Jump to content
HAPPY NEW YEAR, TO ALL OUR HARMONY CENTRAL FORUMITES AND GUESTS!! ×

chord question


Mr Flume

Recommended Posts

  • Members
Posted

I'm playing a chord and it consists of C, Bb, E, and A in that order lowest tone to highest tone going up the neck on the eighth fret. Is it necessarily wrong because the 5th isn't in there? because you can easily add in the G on the 10th fret on the A string and barre the eighth fret with your index finger. Since with the 5th in place it would be a C13, what would you name it without the 5th (G). Also what would you call say a two note chord like C and E played together? It's basically an intervel of a M3 but what would the correct chord name be?

  • Members
Posted

 

I'm playing a chord and it consists of C, Bb, E, and A in that order lowest tone to highest tone going up the neck on the eighth fret. Is it necessarily wrong because the 5th isn't in there? because you can easily add in the G on the 10th fret on the A string and barre the eighth fret with your index finger. Since with the 5th in place it would be a C13, what would you name it without the 5th (G). Also what would you call say a two note chord like C and E played together? It's basically an intervel of a M3 but what would the correct chord name be?

 

 

You're playing a C13. Jazz guitarists commonly engage in the practice of playing "incomplete" chords. You're right, a "true" C13 would have G (the 5th), but common practice is to leave it out.

 

The reason why has to do with common sense: If you have 6 strings and 4 fingers, that limits the amount of notes you can play at one time. Therefore, keep your focus on the notes that define the sound.

 

While the G (5th) is a chord tone, leaving it out does note significantly change the overall sound of the chord.

 

Does that help?

Posted

 

quick question...so jazz guitarists generally don't use barre chords then?

 

 

Not as much... the reason why you won't see a lot of your standard barre chord shapes is because those shapes are often for only simple major or minor chords, and not 7th chords, 9th chords, etc. Some barring does get used, but not as much. The only semi-standard barre chord shape that does get used frequently is the 5th string root minor 7th barre chord:

 

Dm7 - x-5-7-5-6-5

 

And sometimes the sixth string root one, as well:

 

Gm7 - 3-x-3-3-3-x

Posted

 

could that be an am9th with the 7th left out?

 

 

The Bb would negate the possibility of an Am9 chord. Even if it was a B natural, it still wouldn't be a good Am9 voicing, even though it has all the correct notes. Since the C is placed in such a low register, and the next note is almost an octave away, the C is going to be greatly emphasized as a root to the ear. Also, the placement of the 9th, B, below any of the other more fundamental notes such as the root and 5th, A and E, also takes away the possibility of A sounding like a root. Upper extensions generally work better when they're higher in the chord, above other more fundamental chord tones. That's not to say that it would be impossible to make it an Am9 chord, but it wouldn't be that great or effective sounding of a voicing.

  • Members
Posted

As a jazz guy I thought I'd make my first post here!

 

Whenever you are talking about chords with lots of upper extensions it is really easy to decide which note you are gonna aim for...Just ask yourself "what is the purpose of that note within the chord".

 

Tonic of the chord, names the chord, pretty important, expecially if you and the bass player are the only ones doing harmony and the bass player is big into run etc....

 

3rd - Tells you Major, minor thats a pretty big deal, you want to know if it is "happy" or "sad", however in some cases, especially where you are trying for a really washed neutral sound (mystical, foggy type sounds), deliberately droping the 3rd does the trick....

 

5th...this is the least important note of the chord in most circumstances. It lends stability and thats about it. Perfect intervals don't have much of there own colour (none some say) and so are the first to go. That said if you experiment with more jazzy harmony diminished and augmented chords need the there 5th to function and I personally would be less likely to drop them to add a 9th or 13th...thats just me.

 

Upper reaches....just listen and look at the melody and think about the bass player. Talk to them. If they are a 1-5-1-7-1-5 who is chugging away on the root of a chord then there isn't any reason not to try and get the 3,7,9,11th on a chord you are strumming. Especially if the melody is hitting some of the basic triad notes hard.

 

All that said something that is idiomatic in jazz is chord substition and one in particuliar is great and fits right in to this....subing the III for the I chord. (and from my perspective jumping up a third from any chord root)

 

So Cmaj11

 

C E G B D F =

E G B D F =

G B D F =

B D F =

C E G =

E G B .....

 

 

Idiomatically the first chord being substituted for the 2nd (on the list) is quite common because there are so many common notes. However as someone who plays 99% Ryhthm (I don't like playing lead stuff) it can work really well in a larger group to do alternating chords....if they entire say 2 measures is Cmaj11 then what you play can be

 

Cmaj - Em7 -Cmaj - G7......

 

then again I am not sure how feasibile that would be or how it would sound in standard tuning. I play

 

D A D - F -C D tuning for the most part and trust me that makes all of the above a whole lot easier...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...