Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete: "Days Of Wine & Roses" Intro chords:

[Cogs]

These are the intro chords to The Days Of Wine & Roses I lifted off of The Definitive Vince Guaraldi w/Vince & Guitarist Bola Sete:

10|14|12|10|14|XX

08|08|08|08|09|08

06|06|06|06|06|08

08|XX|08|07|06|06

08|XX|08|06|05|05

But what to name them? Any ideas?
thx

[Cogs]

btw- the song is in F

[pauln]

Nice chords, I know that was not easy to pick out by ear.

As far as finding names, there are conventions that include making sure the proper diatonic root note name and correct sharp or flat sign are used (Bb verses A#). Almost any chord can be interpreted multiple ways for naming, but most people try to use a functional approach to narrow down the possible names.

What I do when trying to name chords is make my best guess from what theory I know, then go to the Chord Namer application and see what the machine puts up as possible names. From those I correct the root note names to correspond with the key of the progression and choose the name that seems to be most meaningful... but that may not be the technically most favored name in all cases.

When I click your chords into the Chord Namer fingerboard, these are the names I would choose. I changed the A# to Bb because of the key of F.

D Minor Major 7th Add 6th
C Minor 7th Flat 13th Double Flat 5th
Bb 7th Sharp 9th Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th
C 7th Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th
C 13th Flat 9th

I actually like to experiment with the Chord Namer because a lot of chords use specific voicing for their effect, and sometimes you can get interesting results by leaving off the root on the bottom and seeing how a voicing may substitute for another chord or be part of a poly chord...

Chord Namer (and a lot of other interesting apps)

[Cogs]

Thanks- that's good advice & pretty much what I try to do w/a lot less sophistication. I usually try to at least get in the ballpark w the root of a chord but I couldn't really "hear" the roots in any of these ones as they were voiced, except for the C chords.
I actually goofed up the first chord. It should be:
10|13|12|10|13|XX
The JGuitar Chord Namer gave me these names:
Dm7#5
F6sus4/D
C11sus2/D
C7sus2sus4/D
I really don't know enough theory to figure out which name is the appropriate one for this application, but I do know that a D-7 is the VI chord in the key of F, so I guess I'd go w/the D-7#5 name. I'm also guessing this is some kind of VI-something-something-something turnaround that's been heavily tweaked.

[pauln]

I am glad that first chord was wrong, was killing my poor hand. I came up with an alternate fingering like this, but still really dense.
(10)(11)(10)(11)(11)(10)
Interesting chord, but not the chord you are looking for...

Just to get on a functional footing, I looked at the lead sheet at wikifonia.com... can only guess, but I think the intro you have is probably echoing the part of the verse where the words go "... wasn't there before" as it leads into the second repeat of the melody in the verse. Those stock chords go Dm7 G7 Gm7 C7 (vi7 II7 ii7 V7) and lead into the F or I.

Following the architecture of the stock chords, that makes your Dm7#5 take the place of the Dm7 clear enough.

If you move your second chord and play it like this
(3)(3)(3)(3)(2)(2)
you have the same notes except you lose the very top one, but the G is there in the bottom. Adding the G makes sense because it extends down the scheme of the rest of the chord - all stacked fourths! - this is what is called a quartal harmony. Quartal is very modern sounding. In both your and my versions there is a Bb ... both make this a minor type chord where the stock chord is major (dominant seventh). If you move the Bb to B natural as the stock chord suggests, you could try changing your second chord to be like this:
(3)(3)(3)(4)(4)(4) and see if this sounds closer, to my ear it fits in better... this new chord would be G7b13b11b9sus4.

Your third chord I think is a passing chord, not part of the stock progression. The reason; it has the Bb as root and the C as the 9th. That Bb is the signal change from the previous G7 to Gm7/C (the transition from major to minor), and the C as the 9th is the set up for the last two chords to have the C in the bass - very cool work there. I think it could be a straight Bbm9, but keeping the F on the A string is keeping with the "look ahead" feel of the intro - the F will appear in the next three chords... so it sounds good to keep it there.

To my ear, your fourth chord is clearly substituting for the Gm7, and the fifth chord for the C7. Both have the C in the bass.

Taking all these adjustments into account and trying to stick to the functionality I'm guessing, your intro would be like:

Dm7#11#5
G7b13b11b9sus4
Bbm9
Gm7/C
C13b9

So vi7 II7 ii7/V V7 (with the passing chord left out of the notation)



I find it is common for a lot of tunes to do this shifting of the root or other important note forward to anticipate the next chord - those last two chords sound really good.