Skip to main content

Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom

Robert Hutchinson

Section 16.4 Other Occurrences of Six-Four Chords

Second-inversion chords with the fifth of the chord in the bass, also known as \(\left.\text{}^{6}_{4}\right.\) chords, are special chords found only in four situations in classical music.
  1. Cadential six-four (discussed in the previous section)
  2. Passing six-four: the bass line will look like a passing-tone figure, with three stepwise ascending or descending notes, and the middle chord will be a \(\left.\text{}^{6}_{4}\right.\) chord
  3. Pedal six-four: the bassline will consist of three repeated notes, and the middle chord will be a \(\left.\text{}^{6}_{4}\right.\) chord.
  4. Melodic bass six-four: in this situation, the bass voice has the melody; when the fifth of the chord occurs in this bass voice melody, the result will be a \(\left.\text{}^{6}_{4}\right.\) chord.
<Prev^TopNext>