.

 

[Keith88]

Thanks for the comprehensive explanation. I'm so used to playing from lead sheets with simple chords in them and adding my own extensions on the fly that I didn't catch the differences between the embellishment feature on or off. For "my kind" of music, chords with four to six different notes in them are just part of the musical language, but I know that for different genres of music, it is important for the performer to be able to control the style of chordal accompaniment with respect to added notes. This makes the embellishment feature very useful for many of the iRP users.

 

[dflat]

I'm so used to playing from lead sheets with simple chords in them and adding my own extensions on the fly that I didn't catch the differences between the embellishment feature on or off.

Yes I know what you mean, the extended voicings come so naturally under the fingers you do not even think about it

 

[CyrilleB]

Please, is it possible to have embellished chords option turned off as default setting for all styles (including jazz styles)?
Thanks!

 

[pdxdjazz]

The player will use various inversions of notes within the chord as written.
If you turn Embelished Chords ON in the mixer the player may add unwritten qualities.

Embellished chords — iReal Pro Help Center

The embellishment option in the mixer relates to the chord voicings being played. OFF - the chord symbols are adhered to exactly. For example

technimo.helpshift.com

)BOB

 

[CyrilleB]

Nice history thank you… Not sure I care for that E-7b5 at the end.
Which reminds me does anyone know if the play along chords roam outside of the cord written? For example, here, the second chord E7 can utilize a lot of scales like A harmonic minor (b9b13) just for fun..which is why I argue for a 3rd and 7th ONLY setting so the soloist can choose the scale they want .
but the next chord A7 has the flat 9 in the melody so if you put an A7 which is standard, is there any chance the play along will play a Maj9?

In my experience with iReal pro, when the embellished chord setting is turned off, the piano only plays the chord tones of the written chord symbol. However, I've noticed that sometimes the bass may play a natural 9th in the walking bass line over a A7 when the chord is not written as A7b9. This annoy me a bit because there are some instances where we don't want the b9 to be actually played by the piano (even if it's hamonically correct) because that note may already be present in the melody.

 

[Bobsax]

In my experience with iReal pro, when the embellished chord setting is turned off, the piano only plays the chord tones of the written chord symbol. However, I've noticed that sometimes the bass may play a natural 9th in the walking bass line over a A7 when the chord is not written as A7b9. This annoy me a bit because there are some instances where we don't want the b9 to be actually played by the piano (even if it's hamonically correct) because that note may already be present in the melody.

Really helpful thanks it’s good to know that if you do put the b9 in the symbol, the Bass Player will play it. Specially, when you’re playing piano and the iReal piano is turned off.. also I imagine the embellished chords will be probably more embellished with different grooves.… Gypsy jazz I use a lot because it’s gonna always be a chop on two and four and I doubt there are any embellishments with that groove.(it’s great for practicing Bass with iReal bass off) But then BlueNote Jazz and similar grooves there are probably many interesting chords. . I’ll have to play around with that.

 

[CyrilleB]

Really helpful thanks it’s good to know that if you do put the b9 in the symbol, the Bass Player will play it. Specially, when you’re playing piano and the iReal piano is turned off.. also I imagine the embellished chords will be probably more embellished with different grooves.… Gypsy jazz I use a lot because it’s gonna always be a chop on two and four and I doubt there are any embellishments with that groove.(it’s great for practicing Bass with iReal bass off) But then BlueNote Jazz and similar grooves there are probably many interesting chords. . I’ll have to play around with that.

I would personally only use the embellished chord setting for diatonic or modal tunes. The embellished chord setting doesn't analyze the harmonic structure of a tune.
That can work fine for simple diatonic or modal songs (no modulation, no key changes). But for complex harmonic content, it can be a mess.
On a CMaj7, when using embellished chord setting, the player might play C6 or C6/9 or CMaj9, CMaj13, etc.
If you want the chords to be played strictly as it's written on the chart (same chord tones), you'll need to turn off the embellished chord setting.