Quote:
Originally Posted by OddManOut
What is meant by, e.g., a "D Alt" chord? I ran across this notation in a transcription of the song "It's De-lovely".
I understand the general notion that an alt chord is a chord in which one or more scale notes is flatted or sharped (e.g. E7+9 or E aug), but this seems to leave open many possibilities. Just wondering if there is some common interpretation of this notation or if it depends upon context.
Thank you!
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Yeah. Altered scale etc. Secondary dominant chord. Probably altered especially with reference to the melody.
The most practical comping takeaway for guitar is that it's a dominant chord which DOESN'T work with your traditional 9th or 13th chords. Natural 5th in your chords will probably clash with the melody as well. 7b9 chords are safe and easy (diminished shape). Considered a little vanilla by jazzers. 7#9 or 7#5 is "more altered".
There is theory involved with creating altered chords, but probably the easiest real-world workaround for newbies to jazz harmony is to play bII7 Dom chords as a sub. So, Dalt = Ab9 or Ab13. Leave the bass out if that helps you hear it. Better yet, add the D back in bass.
[Theory below. Please disregard, if not interested: 7#5 (7b13) and 7b9 chord symbols may implied alter, but could also be harmonic minor and basically work with natural five. 7#9 Basically implies altered more explicitly. Alt chord symbol usually implies more explicitly that the natural five is NOT going to work , and that you need to actually pull from altered scale/melodic minor.]
Shell voicings work really well until you understand more about this stuff , or use the above bII7 sub.