How to figure out any chord on the guitar.
The road map to chord structures. Part Five - Extended Chords and Jazz Chords. [Advanced Intermediate Lesson]
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You may want to consider doing a review of the first four lessons in this series before moving onto Part Five.
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four
Advanced Intermediate Lesson
Mapping out the entire fret board.
In the following diagrams for this lesson, I have chosen to use "regular" everyday numbers to make things a little easier to read and understand.
As you can see in this first diagram, we use the numbers 1 - 7 throughout the entire fret board. Each of these numbers are in "Major" positions. "1" is the "root" note for the Major scale. "2" is the 2nd note in the Major scale, "3" is the 3rd, and so on. Each number is in a major interval position, related to the "root" note. Think of this entire diagram as the first layer template.
Imagine this template as an invisible layer over the top of the fret board. If we take the first diagram and line it up with the "C major" scale below, you can see each of the major positions in the key. C = 1, D = 2, E = 3 and so on.
We can use this same approach to the key of G Major. The positions of the template have not moved or changed, however, the names of the notes have changed to fit the key of G Major. G = 1, A = 2, B = 3 and so on.
Let's try the key of D Major. Again, the positions of the numbers have not moved or changed, but the actual notes have been altered to fit the key of D major. D = 1, E = 2, F# = 3 and so on.
By using this technique, you can easily figure out the intervallic number related to the root note for any key. You can also visualize any chord structure that uses the notes in the Major scale.
The Enharmonic Notes.
As you can see in this diagram, I have added the minor 2nd and minor 3rd, diminished 5th and augmented 5ths, and the dominant 7th to the map. Now, we can see all of the intervallic positions in the template.
We can also find all of the triads that use the Major 3rd, minor 3rd, diminished 5th and the augmented 5th. We can find the Major 7th, minor 7th and dominant 7ths, the diminished and half-diminished 7ths, and the augmented 7ths. The suspended (4th) and suspended 2nd chords are also easy to find.
Reference: minor 2 = ii, minor 3 = iii, diminished 5 = v, augmented 5 = V# and
dominant 7 = vii.
Here are the structures to make these "triad" chords:
Major: I - III - V
Minor: I - iii - V
Diminished: I - iii - v
Augmented: I - III - V#
Suspended: I - IV - V
Suspended 2: I - II - V
Four note chords.
Major 7: I - III - V - VII
Minor 7: I - iii - V - vii
Dominant 7: I - III - V - vii
Suspended 7: I - IV - V - vii
Diminished 7: I - iii - v - *bvii (*double flatted 7)
Half-diminished 7: I - iii - v - vii
Augmented 7: I - III - V# - vii
Let's go beyond the four-note chords.
In this diagram, you can see that some of the notes on higher strings have been altered to 9's, 11's and 13's. What used to be a "2" in the first octave of the chord, is now the "9". For example, "D" is the 2nd note in the key of "C" Major, but in the second octave, it becomes a "9th". The same goes with the first octave "4th" becoming the "11th" in the second octave, and the "6th" in the first octave becoming the "13th" in the second octave.
So, technically, you could build a chord using all 7 notes in a key. For example, the structure of the "C Major 13" (The "Garden" Chord) would have the following notes in order, available to make the chord:
C = 1, E = 3, G = 5, B = 7, D = 9, F = 11 and A = 13.
But, we only have six strings on our guitar. How are we supposed to use all of those notes to make that chord? Actually, you only need four or maybe five of the notes.
C = Root note on string 6, fret 8
B = Major 7 on string 4, fret 9
E = Major 3 on string 3, fret 9
A = Major 13 on string 2, fret 10
B = Major 9 on string 1, fret 10
So, we didn't use the 5th or the 11th to make that chord. Sometimes, an extended chord will eliminate the use of the 3rd or the 5th in order to build the chord with higher notes.
You can see in the above diagram that the minor 2nd position is replaced with the (flatted) b9th, the minor 3rd position is replaced with the (sharped) #9th. Also, the diminished position is replaced with a #11. Everything else stays the same as it was in the first octave.
When most people think of "jazz" or extended chords, they might think in terms of complicated structures and confusing symbols added to the name of the chord.
How many versions of a "C" chord are there? I honestly have no idea, but let's try a few.
C7#9 = C, E, Bb and D#
CM9 = C, E, B and D
Cm7#5 = C, Bb, Eb and G#
Cm7b5 = C, Gb, Eb and Bb
C13 = C, Bb, E, A, (B)
C11 = C, Bb, D and F
The list goes on and on. How many of these chords do you actually need to know? Well, if you're playing rock, country, folk or blues, you probably won't be using these types of chords very often. However, if you like jazz, you're probably going to need to extend your vocabulary considerably to incorporate and include chords that use more than four notes. 9's, 11's and 13's are very common in jazz music as they allow a lot more room for melodic improvisation and creativity.