How do you play these chords?

MatthewsGilmour · #1 10-04-2006, 11:20 AM

Hey guys, I've been tyring to play a song for a while now, but i can't find how these 2 chords in the song are preformed. They are D7#9, B7b9 and a D7b9. I know i could probably figure these out by myself, but i'm kind of lazy and i figured if anyone knew how to play them it' d be easier to just ask. Thanks.

rick-slo · #2 10-04-2006, 11:27 AM

Use this or something similar.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hippy/chords/

Akubra · #3 10-04-2006, 12:33 PM

Know what though, that chord diagrammer gives a bogus voicing for D7+9, one would NEVER play a natural 5th on that chord. +9 implies +5 also. +9 with a natural 5th is a *nasty* ol' sound!

D7+9
x5456x

B7b9
x3232x

D7b9
x5454x

Raystrack · #4 10-04-2006, 12:53 PM

The D7+9 was used a lot by Hendrix and also features in George Harrisons Taxman. It can sound sweet - try using to lead into G minor.

I think the B7b9 needs to go down a fret and it is played without the fifth i.e. x2121x = x B (1), D#(3), A (b7), C(b9), X. To get the full five note chord, bar the first fret and include the 1st string 2nd fret as well to give the F# (5) - though many prefer to voice the b9 sound at the top of the chord at the expense of the fifth.

Bern · #5 10-04-2006, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raystrack

The D7+9 was used a lot by Hendrix and also features in George Harrisons Taxman.

Let's not forget the Spencer Davies Group with Stevie Winwood.

MatthewsGilmour · #6 10-04-2006, 01:43 PM

Thanks for your help guys. The song I'm trying to learn is breathe by pink floyd. I saw gilmour play it on acoustic and it sounds amazing so i wanted to learn it, but i'm having trouble getting it to sound right, especially those chords i mentioned. Do any of you know if those are the correct chords from the song, and what the right fingering is for them?

rick-slo · #7 10-04-2006, 01:48 PM

To me D7#9 implies the top note being the ninth note sharped over the root note D counting up the notes in a D major scale which would end up being the note G. Now however you want to finger that.
Rick

Bern · #8 10-04-2006, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rick-slo

To me D7#9 implies the top note being the ninth note sharped over the root note D counting up the notes in a D major scale which would end up being the note G. Now however you want to finger that.
Rick

D major scale ? Not G major scale from 5th degree ?

rick-slo · #9 10-04-2006, 02:04 PM

D7th chord which you then add nine steps above the root D and sharp it. I am assuming you count the root note as null or 0. I suppose you could count it as 1 but that seems more confusing to me to do it that way in this situation.

LarryH in Texas · #10 10-04-2006, 02:29 PM

D major scale:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
D E F# G A B C# D E . . . .
D = 1 & 8
E = 2 & 9

so D7#9 = root-third-fifth-flatted seventh-sharped ninth
or
D F# A C E# (I think)

we call that last note E#, to conform with musical convention, but play it as if it were F

ljguitar · #11 10-04-2006, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rick-slo

D7th chord which you then add nine steps above the root D and sharp it. I am assuming you count the root note as null or 0. I suppose you could count it as 1 but that seems more confusing to me to do it that way in this situation.

Hi Rick...
For chord building purposes, the root is always 1 not 0 (zero). The 9th above ''D'', as Larry H pointed out, 9 is ''E'' so a #9 would be E# (F).

Voicings are as important as the notes involved, especially where it is not feasible (nor necessary) to play all the notes in a chord.

Bern · #12 10-04-2006, 02:53 PM

I guess, everybody has his own way at figuring all this stuff out(whatever works, works

), but , personally, when I think of a D7 chord I think of the relationship to Gmajor (D mixolydian).

Akubra · #13 10-04-2006, 02:55 PM

Chord-scale relationships for +9 chords (typically) are either lydian-augmented from the 3rd, or ascending melodic minor from b2, which are the same scale but starting from a different note.

F# lydian-aug:
F#-G#-A#-C-D-D#-F-F#

Referenced to a D7+9 as:
3-b5-+5-7-1-b9-+9-1

Eb ascending melodic minor:
Eb-F-Gb-Ab-Bb-C-D-Eb
or
D#-F-F#-G#-A#-C-D-D#

(same notes as F# lydian aug, but starting from a different note)

When making a melody over the D7+9 chord, both +5 and b5 work, +9 and b9 work. If you emphasize a natural 5th, then of course one should use a different scale to apply to it, but that's a non-standard, pretty nasty and dissonant (wrong sounding) sound.

Akubra · #14 10-04-2006, 03:05 PM

...but if you really wanted to play a natural 5th in a +9 chord, a diminished scale from either the 7th, b9th, 3rd, or 13th (for D7+9, C, Eb, F# or A dim. scale) would work.

rick-slo · #15 10-04-2006, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi Rick...
For chord building purposes, the root is always 1 not 0 (zero). The 9th above ''D'', as Larry H pointed out, 9 is ''E'' so a #9 would be E# (F).

Voicings are as important as the notes involved, especially where it is not feasible (nor necessary) to play all the notes in a chord.

Larry,
Good to know that is the predominant convention among people however just today when browsing in a chord book that one used the root as null.
Rick