Have you heard this sound before?

|------|
|-6----|
|-5----|
|-4----|
|-5----|
|------|

You probably have if you’ve done any listening to rock or blues. It’s the dom 7 #9. Consider it a kind of sister chord to the dangerous dom 7 b9 we covered in recent issues. All “sister” means here is that this is another alteration to the natural nine of the dom 9 chord. The natural nine for the D7 chord is the note E.

Both flat nine (b9) and sharp nine (#9) are often found in the scales that we find the dom 7 #9 in. That does NOT mean we HAVE to put both b9 and #9 in the chord.

So what’s the big deal about the dom 7 #9? If you have a recording of Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze, have a listen to the intro. It’s a distinctive, pungent sound, which can work great for hardcore blues. Also, think of using it as a replacement for a simple minor chord:

Let’s try it in a wee little progression. First, try the progression without the dom 7 #9. Use your non-fretting fingers to grab the strings.

|-5-----------|------|------------|------------|
|-6-----------|-6-3--|------3--4--|-5--3--1----|
|-5--7--5--7--|-5-5--|-3--5-3-----|-3-----3----|
|-7--6--5-----|-7-4--|-3----3-----|-5-----2----|
|-8--8--7-----|-5----|------------|-3-----3----|
|----6--5-----|---4--|-3----3-----|------------|

Now play it with the dom 7#9

|-5-----------|------|------------|------------|
|-6-----------|-6-3--|------3--4--|-5--3--1----|
|-5--7--5--7--|-5-5--|-3--5-3-----|-3-----3----|
|-7--6--5-----|-4-4--|-3----3-----|-5-----2----|
|-8--8--7-----|-5----|------------|-3-----3----|
|----6--5-----|---4--|-3----3-----|------------|

The only change here is in the second measure. Pretty subtle. Maybe as a listener you wouldn’t notice the change, but you might feel something. As a player, though, you can hear a real change.

We’ll close out with another pattern dom 7 #9 pattern. It’s the one we just covered, but bumped up to put the melody note on string 1.

|-6----|
|-6----|
|-4----|
|-5----|
|------|
|------|

Thanks for reading.

Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow

This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - July 15, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.

Ninth Chord Series

• Ninth Chords
• The Major Nine - Part Two
• The Dominant 9
• The Dangerous Dom7 b9
• More on the dom7b9

Hello, again. We’re back looking at the “Dangerous” dominant 7, flat 9. This is a chord you see a lot of before going to a minor key, and that’s one of the reasons it sounds dangerous when we hear it. The flat 9 of the dom 7 b9 chord turns into the b6 of the tonic chord we expect to come next. A tonic chord is the central, most important chord of a key center, whether major or minor. Major key centers, most times, do not use scales with flat or minor 6s, preferring the major 6s instead. For example, note A in C major is a major 6 up from C. But minor key centers commonly DO use scales that DO have minor 6s in them, such as A harmonic minor or A natural minor.

Whew! That’s a roundabout way of explaining why we anticipate a minor key center when we hear that flat 9 in a dominant 7 chord, such as the F note in E7b9. And a side note but an important one, as I look at this bunch of text used to try to explain the dom 7b9. If you don’t understand the stuff written here or in the last issue, do not despair. Your musical ear know perfectly well what’s going on; and words often get in the way of trying to explain these so called theory topics. Keep playing and asking questions like “Okay, the F note over the E7 chord makes the E7 sound dangerous. Why? Let me track that F into the next chord and see where it fits in the next chord or key center.” Persist, and you will get it.

Okay, enough pep talk. Let’s look at one more reason why the dom 7 flat 9, such as the E7 b9, sounds dangerous. Yes, that F note is telling us “something wicked this way comes,” in the form of an A minor key center. But that’s not the only reason that F sounds dangerous. Think about what the F note is to the root of the E7 chord: yes, it’s a flat nine. That’s dissonant. Check it out by playing the E note on string 4 and the F note on string 1. In comparison, play that E note with the G# on string 1 (fret 4). Much sweeter, isn’t it?

We did that little exercise to show that dom 7 b9 chords sound dangerous partly because the flat 9 is claustrophobically close to the root of the chord.

Thanks for reading.

Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow

This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - July 1, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.

Ninth Chord Series

• Ninth Chords
• The Major Nine - Part Two
• The Dominant 9
• The Dangerous Dom7 b9
• The dom 7 sharp 9

Here’s a dangerous sound for us to try out. Get our your guitar, and play this with open position chords.

Dm, G7, C, Dm, E7b9, Am

Play the E7b9 like this:

|-1----|
|-0----|
|-1----|
|-0----|
|-2----|
|-0----|

That’s the dangerous sound of the dominant seven, flat 9. We used an E7b9 specifically. Here are the notes: E, G#, B, D, F. The b9 is the F in this case.

What is a flat nine? Do you remember how we come up with the assignment of the numbers to the notes of a chord? For our E7b9, the root, third, fifth, and seventh correspond to E, G#, B, D. And going to the next letter name after D, we’d get another E. E would be the 8th note, since D is the seventh, correct? So go one more note: E is 8, F is 9.

The F note is a flat 9, because, thinking in terms of an E major scale, an F# would be the natural nine. Knock that down a half step to F, and you have a flat 9.

What makes this E7b9 sound so dangerous? What is it about that one little note, the b9, that makes us know we’re going into a minor key? Think about what the b9, the note F, is in terms of the key center we’re going to. And then you will begin to understand why the F sounds scary.

Most of the time, when we hear any kind of E7, we expect to hear some kind of A chord right after it. Let’s think about what our scary note, F, is in relation to that “some kind of A chord.”

The F is the b6 of two very common minor scales: the A Natural Minor scale and the A Harmonic Minor scale. A major scale does not have a b6. Therefore, when we hear the F in the E7b9 chord, our ears say “whoa: minor key center coming up.” That’s one reason why the E7b9 sounds dangerous: it’s giving us a sneak preview into the somber sound of the A minor key center coming up.

Digest that point for bit. Then try this progression.

Dm, G7, C, Dm, E79, Am

Same progression as before, except for the E natural 9. Play it here:

|-2----|
|-0----|
|-1----|
|-0----|
|-2----|
|-0----|

That was an E9 with a natural nine to it. When we hear that E9, it doesn’t sound as dangerous as the E7b9. The reason is that the natural nine will become the major 6 of the next chord: F# over a chord whose root is A; and our ears are more accustomed to associating the major scale, not minor, with the natural 6. So when we hear that F# in the E7, we think, “Hey, we could be going to a major key center next.”

More on the dom7b9 next time.

Thanks for reading.

Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow

This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - June 15, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.

Ninth Chord Series

• Ninth Chords
• The Major Nine - Part Two
• The Dominant 9
• More on the dom7b9
• The dom 7 sharp 9

We’ve been adding some tasty new flavors to our usual major, minor and dominant 7 chords. We started with the major 9 in a previous installment, and now we’re going to look at the dominant 9.

Here’s a common shape for the dominant 9 sound to get us started:

-5-
-5-
-5-
-4-
-5-
---

It’s a pretty sound. Used a lot in jazz, but other genres, too. The dominant 7 chord has 3 possible kinds of 9s: a flat 9, an unaltered 9, and a sharp 9. We’re going to look at the unaltered 9 now.

Notice the notes in the pattern above: D, F#, C, E. See what’s missing? Yes, the A. We don’t need it. Remember that it’s common to omit notes in chords played on the guitar, and still be able to get to the essential sound.

What scales can you play over D9 and where can you use the chord? A dom 9 shows up in a couple of different common scales, so you can naturally use those scales to solo over it.

Our first scale is a major scale: G major. We can also use A melodic minor and G melodic minor if we’re feeling a bit more exotic. Use those scales for improvising over the D9. Also, try the D minor/F major pentatonic for blues improvising.

Let’s do an abbreviated blues using the D9 and some other dom 9 shapes:

|--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-5-3-5-3-5-3-5-3----|
|--7-7-5-5-7-7-5-5-|-6-3-6-3-6-3-6-3----|
|--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4----|
|--7-7-4-4-7-7-4-4-|-5-3-5-3-5-3-5-3----|
|--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|--------------------|
|------------------|--------------------|

|-7-5-7-5-7-6-5-5-|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5----|
|-8-5-8-5-8-7-6-6-|-7-7-5-5-7-7-5----|
|-6-6-6-6-6-5-4-4-|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5----|
|-7-5-7-5-7-6-5-5-|-7-7-4-4-7-7-4----|
|-----------------|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5----|
|-----------------|------------------|

We alternate between straight dom 7 and dom 9 in this mini blues.

Next time we’ll look at a “dangerous” alteration to the dom 7 chord: the dom 7 flat 9.

Thanks for reading.

Darrin Koltow

Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow

This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - June 1, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.

Ninth Chord Series

• Ninth Chords
• The Major Nine - Part Two
• The Dangerous Dom7 b9
• More on the dom7b9
• The dom 7 sharp 9

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

• Ninth Chords
• The Dominant 9
• The Dangerous Dom7 b9
• More on the dom7b9
• The dom 7 sharp 9

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

• The Major Nine - Part Two
• The Dominant 9
• The Dangerous Dom7 b9
• More on the dom7b9
• The dom 7 sharp 9

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.

Without harmony, there is no music.

The more you understand harmony and chords, the better your playing will sound. Understanding chords makes learning tunes, melodies, improvising and licks much easier. How do we get this understanding? Exploring, playing and tinkering with chords. Just reading about chords won’t do it. Plus, how much fun is reading compared to playing?

Here are some practical facts about chords. Search on Guitar Noise and other web sites, as well as in music instruction books — not just those for guitar. Also ask your guitar teacher for more about each of these.

The V7-I progression

This is one of the strongest and most common chord progressions. Play G7 to C and you’ll hear how musical it is. Learning just this one simple progression in several keys and with different patterns on the fretboard launches you toward a mastery of music.

The “sweet note”

The “sweet note” of a chord is its third. It makes a chord basically happy (major) or sad (minor). Changing just one chord’s sweet note can affect the whole mood of a tune. Master your mood by studying all notes of the chord, especially the third. You can start by strumming your favorite tune, and singing the third of each chord, instead of the song’s usual melody.

The forbidden interval

The tritone interval sounds so unstable, it was banned from being played in the Middle Ages. In the G7 chord, the tritone is formed by the notes B and F. Study this vital part of the music you enjoy and play.

Strongest interval

What do Amazing Grace and the beginning of the theme to Star Wars have in common? The interval of a fourth. The strongest chord progressions, including the V-I, also use it. When you understand and use it, your playing grows stronger. Examples: notes G to C, F to F and A to D. If you know the Cycle of Fourths, you know all movements by a perfect fourth.

Roman numerals

Roman numerals are used frequently in lessons on chords and harmony. Without understanding how they’re used, you won’t understand lessons that contain them. Here are the chords that Roman numerals represent in the key of C major:

Key centers

Key centers are the “home base” for a section of music. Each key center is a central tone that other tones are drawn to. The ii-V-I progression (Dm-G7-C, for example) fully creates a new key center. Once you grasp this idea, you learn new songs fast, because they are no longer collections of isolated chords, but a flowing network of key centers.

Chords from thirds

Most chords are built from notes in a certain way — in thirds, which give the chord a defined sound and clear feeling. By exploring this topic, your fingers will begin to automatically choose fewer wrong chords and more of the right ones.

Practicing in several keys

Practicing any lick, chord or other musical fragment in just one key enslaves your mind, fingers and ears to that key. Free yourself by practicing in other keys. On guitar, a good way to start this project is to learn the I-IV-V chords in the keys of C, F, G, A, E, and D.

Arpeggios

Melodies would not exist without arpeggios, which are the notes in a chord. Studying arpeggios is an easy way to sound musical.

Solos

Sweet solos are often built heavily on chord tones. Improve your solos by studying chord tones.

Connect arpeggio and chord patterns

Learning the fretboard is much easier when you see connections among patterns for arpeggios and chords. One approach to seeing these connections is to study basic Chord Melody playing. This means you’re playing the complete song, both chords and the melody.

Simplify chord names

Some chords look strange and difficult on paper. But learning a song from notation becomes easy when you realize that “C6/9″ is really just a C major chord. Also, when you see a Cm9, Cm11 or Cm6, you can replace the chord with a plain Cm7 or Cm. Learn how to simplify other chord names.

Much success in your further exploration of guitar chords.

Copyright © 2007 Darrin Koltow

This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - December 1, 2005 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.