Is there a way to notate octaves for chords?
Say I wanted someone to play a C major triad in the 4th octave at one point in a song I've written, while I wanted them to play the same chord (a C major triad) in the 5th octave instead of the 4th at a later point. Is there a way to notate this when writing a chord progression out, not just writing music?
An example progression in the type of notation I'm using is: C/G/Am/F/C/G/Am/F (in this progression I'd want to specify the first C chord as being played with the root note starting in the 4th octave while the second C chord as being played with the root note starting in the 5th octave)
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If you're just making notes to yourself to remember the accompaniment of a song, you could invent a system. Personally, I use "i" and "!" to mean that the bass goes higher or lower, respectively, than one might think (e.g. Ami or B7/D#!!).
With chord symbols alone, no. Chord symbols are not designed to show exact voicings of chords. The most they can show is inversion which is denoted by a slash.
Typically when voicings must be exact, a more detailed notation will be used like in sheet music or tablature.
You can't really specify a certain octave for chord symbols.
The easiest reason is probably, that different octaves mean different things to different people.
Some people see C3 as middle C, and some see C4 as middle C. So even if you would specify, that you want the root of the chord to start on C4 and later on C5, there would be people who still play both chords an octave lower than you intended.
So if you would like them to play it exactly as you want it, there's basically no other way than notating it within a staff.
However, if you have no other option and are forced to make it clear with chord symbols, I would just write C(8va) on the second C chord. Normally you use 8va to show that people have to play the notes one octave higher than written on the staff. So even tho they still don't know the octave of the first C chord, they at least should get that they have to play the second C chord an octave higher than the first one.
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