We’ve been exploring a special “addition” to the plain major chord: the Major 9. In the scale of C major, you can have two different major nines:
C major 9: C, E, G, B, D — listed in order of ascending pitch. And F major 9: F, A, C, E, G
(You can also have a G major, add 9.)
Here’s a point about how this works in reality on the guitar. Sometimes, we don’t play the natural seventh. That’s the B in C major 9. In that case, the chord is named as follows: C major, add 9.
We’ll take a look at a couple of different places you can play the major 9 on the fretboard and then go into some applications for this form.
Here’s one pattern: the D major 6/9. Notes: D, F#, B, E. Notice the seven and five are missing. That’s fine: we don’t need them to get the basic major 9 sound.
---
-5-
-4-
-4-
-5-
---
And here’s one with the top note falling on string 1, F major, add 9
-3-
-1-
-2-
-3-
---
---
Play this one with your fingers instead of a pick.
|------|-----|-----|-----|------|
|-7-7--|-----|-6-6-|-7-7-|-5----|
|-7-7--|-7-7-|-7-7-|-6-6-|-4----|
|-7-7--|-7-7-|-6-6-|-5-5-|-4----|
|-5-5--|-----|-----|-----|-5----|
|------|-7-7-|-6-6-|-5-5-|------|
Now here’s an excerpt from an actual tune that uses a major 9 chord.
Q Q Q Q Q E Q. Q
|-3----0----0---------|-3----0-----0----------|
|-1----1----1----3----|-1----1-----1-----3----|
|-2----2----2----2----|-2----2-----2-----2----|
|-3-------------------|-3----3-----3----------|
|---------------------|-----------------------|
|---------------------|-----------------------|
Q Q Q Q Q E Q. Q
|-3-----------|-3--------------
|-5--5--5--3--|-5--5--5---3----|
|-4--4--4--4--|-4--4--4---4----|
|-3-----------|-3--------------|
|-------------|----------------|
|-3-----------|-3--------------|
The E means eighth note, Q is quarter note, and “Q.” is dotted quarter note.
That’s the Girl from Ipanema.
Also, listen to the intro to Dust in the Wind for a Major, add 9 happening in open position. Very pretty.
When do you use the major 9 and related chords? If you’re accompanying yourself singing, and reading chords to strum from chord charts or other notation, try a major 9 when you see a plain major chord called for.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - May 15, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.
Ninth Chord Series
This tip is about the major 9, major add 9, and 6/9 chords. We’re going into this because it’s nice to know there’s other stuff you can do with a major chord to keep it from sounding like the same old 3-note sound.
Just what does this 9 refer to, in C major 9? First, take the plain C major chord: C, E, G. This can be built on the C major scale (among other scales). Here’s that scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, B and again C. Keep going now, one more note: D again, right? Let’s bring in the numbers, just assigning them to the scale:
Notice the number under the D, 9. We don’t assign 2 to the D, because we’re building this chord from lowest pitch to highest: C is in the bass, then comes E higher up, then, G, maybe B, and then D as the top note, higher than all the others. If we were to say “C major 2″ instead of C major 9, we’d first get some funny looks from more experienced fellow musicians. Then, we’d see our mistake by spelling out the “C major 2:”
C in the bass, then D is the next note, just two steps higher, then E two steps higher than D, and on up. If you think this *looks* okay, think about how you’d try to play, C, D, and E on your guitar like this:
--
--
--
-2-
-5-
-8-
In other words, C on string 6, fret 8, D on string 5, fret 5 and E on string 4, fret 2. Besides ripping the webbing between your fingers in just attempting this, if you do manage to sound all three notes at once, you’ll hear it sounds pretty muddy.
This is getting a bit long, so let’s break this topic onto the next installment, where we’ll go into some specific shapes for playing the major 9 and related chords.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - May 1, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.
Ninth Chord Series
We continue exploring approach notes in this tip. In the previous installments we worked out with notes that were below the note we really wanted to hit, and we did this for dominant 7ths and major arpeggios. Now we’re going to use notes that approach the target note from above. We could attempt to go into how this sounds, compared to the approaches tones of the previous installment. But it’s better to dive in and listen. Here’s the exercise:
|-------------------|-6-5--------------|
|---------------8-6-|------8-6---------|
|----------7-5------|----------7-5-----|
|-5----8-7----------|--------------8-7-|
|---8---------------|------------------|
|-------------------|------------------|
-----------------|--------|
-----------------|--------|
-----------------|--------|
-5-------------5-|----5---|
---8-5-------7---|-8----8-|
-------8-6-5-----|--------|
Play these as eighth notes. It might be a bit tricky when you first try this exercise, because it uses finger rolls, including finger rolls for the pinky. So you can look at this exercise as a way to build pinky chops and dexterity, and not just as a way to learn about approach tones.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - April 15, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.
We’re continuing our work with approach tones this time. Remember that all we’re doing is putting a little delay note before the real note we want to hit. This builds a little suspense and gives your melodic playing more color, whether you’re improvising or not. We continue using an approach that comes from a 1/2 step below our target note.
We did approach tones for a major arpeggio last time. Let’s do a Dominant arpeggio with approach tones a 1/2-step below. Here we go:
|---|-----------------|-----------5-6-7--|
|---|-----------------|-----5-7-8--------|
|---|---------------4-|-5-8--------------|
|---|-------4-5-7-8---|------------------|
|---|---6-7-----------|------------------|
|-7-|-8---------------|------------------|
|-8-5-6-----------|----------------------|
|-------7-8---5---|----------------------|
|-----------8-----|-5--------------------|
|---------------9-|---7-8-4-5------------|
|-----------------|-----------6-7--------|
|-----------------|---------------7-8----|
These are all eighth notes. The very first one should be started on an up beat, so you come down in measure two on a strong beat.
I know that descent gets a bit tricky when you first try this. You’re going to give your pinky a workout, which may be like a jump into a cold shower on a snowy day if you don’t even use your pinky now. But first, you don’t have to use this fingering, and second, this exercise gets easier (and sounds better) the more you do it. But you probably already know that.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - April 1, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.
Here’s a pattern that introduces us to approach tones. Approach tones are those notes used for melodic embellishment that happen before the note you actually want to play. For example, if you’re going to play a C, E, G (C major arpeggio) you could dress it up by instead playing B, C, Eb, E, Gb, G. This is just one example of approach tones. There are many different ways of using this type of melodic embellishment.
Let’s work with the F major arpeggio:
|------------------4-5-|-7-8-4-5--------------------|
|--------------5-6-----|---------5-6----------------|
|----------4-5---------|-------------4-5------------|
|------6-7-------------|-----------------6-7--------|
|--7-8-----------------|---------------------7-8----|
|----------------------|----------------------------|
This pattern can go equally well over a Dm7 chord. Try to play this by first stressing the first note in each 2-note group. Then, play again but stress the 2nd note.
If you like working with this exercise, you’ll probably want to create other patterns based on the common open position chords as follows: a major arpeggio pattern with root on string 5, under finger 2. Then, major arps whose roots fall here:
string 6, finger 4
string 6, finger 2
string 4, finger 1.
We’ll learn a dominant 7 pattern for approach tones next time.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - March 15, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.
Let’s look at a simple but pleasing pattern to break up the monotony of the standard scale pattern. We can call this the Stardust pattern. These are all eighth notes.
|-8-5-6---5-------|-----------------|
|-------8---6-8-5-|-6---5-----------|
|-----------------|---7---5-7---5---|
|-----------------|-----------8---7-|
|-----------------|-----------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|
-----------------|-------------|
-----------------|-------------|
-----------------|-------------|
-8-5-7---5-------|-------------|
-------8---7-8-5-|-7---5-------|
-----------------|---8---6-8-5-|
|-----------------|-----------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|
|-----------------|-----------5---7-|
|---------------5-|---7-5-8-7---8---|
|---5---7-5-8-7---|-8---------------|
|-6---8-----------|-----------------|
---------------5-|---6-5-8----|
---5---6-5-8-6---|-8----------|
-5---7-----------|------------|
-----------------|------------|
-----------------|------------|
-----------------|------------|
If you want to continue working with this pattern, you might try these additional exercises: transpose to another major scale pattern; start on a different note; jump by a perfect fourth instead of a third.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2007 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - March 1, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.
Let’s explore a tip that has a lot to do with music — no matter what instrument you play. We’re talking about singing. What do we guitarists need to know about singing? Maybe we should scrap the whole topic and let vocalists pick this up. But maybe we should investigate a bit.
What’s the point of singing? What do we sing to help us play guitar better? First, a fact: Singing helps you memorize and understand music better (than if you didn’t sing.). We’re not going to slog through all of the academic, scholarly research done to prove this. Instead we’ll get practical, so you can prove the usefulness of singing to yourself.
Pick any two tunes from your favorite artist. Pick two tunes that you don’t know how to play yet and that sound fairly similar to each other. Some possible artists to start with: Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel. We’re going for catchy, simple melodies. We’re not going to work with chords in this tip.
Learn the melodies of both tunes completely by ear. For the first one, don’t sing it all. Just dive right in, and pick out the major scale pattern you are most comfortable with, and try to pick out the tune’s notes within that pattern.
For the second tune, don’t touch the guitar yet. Sing the tune, and keep singing it, repeatedly, until you are confident you know the melody without any backup harmony. Only then, work it out on your guitar. Use the same major scale pattern you used on the first melody, if you can.
Now for the moment of truth: which tune was easier to learn? I bet it was the one you sang.
Keep this in mind: Your first instrument, and with many people their most musically accurate instrument, is your voice.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2007 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - February 15, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.
What does “guilt” have to do with playing guitar? It has to do with practicing. Guilt over how often you think you ought to practice, versus how much time you’re actually spending on the frets. But more to the point, guilt related to the guitarist you are compared to the guitarist you think you want or have to be.
There’s some real simple advice on handling this uncomfortable emotion: let it go. However much you practice has got to be enough. It is enough. Unless you’re a pro musician, your practicing isn’t putting any bread on your table, as good as it may feel. So let practicing take a back seat to working, paying bills, watching your kids grow up.
There’s always more to learn on the guitar. And no matter what skill level you have, no matter how much skill you’ve lost, the point of playing is really to feel engaged in something timeless and wondrous, isn’t it? And you can get that feeling even if you can’t tell the difference between a tuning peg and a truss rod, or an eighth note and a perfect fourth.
There will always be players who are “better” than you — in other words, more skilled. And there are always going to be players more dedicated than you. So what? No other player can give you what you can give yourself when you play: again, that sense of timelessness, of wonder and timelessness. So let the guilt go; let the good flow.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2007 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - February 1, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.
Timing is a critical part of making music. Without notes playing in their proper time, you have one enormously bad glob of harmony.
But timing is also important in practicing music, in the discipline of making music. For one thing, a metronome will improve your ability to play in time. Always play with a metronome. We think we know a tune until we turn on the metro, and reality hits as we stumble.
Beyond that, use a timer to time each exercise you do: scales, tunes, whatever. Deadlines have a way of motivating. If you know you only have 15 minutes to work on learning a riff, you’ll use that time effectively. This is true because you know if you run over that 15 minutes, you’ll be cutting into time for scales or something else important.
And another type of time to keep: a record, or log, showing how many days you’ve spent a particular song, or playing something else. For example, if your goal is to transpose all twenty songs in your repertoire to one other key, keep track of how many days it takes you to do that, using hashmarks on a piece of paper that faces you when you practice.
Then, when you’ve completed all transpositions, you might want to do another set of transpositions in another key. Again, track how many days it takes. When you complete that second set, you have two numbers to give you a good indicator of how your transposition skills have improved.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2007 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - January 1, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.
This has to do with playing in position, versus at different positions along the fretboard. This is really a topic concerned with improvisation, but also with straight melodies.
Here’s the gist: Do take the time and trouble to break out of staying within a single position. We’ll get to the reason in a moment.
You could be playing a melody for a tune, and maybe it stays completely within the key, or maybe is has some chromatics (notes outside the key). And you might be able to play it completely at fret/position V, for example. And it might sound great, too.
But don’t be satisfied with this. Instead, do the following: For each change of the tune’s chord’s, play the melody at a different position.
You’ll start by learning the tune’s chords: for each change in the tune’s chords, play a pattern for that chord in a different position from the last chord pattern.
Example, super simple: Louie, Louie, three chord tune. Say it’s in E: Chords E, A, B. You could play the E at position IV and the A at position V. Don’t. Play the A at position II.
Why? Why pick a new position for each chord change? Because when your hand stays in the same position, your lazy guitarist’s brain (don’t get angry, all our brains are lazy, mine especially) tends to think “Same position, therefore, same sound, same chord, same key, same, same, same…”
But when we move our hands to a new position, Lazy Brain turns into Thinking Brain: “Ah! new position! New sound.” And you will thus become sensitive to the tune’s chord changes instead of thinking in terms of one, monotonic set of sounds that probably sounds like the tonic chord.
I’m not saying use this exclusively. It’s an exercise. Try it.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2007 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - January 15, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.
