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Thread: Hey chord mavens!

  1. #1
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    Hey chord mavens!

    Check out this chord I found:
    4X334X I guess you could add a G# on the high E to make it:
    4X3344
    Normally I play it after a G6 chord but it sounds good w/a Gmaj7 too.
    Anyone want to name it? Is it a G#6/9?

  2. #2
    Forum Member hoss33's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    My "guitarcodex" says it's A#7sus

    http://www.microtools.de/guitarcodex/

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    Forum Member Custom 5's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    if you play that on the 12th fret, i believe it's the last chord in "Since I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles.

    i think i'd call that one (as referenced by the op) an Ab6/9

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    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    I'd call it a Bb7 chord with a suspended 4
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    Forum Member Custom 5's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    Quote Originally Posted by Offshore Angler View Post
    I'd call it a Bb7 chord with a suspended 4
    lol! that's stretch. i could see that it it were part of a decending line where the chord form stays the same as the bass note drops but taken completely out of context, as it stands alone, i'd have to favor the bass as note indicating the key.

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    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    It always seems pointless to me to name a chord like this out of context. It really depends on the progression, where it sits, and what the rest of the band is doing. Depending on where the bass is it may or may not be an inversion. I figured since it has (in Bb) the 1, the dominant and the b7 I'd just go around that and say the 4th is the wildcard, he he.
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    Forum Member Custom 5's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    cool. i was looking at like this:

    Ab is the 1
    F is the 6
    Bb is the 9
    Eb is the 5

    it makes the chord more androginous in the context of Ab. the missing 3rd makes it interesting. not decidedly major nor minor.

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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    I think I'm going to go w/Ab6/9.

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    Forum Member refin's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    Quote Originally Posted by Custom 5 View Post
    cool. i was looking at like this:

    Ab is the 1
    F is the 6
    Bb is the 9
    Eb is the 5

    it makes the chord more androginous in the context of Ab. the missing 3rd makes it interesting. not decidedly major nor minor.
    But it has the major 6th (F).
    I'm going with Ab6/9,the old Beatle chord.
    It can't be A#7sus (or Bb7sus) unless you are putting the b7 in the bass.
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    Forum Member chuckocaster's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    i'm with OA on this, can't name it til i know the rest of music. the prior and post chords might dictate the name, but maybe not.

    in sharps; G#, E#, A#, D#. we're looking at several chords, depending on what the bass is playing, and from where and to what we're going. if you spell it from E# up it's stacked 4ths, the other way it's stacked 5ths. then again you can get a minor 3rd from E# to G#...

    i personally think it's a "color" chord, meant to get you from one song part to another, maybe a modulation?
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    Forum Member Custom 5's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    Quote Originally Posted by refin View Post
    But it has the major 6th (F).
    I'm going with Ab6/9,the old Beatle chord.
    It can't be A#7sus (or Bb7sus) unless you are putting the b7 in the bass.
    i agree that the aforementioned 6 is the one found in major 6 chords, but it's existence in the dorian with the b3 is part of what makes this chord androgenous in the absence of the defining 3rd. the ionian, lydian and mixolydian all use the natural 6 and major 3 so i can see where one would consider the 6 to be major, but where does that leave us in the case of the dorian with it's b3 and natural 6?

    the phrygian, aeolian and locrian all sport the b6 and b3 and would sugggest that the 6 is always major and the b6 is always minor, but then there's that dang dorian. i'm no theory major and i'm sure there's a proper answer to this one.

    also, to the point of it being a "color or passing chord," it's use as the final resolving chord in "I Saw Her Standing There" makes it sound like it has more uses than simply as a passing chord. it's a real cool sound and very useful in a lot of instances.

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    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    Yeah, but who, besides a music student, ever uses the Locrian mode? LOL! That's like parallel parking. You do it once for your driver's test and never again.
    "No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim

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    Forum Member Custom 5's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    lol! i actually do use locrian. lydian? now that's a different story. locrian is great when you're playing over those demolished chords.

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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    One should never play just scales over Jazz stuff, but if you were to, the Lydiant Dominant scale (Lydian scale with a flatted 7th) is quite nice.

    To the question, I'd also go with the Ab6/9 although as many have said, context is important. By the way, it's the first chord in the original recording of "Girl From Ipanema" ("Garota De Ipanema"), albeit in a different key. A lot of Brazilian music uses that 6th, particularly the minor chord w/major-6th, as the tonic chord. That very 6/9 chord with the tonic in on the 6th string is all over Jobim's music.

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    Forum Member Doc W's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    Can you give us a chord progression in which you use this chord? It might help a little.
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    I think folks have already mentioned the best examples, probably. Either as a cool ending chord rather than just ending on the major chord of whatever key you were in, or in Brazilian/Latin jazz, substituting that chord for a standard tonic chord (major usually, but even a minor tonic chord would work). It's an uncommon chord and so it works in ANY progression as a flavor, if the melody of the song supports it.

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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    As far as context goes, as I said before I just use it w/a G6. For example:
    G6 / / / Ab6/9 / / /

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    Forum Member Doc W's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    So the chord in question is the last chord in the song?
    "The beauty and profundity of God is more real than any mere calculation."

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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    No, just a two-chord jam between G6 (or Gmaj7) & this chord, which I will now call Ab6/9.

  20. #20
    Forum Member Doc W's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    The hard part about chord names is that the naming conventions for the most part come from functional harmony which includes sets of notes from which chords and chord progressions are derived. Chords are almost always defined in relation to other chords. What we use pretty freely in rock blues often falls between the cracks of traditional functional harmony. We call a G7 a G7 whereas someone with a very traditional tonal background would call it V7 of C major.

    If it is just a two chord jam, I think you are safe calling it Ab6/9 without the chord police smashing in your door in the dark of night.
    "The beauty and profundity of God is more real than any mere calculation."

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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    I know chords can have two names depending on the context. For instance, this one:
    4X453X
    I've always called that a D7b5 chord, w/the b5 being on the bottom. I just heard somebody call it an Ab7#11.
    I'm going to try to upload a short clip of the Ab6/9 in the context in which I'm using it, probably in the Sound Check forum.

  22. #22
    Forum Member Doc W's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    I listened to the clip and left a comment there. I think you are dead on. It is just a slippery semitone slide with a sweet little trick in it. If you play G 6/9 and slide it up to Ab6/9, it has pretty much the same effect. But by playing G6 - Ab6/9, all of the notes go up except one (B - the 3rd in G) which goes down (to become the 9 in the Ab6/9). Very sweet. It is quite Brazilian in effect. It actually made the room warmer and more humid.

    As for 4X453X, it is both D7b5 and Ab7b5. I wouldn't call it Ab7#11.
    "The beauty and profundity of God is more real than any mere calculation."

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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    lol! Yes, I'm thinking I used so much reverb my amp has gotten a little mildew in it.
    I cut it in ProTools to be a perfect loop, but it kind of stutters in Windows Media Player & Quicktime. It worked better when it was in .aiff format, but I'm ignorant as to why such things are the way they are.

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    Forum Member pauln's Avatar
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    Re: Hey chord mavens!

    The 6/9 in a jazz or jazzy blues context can almost always be used in place of the maj7 when you want a cooler more laid back sound.

    Likewise, sometimes the 13th can be used instead of the 7th many times, and sometimes the #11.
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