N.C. Tacit

[Rayblewit]

Playing with accompianment, and playing the chords with left hand, you often come across a piece that says tacit or nc. (No chord). I was wondering how do you guys play 'nc' ? I have a way that i do it but not sure if its the correct and most effective way. I play ring finger on c#1 and thumb on b 1 and c 2 together. It works an i found it by accident. Is this correct?

 

[SeaGtGruff]

According to Yamaha, the way to play a "Cancel" chord type in the auto-accompaniment is to play 1, b2, and 2 together-- i.e., the fundamental (1), flatted second (b2), and second (2). If you're playing C#1, B1, and C2, the keyboard must be taking B1 as the fundamental, C2 as the flatted second, and C#1 as the second, even though the second is lowered an octave. Try playing C1, C#1, and D1 at the same time-- or any other three consecutive keys, e.g., E1, F1, F#1-- to see if it does the same thing.

 

[Rayblewit]

I tried C1, C#1, and D1 at the same time and I got Dm7. I also tried every other 3 consecutive keys and alway comes up 7th's C7, F#7, D7 etc. .

 

[SeaGtGruff]

That makes sense, given the "easy chords" feature:

-- any key by itself (e.g., C2) = major chord
-- any key plus the closest black key to its left (e.g., C2 + Bb1) = minor chord
-- any key plus the closest white key to its left (e.g., C2 + B1) = seventh chord
-- any key plus the closest black and white keys to its left (e.g., C2 + Bb1 + B1) = minor seventh

Just about every combination of three consecutive keys will fit that fourth situation. The only two exceptions are either E + F + F#, or B + C + C#-- but those also trigger a chord change, because one of the three keys apparently gets ignored.

I'm not sure where I got my information from, because I'm going by some notes I cobbled together from different places-- Yamaha's XG documents, manuals for various Yamaha keyboard models, and "unofficial" documents about Yamaha style files. If we count "Cancel" as a "chord type," there are 38 chord types recognized by Yamaha keyboards-- i.e., 37 chord types plus "Cancel." Either the original sources didn't say anything about different octaves, or I didn't write that part down!

I've just experimented with different key combinations, and there are many others that will produce the "Cancel" chord type-- basically, any three consecutive notes (not keys), but with one note played an octave higher or lower than the other two:

-- P1 + m2 + M2, but lower P1 an octave (e.g., C1 + C#2 + D2)
-- P1 + m2 + M2, but raise P1 an octave (e.g., C1 + C#1 + B1)
-- P1 + m2 + M2, but lower m2 an octave (e.g., C1 + B1 + C#2)
-- P1 + m2 + M2, but raise m2 an octave (e.g., C1 + D1 + C#2)
-- P1 + m2 + M2, but lower M2 an octave (e.g., C1 + Bb1 + B1)
-- P1 + m2 + M2, but raise M2 an octave (e.g., C1 + C#1 + D2)

So you're doing it the "correct" way, but the exact combination of keys is flexible as long as they fit one of those six patterns-- e.g., C#1 + B1 + C2 fits the fifth pattern.

 

[Rayblewit]

Thanks man! You put a lot of consideration into that response. I appreciate that. I tried a few of the combinations and they work. So i guess it is what is more comfortable. Some of the combos feel a bit awkward. With my original one c#1 and b1, c2. It feels relaxed for me with opened hand. However, It would probably be difficult for a small child's hand stretching across one whole octave.
Anyway that all works well with my yamaha. I would be interested to know if it is universal with korg, roland, casio etc... how do others play nc? Cheers.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I should have tried using three consecutive keys myself before suggesting it, and definitely should have realized it would almost always fit the "easy chords" pattern for a minor seventh, so I wanted to check thoroughly before posting a second response! As you said, some of those combinations are awkward to play-- I had to use two hands to play them, which is obviously undesirable when playing an auto-accompaniment-- but I included all possible patterns for the sake of completion.

I don't know how other brands handle this.

 

[carl aylward]

Playing with accompianment, and playing the chords with left hand, you often come across a piece that says tacit or nc. (No chord). I was wondering how do you guys play 'nc' ? I have a way that i do it but not sure if its the correct and most effective way. I play ring finger on c#1 and thumb on b 1 and c 2 together. It works an i found it by accident. Is this correct?

 

[carl aylward]

hi bit confused with your problem and posted replies, witch seem strange to me regarding yor actual qestion, my knowledge is this; when discription of "nc" "no chord" "tacit" is writen in the msic, it useuarly means exactly just/ only that ie . "dont play any chords" or "tacit chords" and only play the lead , solo, line , ive no idear/understanding of all the other stuff about holding down persific notes wich every one else has posted, as i dont have such "style" keyboards, having referances to "nc" or "tacit chords" ? hope this might be of some use to you ?

 

[Rayblewit]

hi bit confused with your problem and posted replies, witch seem strange to me regarding yor actual qestion, my knowledge is this; when discription of "nc" "no chord" "tacit" is writen in the msic, it useuarly means exactly just/ only that ie . "dont play any chords" or "tacit chords" and only play the lead , solo, line , ive no idear/understanding of all the other stuff about holding down persific notes wich every one else has posted, as i dont have such "style" keyboards, having referances to "nc" or "tacit chords" ? hope this might be of some use to you ?

It is when playing accompaniment with left hand is when you stop the chord at the relevant stage of the song. You may be getting confused with standard piano like playing.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Carl, what happens with these types of keyboards while you've got the auto-accompaniment turned on is that when you press a key, specific combination of keys, or full chord in the accompaniment/left-hand section of the keyboard, the musical portion of the accompaniment plays using that key/chord, even after you release the key(s). Thus, you could tap and release the D key to make the accompaniment play in the key of D Major, and let it continue in that key for a while, then tap and release the A key to make the accompaniment switch to the key of A Major, etc. Consequently, there needs to be a way to tell the keyboard to stop playing the musical portion of the accompaniment and play only the rhythm/percussion portion. If you don't want the musical portion of the accompaniment to play at all, there's usually a way to switch it off completely, and sometimes you can mute the individual parts (tracks) of the accompaniment as well. But if you actually do want the musical tracks to play, and just want to temporarily silence them during certain passages without having to clumsily switch them off and on, you can use one of the "Cancel" key combinations.

I checked the manuals for a few Casio keyboards. They behave differently depending on which "chord fingering mode" is selected, and some models don't include all of Casio's fingering modes. But the manual for my CTK-710 implies that if you're playing an accompaniment in the "Fingered" mode and press an "invalid" combination of keys-- i.e., one that doesn't fit any of the 15 types of chords recognized by the CTK-710-- then no chord will be played. But I haven't actually tried it yet, as my CTK-710 is currently stored in its box.