What is "figured bass"

Figured \Fig"ured\, a.

1. Adorned with figures; marked with figures; as, figured muslin.

2. Not literal; figurative. [Obs.]
   --Locke.

3. (Mus.)

   1. Free and florid; as, a figured descant. See Figurate, 3.

   2. Indicated or noted by figures.

      Figured bass. See Continued bass, under Continued.

n. (context music English) A musical notation in which intervals, chords and harmonizations are indicated by numbers written below a given bass note.

n. a bass part written out in full and accompanied by numbers to indicate the chords to be played [syn: basso continuo, continuo, thorough bass]

Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of musical notation in which numerals and symbols (often accidentals) indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones that a musician playing harpsichord, organ, lute (or other instruments capable of playing chords) play in relation to the bass note that these numbers and symbols appear above or below. Figured bass is closely associated with basso continuo, a historically improvised accompaniment used in almost all genres of music in the Baroque period of Classical music (ca. 1600-1750), though rarely in modern music.

Other systems for denoting or representing chords include plain staff notation, used in classical music; Roman numerals, commonly used in harmonic analysis; macro symbols, sometimes used in modern musicology; the Nashville number system; and various chord names and symbols used in jazz and popular music (e.g., C Major or simply C; d minor or d-; G7, etc.).