Harmony Book For Beginners - online book

Scales, Intervals, Common Chords, Dominant Seventh Chord and Melody Making.

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	94                                               OREMS HARMONY BOOK
	CHAPTER XXII THE FIGURED BASS Thorough Bass, or General Bass, or Figured Bass is a sort of musical shorthand, in which, by the use of certain numerals and figures, singly and in combination, one may indicate the various Chords, their Positions and Inversions. It has always been used in the study and teaching of Harmony, although some works employ it sparingly, and others, nowadays, practically discard it. We will use it, in this book, from now on. It will have no terrors for the student who has mastered the preceding portion. It is a common means of ready reference among musicians. To begin with, the Roots of Common Chords are indicated by Roman Numerals, corresponding to the various Degrees of the Scale. For Roots of Major Chords large Numerals are used; for Roots of Minor Chords small Numerals are used. In C Major, for instance, it would be thus: